the details
so. going back to france and the travel drama...
i have an interesting track record when it comes to traveling. it doesn't seem to matter whether it's a last-minute, thrown together, whatever happens happens kind of trip or an organized, well-thought out and well-planned excursion--something (or everything) always seems to go wrong!!
and more often than not, i mean, let's be realistic, me, organized, planning ahead?!?! who are we kidding?!??!
in the couple of weeks before fall break, there had been talk of a trip to paris, which i thought it would be fun to combine with visiting mel. i mean, as long as i'm going to france, why not, right? so but i hadn't really confirmed anything with mel. it was kind of like, hey, can i come visit? sure, come on over. ok, cool, i'll probably come on the weekend sometime. the end.
then, the thing with paris didn't work out at the last minute, and i was still trying to work out the details of getting to perpignan. too many options and loose ends: flying (this would involve going to london first, not to mention getting to the airport in the first place), mitfahrgelegenheit? (the online ride-board thing, involves getting in touch with other people who are just as undecided about their plans as i am about mine...not a good combination!), and the train (booooooring, more expensive, and takes foreeeeeever). plus, i was hardly at home at all, which meant, no chance to look online.
soooo, saturday afternoon, i get online, determined not to spend the entire break _thinking_ about how to get to perpignan but rather to just pick something and go for it. so i found a train leaving around midnight that would get me to perpignan around 1:30 the next afternoon. fine. so i email mel, not knowing if she has internet at home or checks her email regularly, and then i go pack my bag.
of course, the fabulous thing about living in the middle of nowhere and not having a car is...that it can take hooooouuuuuurs to get anywhere. i took a bus and then a train and then another train, and like 3 hours later, was in stuttgart, which is really only about an hour's drive from here, where i got my ticket for france and found out that i would have to get from one train station in paris to another in order to get to perpignan. fabulous, considering my nonexistent command of the french language...
so after a long night in a traincar with a filipino couple from munich and an american student--hmm, was it his nalgene bottle, the ipod, or the norcal t-shirt that first gave it away?!?!-- i get to paris and manage the station switch by having a nice chat in german with one of the train conductors. several hours later, we're getting close to perpignan. i haven't heard from mel, have no idea if she knows i'm coming or not, and i starting to think about whether i not i know enough french to find her--or, worstcase scenario, somewhere else to crash!
get to perpignan, no mel. i wander around the train station for a few minutes hoping against hope that mel will miraculously appear, but since i still don't know if she even got my email or knows that i'm coming, it doesn't really make sense to wait around the station. i decide to try to find an internet cafe or something and start walking. i've made it a block or so, when i think i hear someone call out my name. i look around. sure enough, it's mel... i don't think i've ever been quite that happy to see someone in my whole life!!
i have an interesting track record when it comes to traveling. it doesn't seem to matter whether it's a last-minute, thrown together, whatever happens happens kind of trip or an organized, well-thought out and well-planned excursion--something (or everything) always seems to go wrong!!
and more often than not, i mean, let's be realistic, me, organized, planning ahead?!?! who are we kidding?!??!
in the couple of weeks before fall break, there had been talk of a trip to paris, which i thought it would be fun to combine with visiting mel. i mean, as long as i'm going to france, why not, right? so but i hadn't really confirmed anything with mel. it was kind of like, hey, can i come visit? sure, come on over. ok, cool, i'll probably come on the weekend sometime. the end.
then, the thing with paris didn't work out at the last minute, and i was still trying to work out the details of getting to perpignan. too many options and loose ends: flying (this would involve going to london first, not to mention getting to the airport in the first place), mitfahrgelegenheit? (the online ride-board thing, involves getting in touch with other people who are just as undecided about their plans as i am about mine...not a good combination!), and the train (booooooring, more expensive, and takes foreeeeeever). plus, i was hardly at home at all, which meant, no chance to look online.
soooo, saturday afternoon, i get online, determined not to spend the entire break _thinking_ about how to get to perpignan but rather to just pick something and go for it. so i found a train leaving around midnight that would get me to perpignan around 1:30 the next afternoon. fine. so i email mel, not knowing if she has internet at home or checks her email regularly, and then i go pack my bag.
of course, the fabulous thing about living in the middle of nowhere and not having a car is...that it can take hooooouuuuuurs to get anywhere. i took a bus and then a train and then another train, and like 3 hours later, was in stuttgart, which is really only about an hour's drive from here, where i got my ticket for france and found out that i would have to get from one train station in paris to another in order to get to perpignan. fabulous, considering my nonexistent command of the french language...
so after a long night in a traincar with a filipino couple from munich and an american student--hmm, was it his nalgene bottle, the ipod, or the norcal t-shirt that first gave it away?!?!-- i get to paris and manage the station switch by having a nice chat in german with one of the train conductors. several hours later, we're getting close to perpignan. i haven't heard from mel, have no idea if she knows i'm coming or not, and i starting to think about whether i not i know enough french to find her--or, worstcase scenario, somewhere else to crash!
get to perpignan, no mel. i wander around the train station for a few minutes hoping against hope that mel will miraculously appear, but since i still don't know if she even got my email or knows that i'm coming, it doesn't really make sense to wait around the station. i decide to try to find an internet cafe or something and start walking. i've made it a block or so, when i think i hear someone call out my name. i look around. sure enough, it's mel... i don't think i've ever been quite that happy to see someone in my whole life!!
posted by be at 7:43 PM
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