Thursday, May 21, 2009

Strange travel occurences over the past few months

1) Forgot passport before going abroad to a foreign country

2) Nearly missed train to Brussels when I forgot that May 1 is a holiday and the train schedule to get out of my small town is different than usual. Somehow managed to get up, showered, dressed, and packed in a half an hour and make it to the train station on time.

3) Missed last train out of Paris on Saturday because I can't manage my time appropriately

4) Forgot to compost my ticket to go to Rouen yesterday and had to pay a fine. I really did forget to compost it, and when I tried to argue with the conductor about it he wasn't having any of it. I even produced my composted ticket from my train into Paris earlier that morning to proove that I'm an upstanding citizen who composts her tickets. Seriously, I don't live on a direct line to Rouen, did he think I was going to try to use it again? It's two and a half hours on two different trains from where I live, not to mention metro travel time in Paris! And what really pissed me off is that I know there were people on the train going to Giverny who hadn't bought a ticket, but of course they didn't do a control until after the stop for Giverny. It was only €10, but I was still really irritated.

5) Got stuck in Paris for an extra hour last night in a huge galère at the Gare du Nord. Of course I can't find any official information about it online, because no one cares about the Gare du Nord and the poor people trying to get to ch'Nord from there. Apparently there was a group of people standing on the train lines. No one at the station seemed to know what exactly they were doing there, if it was an organized protest or if they just wanted to piss everyone off but the trains were blocked for a good two hours. I ended up getting back around 10:30 PM, over an hour after I planned, on a train that had been scheduled to leave the station at 18:45 but didn't actually leave until after 9 PM. Great. But, because of all the confusion, I forgot to compost my ticket again, so I got a free ride out of the SNCF and it almost makes up for the fine I paid earlier in the day.

Good travel news: I found a Subway across the street from the Gare du Nord when I came back from Brussels. I have spent the past 18 months eating crappy train station sandwiches, and now I get the deliciousness of Subway! It's fantastic! They make the best sandwiches, it almost makes me want to go to Paris just to eat at Subway!

I feel like there is something else I should put in there but I just can't remember now. Basically, I should just move to Paris or stop travelling. Especially since I am so exhausted after yesterday that I could barely move this morning. Ugghhh.

4 comments:

shannon said...

Someone's a busy blogger!!

I forgot to compost my ticket on the way to Strasbourg. I'm so used to having to buy a ticket, then going straight to the composter, and then getting on the train, so that already having a ticket totally threw me off. I realized just as I was getting on the train. Oops. I found the controleurs right away, and they jokingly gave me a hard time, before just stamping my ticket and complimenting my French.

Gare du Nord always has something going on it seems. It was probably something to do with the banlieues... since the worse suburbs have trains going out of there... then again, that probably would have made the news.

I walked past that Subway practically every time I left the Gare aux pieds. I'm surprised you were never with us for that. And I think I'm the only person who loathes Subway. I even hate the smell. Probably comes from eating it everyday for lunch when I work.

au soleil levant said...

That's exactly what my problem was with my ticket. I had bought it at GDN and then went to Gare St Lazare, and just forgot. I guess the only person I really have to blame is myself for forgetting, but I think the stupid composting rule is so dumb in the first place that it just really irritates me. I wish I could say that now I'll have learned my lesson and it won't happen again, but I'm so forgetful that I'm sure it will....

Anonymous said...

Ah, Gare du Nord... nope, this one is NOT your fault. Not sure why, but everytime I leave from Gare du Nord (usually, for Nantes Paris, it's Montparnasse), there is a problem. It's a weird train station...

The composting thing is so stupid. Happened to me too! Arguing with a controller is often pointless though...

islandgirl4ever2 said...

Hey.... Were you trying to pull a "Leesa," or what?! Did you bring your passport with you?! hehe...
Maybe you need to cool down with HDG, Mira... hehehehehe!!! Have a cool night!