Dealing with transport strikes in Europe

This post has been inspired by the recent one-day transport strike in Nice, France, which my fellow backpackers and I were stuck trying to deal with. Anyone who has travelled in Europe (France in particular) will know that this is a fairly common occurance. Strikes and protests are a European way of life. However, in the spirit of chillaxing and just dealing-with-it, I thought I'd try and offer some tips.

Getting around, rescheduling plans and navigating foreign destinations automatically become trickier when a strike happens, but you can still make the most of it and work around it. If you know one is coming in advance, it may be worth rearranging your travel to fall on the day before or after, especially if it's just a small local trip. If this isn't possible, there are a few things you can do. 

Upon arriving at the train station/bus depot: find the staff member near the entrance who has been given the hellish job of advising travellers of the strike. Have pity on this poor soul. Usually there's an alternate timetable for the day and this person should be able to advise you of which services will still run. Typically I've found they keep about a third of services going. 

Ticket machines will usually still let you book tickets for trains that aren't actually running so find out what the "strike timetable" is first. If you've accidentally booked a ticket for a train/bus that's been cancelled, go to the counter. Usually they will exchange it free of charge for one of the alternately scheduled trains. If there aren't any, you can usually get a refund but only by being polite. They will not give you your money back if you're rude or angry but instead will just be rude back. They're having a bad day, too. 

Be prepared for long waits and crowds. With limited services it means there will be a large number of travellers, all trying to get on at the same time. Be ready for this. Once you've sat around for an hour waiting for your train, get ready to be at the front of the crowd so you can rush onto the train first. It truly sucks to be one of the few left behind on the platform when it's full.

Finally, I can only advise patience. Be prepared for a wait, have a bottle of water at hand and accept that this isn't going to be the relaxed day you thought it would. Things will almost certainly work themselves out in the end.