Everyone does foolish things when they’ve had one too many drinks.
In 2015, French police reported discovering a 22-year-old intoxicated man in a shipyard in Brittany in northern France, attempting to give lifesaving CPR to an inflatable dinghy, believing it to be a dying person. In 2017, newspapers in New Zealand reported that a man had woken up to find his car had been stolen and called the police—who promptly discovered that the man had sold the car to a friend the previous evening when he ran out of cash. And in 2018, an Estonian holidaymaker in the Italian Alps took a wrong turn while walking back to his hotel and ended up climbing up the side of a 2,400ft mountain after a little bit too much apres ski. Even the occasional celebrity can fall foul of the demon drink, too: while living in Dublin in the 1960s, the legendary actor Peter O’Toole once bought a pub when the landlord refused to serve him another drink. Thankfully, a few hasty telephone calls to his accountant the following day—as well as a groveling meeting with the pub’s landlord, who went on to become one of O’Toole’s dearest friends—stopped him from bankrupting himself!
Few people have the means to purchase a bar outright, of course, but that’s not to say that they can’t make rash financial decisions when they’re under the influence. But likewise, few people end up doing something daft when they’re drunk that ends up costing them more than $2,000…
In the early hours of January 1, 2018, a Norwegian man (who, perhaps for obvious reasons, has declined ever to be named) stumbled drunkenly into a taxi in the Danish capital of Copenhagen after a few too many drinks seeing in the New Year. As is usual, the man told the driver his destination and the car set off into the night, while the man, suffering the after effects of his big night on the town, fell asleep in the back seat.
Nothing too outlandish yet, you might think? That’s true, except for the fact that the man’s destination was the Norwegian city of Oslo, more than 370 miles away.
The driver, it seems, happily set off on the unusually lengthy trip, first crossing the enormous 0resund Bridge from Denmark to Sweden, to arrive in the Swedish city of Malmo. From there, he headed north along the Swedish coast, passing the cities of Helsingborg and Gothenburg, eventually crossing the border into neighboring Norway, and arriving in Oslo some six and a half hours—and a whole three countries—later. It was at that point that the driver finally told his passenger the cost of his journey: 18,000 Norwegian kroner—equivalent to more than $2,200.
Unfortunately, when confronted with his somewhat unexpected bill, the man became belligerent, refused to pay the fee, and instead staggered into his home, locked the door, and promptly fell asleep. The furious taxi driver, for his part, was unable to wake him up to settle. Worse, on returning to his car, he found that his battery had died. With little else to do, he called the police.
The following morning, the man—who, Norwegian police noted, had no previous criminal record—sobered up and came to his senses, and thankfully agreed to pay the bill. Meanwhile, a recovery vehicle was called for the taxi driver, who was ultimately able to make his return to Denmark (albeit after a somewhat longer shift than normal…)