Travalling Dramas

So after leaving you, we spend the next 4 hours wondering around the Taipei airport and the rest of the travel went down from there. The flight to France was 13 hours instead of 8, which made a huge difference and the plane was very full. Though the one lady next to me was able to move so Thomas had his own seat. He did well and slept for a good 4 hours but then woke up and was just cranky and crying and I was so concerned about the people around me that I spent 2 hours trying to get him to go back to sleep.

I finally got him back to sleep, went to use the toilet and when I got back the stewardess tried to tell me he couldn’t sleep on the floor. Well he was on the floor for the first 4 hours and there was no way I was going to wake him up to move him so I just nodded and when she left, I put my feet over him to let him sleep on the floor. He slept for another 3 hours but when they started serving breakfast they made me pick him up, which woke him. He did well after that, but I didn’t. I was only able to sleep 2 hours total.

In France, they took my pram away and I couldn’t have it back until I went through customs. So I was carrying Thomas (who fell back asleep during landing), my 7 kg carry on, my 5 kg book bag, and the 5 kg nappy bag through the longest walk of my life. Thankfully the pram was at the baggage carosel. Unfortunately the rest of our luggage wasn’t

We found out that our luggage was being shipped to London. So I spent a good 30 minutes at the baggage claim area trying to get them off the plane they were currently on and back into the terminal. They sent me over on the shuttle and all the way across the next terminal to talk to another department to no avail. Then, finally they told me I had better leave them with the claim or I would miss my train. Too late.

I entered the subway train station and it was like stepping into a hole new world. One floor down from the airport and there were no signs in English. I had to wait in line to talk to a person who spoke very little English to tell me to buy a ticket to Paris, then stand in another line behind a girl that entered about 20 single coins, had two that didn’t work, got them all returned to try again. When it was my turn, my credit cards wouldn’t work. The machine told me to call my bank. Yeah right, they were closed and I didn’t have an international phone and I was very late for my train. Thankfully my US card worked.

I turn around to find the train and there were no signs anywhere. I had no idea where to go. I finally found it, put my ticket to go in through the gate and Thomas and I were stuck on one side and my luggage on the other side. What would I have done if I had my larger luggage? A man came along and helped me get it unstuck. Only to find that they have no lift down to the train. By this time I was so tired and emotional that I’m crying. The guy that helped me get my luggage unstuck helped me down the stairs and got me on the right train. I’m glad they had a map of the stations because they didn’t speak English to announce where we were going or how far till I needed to get off. 11 stops later we were at the Eurostar station.

The station wasn’t just for Eurostar. On no, Eurostar is only a small tiny portion of this really huge station. So I had to again navigate through a few gates (didn’t get stuck this time) and a long walk before I found the right place. I got my tickets printed only to find out that my train had left.

Thankfully the guy at the gate so me in tears and felt pitty on me so gave me a ticket for the next train for no added charges. I was in the premium standard train carriage and it was nice and plush. Though they don’t cater to children very well so when Thomas poo’d his nappy I had to carry him through 3 upper class carriages, the dinning, bar and 8 standard class carriages to find the baby change room (again carrying Thomas and the nappy bag) only to find that Thomas was too big to fit on the change table.

When we finally got back to our table, he played well and ate a snack and I finally got him to sleep 40 minutes before we arrived. Then there was another wait in a line, and one more train. Thomas did ok. He would cry anytime he was put in the pram, but there was no way I was going to carry him more than I had to. We finally arrived in Harpenden only to find we were stuck on the center platform and they didn’t have a lift. Thankfully a nice man saw my predicament and came to help me over. Jon arrived and a short car ride later we had finally arrived.

I think in the end it was a good thing that my luggage was lost. Trying to do all that navigating and train hopping and stairs and etc with two more large bags of luggage would have been a nightmare. Though we wouldn’t have been late or as stressed so it might have been ok. At least on the way home I will be fresh and hopefully not stressed about being late and Thomas will be fresh and not cranky to navigate this hard part. I don’t think it was worth the $400 I saved to go through all of that. And I didn’t even get to see anything cool in Paris.

So I made it, and will remember my travels always. Thomas slept well last night and I got 9 hours myself. We are going to spend the next couple of days moving the last little bits of Leah and Jon out of their old apartment, cleaning it for the next tenants and unpacking their new apartment. I’ll update the blog again when we go to do some touring. And hopefully have some photos of the cousins playing.