Tuesday, July 10th 2018
Bordeaux and Paris, France and Los Angeles
It’s 5am and I am getting up to catch my cab to the Bordeaux train station. My train leaves at 6:30am but I am scared about navigating the train station and arrive by 6am. I am able to find the monitors with the platform numbers and see that mine has not been announced. Around 6:15 the monitors malfunction and an announcement comes over the speaker, 100% in French. Uh oh. I follow a large group people who are reacting to the announcement. They lead me to train 8400 and I so relieved. I board and find my seat immediately. The ride back to the Montparnasse station is easy.
Now that I am back in Paris, I have about 4 hours to make the one hour transfer to the airport. I am starving and carrying two very large bags. I try to get breakfast in the train station, but nothing looks good. I end up drinking two cups of coffee instead.
I open up Uber to check the price to get to the airport and it’s over 100 Euros. Whoa, that’s well over double what I paid to get into town. Well, I have some time to kill, maybe I can figure out another way. I approach the self serve ticket kiosk to look for a train to the airport. Tickets are almost 70 Euros and the available times are very limited. This is strange.
I log back onto to wifi and do some research. There is an express bus for 10 Euros that leaves every 30 minutes. The bus stop should be right outside. I walk outside and immediately see the stops for city buses, but can not find the stop for the express airport bus. I head back to the other side of the station, to no avail. Oh well, at least I’m not in a rush.
Eventually I find the stop about a block away from where I started. Just as I walk up, the bus pulls away. Damn. 30 minutes later, I have successfully boarded the next bus.
Soon I arrive at the airport. Check in and security is very easy. I am early and excited to get settled in my terminal so that I can have an actual meal. When I arrive at my gate I am surprised to find no sit down restaurants on this side of security. I end buying a pizza, coffee and some macaroons. Yep, this is how I’m going out of France.
Once I am done eating, I reach for my phone to charge up for the plane ride. Uh oh. It’s not there. No big deal, it must be in my bag. I dig around, but still can't find it. Well, it’s probably stuck somewhere. I sit on the ground on empty my entire backpack one item at a time. Still nothing.
I remember using my phone on the bus, but I have not seen it since then. My pants do not have pockets. Did I leave it on the seat of the bus? Oh crap. I think I did.
I spend the next 30 minutes buying a temp phone on Amazon and having it shipped to my house. I also file a report with the French department of public transportation. I’m pretty upset by this development but also relieved that I am about to leave and don't have to navigate anywhere else.
Eventually, I board the plane. The flight back is a healthy mix of wine, naps and TV. When I land in LA it’s easy to get a cab back to my car at the office.
Well, Bordeaux took my heart and Paris took my phone. As soon as I enter my house, I open my most expensive bottle of wine, pour a glass and start attempting to recover my photos on iCloud.
