A Parisian Catastrophe

Separated by merely the English Channel, there are three main ways that you can travel from London to Paris: plane, train, or ferry. By far, the most popular route is via a train route that travels underwater through a tunnel dug below the channel. My friend Bill decided to visit Paris with a group from the University of Surrey, and to save money, they crossed the channel via ferry. Asking Bill about the trip later, he admitted that the ferry ride was a bit long, but the price made the trip more affordable. Craig and I decided to bypass boats and trains to fly directly into Paris Charles De Gaulle airport from London Luton. I'll leave you to judge whether this was a smart decision or not, but my original reasoning for choosing flight went something like this:

Since we were already in London, Craig and I needed a transportation method that was close and affordable so as to not waste precious time in route. Location alone limited us to either flying or riding on a train to Paris. At first, I thought it would be best to take a train (a.k.a. "Eurostar") round trip from London to Paris and back. Compared to discount flights, train tickets were only slightly more expensive but it is a lot easier to travel via rail rather than plane. This plan would have worked fine except for the fact that Craig and I decided to add a few extra cities into our Western European tour. Wanting to take full advantage of our time in Europe, we thought that four days in London and four days in Paris would be too much time in only two locations. Rescheduling our travel plans, we decided that three days in London, three in Paris, and two days in Belgium would be the perfect balance for our short vacation. Our only restriction was that we had to start and end in London since this is where Craig would be arriving and leaving Europe. Logically, it would make sense to simply travel in a triangle: London, Paris, Belgium, and then back to London. This would allow us to skip all the airports and travel by train to all of our destinations. Unfortunately, Eurostar doesn't favor one-way tickets.

For my "triangle travel plan" to work, we would need three one-way tickets to Paris, Brussels, and London. In my American state of mind, I had assumed that one-way tickets would be roughly half the price of round trip tickets -- not quite. A round-trip ticket between London and Paris was approximately $150. A one-way ticket from London to Paris was $250. Why buy a one-way ticket when a round-trip is clearly cheaper? Though I still don't completely understand their rationale for over-pricing one-way tickets, I think it may have something to do with ensuring that travelers return to their country of origin.

Comparing train fares with plane tickets, I found that a flight from London Luton to Paris was only $100. Though airports are a bit more stressful than train stations, the overall travel and check-in time would be similar to riding the Eurostar to Paris. Assuming our flight would be running on time, I booked two tickets from London Luton to Paris Charles De Gaulle with the new plan of flying from London to Paris, taking the Eurostar from Paris to Belgium and back to Paris, and then flying back to London from Paris. Of course, things never quite work out exactly as planned...

After a very long train ride to London Luton Airport, Craig and I arrived just as the check-in desk was opening for our flight. Checking Craig's suitcase and handing over our passports, we quickly proceeded to a speedy security checkpoint and soon found ourselves near the airport terminals. Always having a lot of luck getting through Luton airport, I was once again pleased by the uncharacteristically quick airport service. With an hour and a half to spare before boarding, Craig and I found seats at an airport cafe and ordered two heaping plates of pasta to hold us over until reaching Paris later in the evening.

While twirling linguine with a fork, I felt my cell phone buzz with a new text message. Pulling the phone out of my pocket, I quickly read a message from Bill that quickly diminished my appetite. "What's wrong?" Craig asked, watching an expression of panic wash across my face.

"We might be in a bit of trouble when we get to Paris tonight," I moaned.

Handing him my cell phone, Craig skimmed Bill's message that went something like this:

"NO SUBWAY IN PARIS. CITY TRANSPORTATION STRIKE -- NO BUSES, TRAINS, OR METRO RUNNING. TAXIS ARE OVERPRICED. WILL LAST FOR REST OF WEEK."

"Looks like we'll be walking a lot," Craig said, handing back my phone.

"Or paying for an expensive taxi ride," I groaned. "The taxis are probably jumping their prices to take advantage of the situation. We would probably be able to haggle them down if we could speak French."

The good news in our situation was that Craig and I were able to learn of the Paris transportation strike before arriving in France. Earlier that weekend, Bill left Guildford to travel to Paris with a school group bound for Europe's Disneyland. Lucky for him, Bill's transportation around the city was covered by private bus, which meant that the transportation strike bothered him very little. Knowing that Craig and I would be depending solely on public transportation while in Paris, Bill gave us a little "heads up" with what to expect when arriving in the city. Without his thoughtful text message, Craig and I would have been much worse walking into the situation blind -- and not able to speak the native language.

Mulling over our options, I knew that the most important thing to cover first would be hailing an overpriced taxi to drive us from the airport to our hostel for the night. Everything else would have to wait until morning. However, I feared that the strike might severely limit our sightseeing for the week and prayed that we'd at least be able to make it to Belgium via train.

Trying to push our impending quandary from my mind, Craig and I finished dinner and then searched for a few seats in the waiting area with a clear view of the flight boarding schedule. Noticing that our flight was running a little behind, we relaxed for a few extra minutes before heading to Departure Gate 10. Since discount flights typically don't have reserved seating, Craig and I practically ran to the departure gate in hopes of catching a spot near the front of the line so that we'd be one of the first to board. Happy that we arrived just as the line was forming, our celebration was short-lived as a voice announced over the Intercom that our departure gate had just been changed to Gate 2.

Simultaneously, 60 annoyed passengers turned on their heels and began rushing to the opposite side of the airport. Grabbing my hand, Craig began speed walking towards the new gate at a pace that was hard to match with even my very long legs. Priding himself on his speed walking abilities, Craig and I were the first to arrive at Gate 2 and thus began a line behind the departure desk. Thrilled that we would still be first to board, our exhilaration was once again short-lived as the flight attendant informed us that we were standing in the "Premier Package" line and therefore needed to go to the back of the "Discount Boarding" line. Shrugging, Craig leaned over to me and said, "There are days when you just can't win..."

Luckily, Craig and I were still able to find two seats sitting next to each other even after being last to board the plane. Squeezing into cramped quarters, we buckled our seat belts and shifted our legs to fully take advantage of our limited personal space. Expecting to idle towards the runway any minute, we were surprised to hear the pilot's voice announce over the plane's speaker system, "Sorry for the delay ladies and gentlemen, but turbulent weather in Paris is forcing us to wait a little longer for clearance before taking off. We will give further updates shortly."

Rolling my eyes at our streak of bad luck, I mumbled, "Looks like it'll be a late-night arrival in Paris."