The Paris “Adventure”

So we had left the house headed to pick up Anna and my mom and go to the airport when Anna’s dad calls me about the standby ticket. Apparently, the ashcloud had killed my flight and the flight to Madrid the next day was oversold. So after looking at all the other flights going to Europe that I might possibly be able to get a seat, we found one that was leaving that night to Paris. From there we decided I should be able to catch a train or another flight to Madrid. Well, it wouldn’t be my life if something ridiculous wasn’t going to happen with that flight as well.
It was delayed two hours. In the mean time though, I made a “friend” who after a couple minutes decided that I was the right person to tell about his drama with his girl friend and then follow up with how he thought my name was pretty and that my eyes were pretty. (Alicia that part was for you, Enjoy.) He then invited me to stay with him and his friends in Paris, if I couldn’t get a train or flight out the next day. (Has he seen the movie Taken? No, thanks.) So I was really glad when I saw that his seat was in another part of the plane.

So I get to Paris and when I finally find the train ticket office they tell me that I won’t be able to get on a train direct to Madrid until the coming Monday. Not good, I need to be in Madrid on Thursday and it is Wednesday. I learn that it is basically the same way with going to Barcelona and the closest the train could take me was to some border town where I would have to wait for another opening. Ok, so on to plan B, trying to find a flight. After wandering around the CDG maze, I finally find the Delta/Air France ticket office and when I ask how much a flight is from Paris to Madrid, I get a response that literally made my jaw drop. Over 1000 Euros, which basically means about $1500.

Definitely not happening. At this time I start getting a little nervous (big understatement). By this time it is probably 5 p.m. in Paris- I didn’t sleep well on the plane and all I have had to eat is a croissant and a banana (oh p.s. I don’t do well with low blood sugar, my dad can attest to that). So I wander back and forth around the Paris airport, which is the worst planned airport of all time, trying to find wifi so I can e-mail my dad and try to figure out what to do. Finally, I find it and see that my dad is on facebook, which maybe one of the only times I have been grateful for this fact. So we start researching flights and trains on the short battery life my computer has, while skyping each other.

I must here say thank you to my dad for being my lifeline that day. I honestly do not know that I would have had any sanity if it wasn’t for his encouragement and help. He brought a logical mind to the situation when I was really scared.

I found a Ryan air flight leaving out of another airport in Paris the next morning at 9 that would go to Barcelona. While not ideal, it is still closer than Paris, so we decided to give it a try and booked the flight thinking that I could get there semi easily. So then somehow I ended up back in the train ticket line trying to get something to work and once again I got road blocked. With no battery life left on my computer, I found a phone that I could make international calls on, swiped my card preparing for a huge bill and called my dad. By that time I am basically leaning on the phone booth because I have no energy, have the beginning of a headache and I feel like I could throw up any minute from the stress/fear. Graphic, I know, but I’m just trying to give you an idea of the situation so you can see what I learned later. After having him look up where the town and airport are we decide that the flight will still be the best idea so I go back down, buy a train ticket to go to downtown Paris, where the main train hub is so that I can take a train to this smaller town outside Paris. Here’s where it gets worse and kind of cool.

So on the train to Paris I pull out my Bible and start reading every passage I know relating to peace. When I finished those I just started flipping through and reading passages that caught my eye and one that I landed on was Ephesians 2 (AKA God is really cool). While I have read it before it isn’t one I think of when I need or am searching for peace, but I got it in a huge way.

“For he himself is our peace who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we have access to the Father by one Spirit. Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.” (Eph. 2:4-20)

Ok, exactly what I needed plus some. The coolest thing about this passage in that moment was not necessarily that he gave me a sense of peace because I was honestly still freaked out, but that all day after I arrived in Paris I was aware of my identity. It cames into play with the sometimes subtle but also huge difference between a tourist and a foreigner and I was a foreigner. People typically put up with and are semi nice to tourists because of the money coming from them, but foreigners have not so much to offer and usually are more of an annoyance than anything and the difference in the way they are treated, while subtle, also has a huge impact on the person.

When I got to Paris I got in another long train ticket line and found out that the train that I need had already left for the night and the one the next morning would not get me to the airport in time. Great. After I had called my dad from the pay phone, my dad turned my cell phone onto the international plan so that I could call him as needed, which brought up another cool thing God did.

The whole day while I am calling and texting my dad from my cell phone, I only have one bar of battery life left (which is huge because my battery dies really fast once it hits one bar left- I’m talking maybe 5 min of life) and it lasted all the rest of that day, through the night and till lunch the next day.

So by this time we are almost out of options- it is 10 p.m., I have barely eaten all day, had little sleep and more stress than I have face in years, so my dad tells me to take a break. In his wonderful wisdom he knows when I need to just stop, sit, rest and relax. So he tells me (I’m not capable of making decisions at this point) to go find something to eat and then we would find me a hotel for the night. The problem with this is that I’m really scared and kind of scared to leave the train station and go into a random restaurant, however ridiculous it sounds it was very true.

Then I saw them- those beautiful glowing golden arches. McDonalds. While I will not by choice eat there at home I was starving and it was something familiar. So like a bug to the light, without hesitation, I crossed the street and wandered inside. While there, my dad sent me a message saying that a travel agent he knows found me a flight from Paris to Madrid for the next day so now all I needed to do was find a hotel for the night and get to the airport in time for my 5 p.m. flight. And the same thing happened with the hotel, I walked out of the McDonalds glancing at the prices posted on the doors of the hotels and then saw a Best Western down the street. Once again I made a b-line for that beautiful familiar place and nearly cried when I got into my room and saw a clean white bed waiting for me.

The next day went a lot easier because I knew the subway system and was able to get to the airport easily. My phone had still not run out of battery but I needed to charge it or it would definitely die, so I wandered around the shops near my hotel trying to find a converter and ran back to my hotel when I did find one and charged it as long as I could. On the plane my mood dramatically changed and I was basically smiling the whole time because I knew that in two hours I would be in Madrid and able to go to my hotel and find my group. Just knowing that I somewhat know the language and could get around was such a comfort. I made it to my hotel relatively quickly and dove onto my TA, giving her the biggest hug and just repeating how great it was to see her face.

Although it was a difficult experience I’m really glad it happened because I learned a lot and the Lord just really used it to grow me in my faith and closer to him. One of my friends told me before I left that I was going to Paris for a reason and to cling to that fact. It was true, even though I did not know it while wandering around the maze that is the Paris airport, that a little later on the worn out train he would open my eyes to his glory once again.

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