Voyageant

So I know this is a version on a theme, but I just loved the fact that the Coloc' decided to decorate for the party with this huge British flag. I couldn't ask for a better bunch! It was so hard to say goodbye to my parents today, and I'm not going to lie...I ended up wearing sunglasses so no one could see that I was rather teary. It is going to be even stranger knowing I'm not going to be seeing them for at least the next four months.

You know the problems I have had no matter when I travel in France? Correct, there was a train strike on the very day I had to travel to Les Sables d'Olonne...so this is now twinned with the ferries strike when I tried to travel to France and the baggage handlers' strike when I tried to fly home for Christmas. Never travel with me in France, I think I just don't have any luck!

So my journey was meant to be:-

Caen - Le Mans - Nantes - Les Sables d'Olonne

This journey then turned into:-

Caen - Paris Saint-Lazare - Paris Montparnasse - Nantes - Les Sables d'Olonne

So yes, this did involve wheeling a massively heavy suitcase through the Paris Métro. So, here are my thank yous to strangers:-
- The SNCF woman who saw me looking panicked about where I needed to go
- The guy who lifted my case onto the Caen - Paris train
- The woman who helped me move suitcases out of the luggage rack so I could put my case on the bottom rack
- The guy who lifted my case off the Caen - Paris train
- The SNCF guy who changed all my reservations so I wouldn't have to run on the Métro
- The other SNCF guy who opened a side gate so I didn't have to struggle with the barriers, then carried my case down two flights of stairs
- The guy who pushed my case up the ramp on the stairs because I couldn't pull it up at Montparnasse
- C, my new French friend who chatted with me for two hours on the Paris Montparnasse - Nantes train, and then carried my case up and down all the necessary stairs so I didn't have to
- The SNCF guy who chased after me with my journal that I had left on his desk while stressing about changes

I think that's it. The kindness of strangers today has really overwhelmed me, and made a very stressful journey that little bit less stressful. Even though I was meant to arrive at 6pm, and arrived at 10pm instead.

So I met my colleagues for the first time as well today, and what a lovely bunch. I'm one of the last to arrive, yet I didn't feel left out at all...everyone was just so welcoming! Ended up staying in Abi, Gio and Ellie's house, all in the same bed (even though mine is literally two minutes away!) so we could continue the conversations into the night. I think I had past the point of exhaustion by that point so could keep awake!