London Calling ...

So here's the deal ... because of snow and ice in Calgary ... my plane was delayed by over an hour. I forgot to mention that my buddy Steve from Regina, who also lives in London now, happened to have an 8 hour layover in Calgary so we got to hang out for a bit. Which was nice! I also met a really nice guy from Calgary in the airport that I hung out with for awhile but who now thinks I'm crazy (I'll discuss this later.)

When I booked my trip to Paris for New Year's Eve, I only had ONE option for my Eurostar Train there, and that was the 10h25 am train to Paris from London. My flight from Canada was due to arrive at 6h50am. I did the math and realized I wouldn't be able to make it home between the two, as I would just have enough time to get to the train station at a decent hour. So, my first class luggage from Canada was just going to have to come with me. AWESOME.

Now, as I mentioned in a previous post, London shuts down at the first sight of snow. I'd been hearing horror stories all week of troubles with the Eurostar because London had gotten more snow over Christmas than it had gotten in YEARS. The city was in a panic and transport was in shambles, apparantly. The Eurostar trains actually stopped in the underground tunnels for hours at a time because of it. So, needless to say, I was a bit nervous about booking a train so close to my flight time, but thought it was worth it to spend NYE in Paris, and got some insurance just in case.

My flight being delayed by almost an hour and a half turned this idea upside-down. I was literally the first person off of my plane and I ran to customs, was the first one thru, and ran to the baggage claim area. My bag was literally the LAST bag to come out. LAST. I ran to the taxi stand and asked how much for a taxi from Gatwick to St Pancras. 100 pounds, apparantly. NO THANKS. I ran to the train station, tried to get a ticket, saw that my train was due to arrive, said screw the ticket (AGAIN!) and ran to the platform. I get to the platform. No train. I ask the TFL guy "Is this the platform to the train to St Pancras?" "No, this is platform 4 ... you need Platform 2!" AHHH! I start running, and see the nice guy from the Calgary airport, he smiles and starts talking to me about the flight ... I barge past him screaming "I'M GOING TO MISS MY F'ING TRAIN!" Haha poor guy. I'm sure he thinks I'm a total psychopath now. Nice thing about London ... I'll probably NEVER see him again. Haha.

I run to the platform and my train is gone. Amazing. BUT, because of all the delays, etc one happens to be only 10 minutes behind it. Okay, good. I get on the train (sans ticket, eek) and watch the clock all the way to St Pancras. With Eurostar you typically have to show up about a half hour early for customs, luggage screening, etc. With their delays, they've been recommending coming up to an hour early. I don't even have my ticket yet, I have to pick it up, get thru customs, get my luggage screened AND get on the train by 10h25. I arrive at St Pancras at 10h05. Not looking good. I run for my ticket, where the concierge guy notices my panic. He tells me who to talk to to get thru quickly and wishes me good luck.

I go flying into the departures area, run past the lineups to wicket 3, explain my situation and they rush me thru to customs. I get thru customs and am getting my luggage screened when the lovely man there decides to start hitting on me AFTER I tell him I need to make my train. His female co-worker scoffs at him and says "She needs to GO ... Talk to her when she gets BACK!" Which I found quite amusing. I run thru, and get on my train at 10h19. Not bad, not bad. I sit next to the sketchiest lady and her kid and have a little nap. I wake up in Paris, ecstatic to actually be there. I've wanted to be in Paris for NYE for years! Becky is waiting for me on the platform, we have a little hug and drag my luggage to her apartment. We get to her apartment and go to take a picture ... no camera. I had my camera on the Eurostar cos I was putting the pics on my computer. I've called the stations (London and Paris) and no one has it. I'm guessing Sketchy Mom of the Year now has a new camera. FML. I'm really glad I had all my pics on my computer, but still ... so mad. Not what I needed! So, needless to say, not a lot of photos were taken in Paris on NYE. Totally and completely GUTTED.

Had a little nap at Becky's, got up, and got ready. We went to a party that cost 20 euros but was all you can drink and was for international students in Paris so it was people from all around the world. We got there at 10h30 and it was a little dull for our liking. We wanted to be at the Eiffel Tower by 12 so we left at 11h30 totally underestimating the crush of people that had the same idea we did. We wound up celebrating the stroke of 12 in an underground metro station with a crowd of thousands of people and a lot of champagne spraying everywhere. It was actually one hell of an experience and pretty fun to see! I'll never have an experience like that again in my life. We packed ourselves onto the next metro and made our way to the Eiffel Tower. I have NEVER seen so many people in my LIFE. It was insane. Not to mention a little dangerous since people were randomly lighting fireworks everywhere, not caring if they hit people.

Becky and I decided to do the London countdown at 1am (London is 1hr behind Paris) and have our own party. So, we made a video of us popping champagne and the Eiffel Tower actually lit up all gorgeous and twinkly again at 1am! It was incredible and totally what I dreamed a NYE in Paris would be! Funniest part of the night was when I misunderstood a French man telling me that he was Marsallais (meaning he was from the city of Marseille), I thought he'd said that his NAME was Marsallais, which I though bizarre, but then again, French people have named their children after 90210 characters in the past, so why not. So he says "Je suis Marsaillais..." and I go "Oh, hi, I'm Meaghan!" to which everyone had a good laugh at my expense. Shining moment for me, that one!

The metro stations were closed so we wandered around FREEZING until we found a random pub to hide in. We stayed there until they wouldn't have us anymore and then Becky and I wound up going back to the international students party where a French man named David professed his love for me repeatedly ... I'm still getting creepy e-mails from that one. Haha. We stayed there until 6am and headed back to Becky's. We were totally sober but having fun so we stayed up all night chatting and wound up ringing in the Saskatchewan AND the Albertan NYE as well. (8am for us. Ew.)

We slept in late, and then headed out on the town again. Becky took me to Oberkampf which is the indie rock mecca of Paris. I loved this neighbourhood and had a blast going to random little pubs all over. They were strange but endearing and I hope to go back one day! We met some boys (of course) and went to their house for a "party" We got there and everyone was asleep. Exciting. We finally made our way home where Bex and I had a massive row and I wound up locked outside. Not so much fun. Things weren't so great after that, and I was definately ready to come home to London.

Got up on Sunday and went to Notre Dame, which I'd seen before but was missing. Took some pics, stood on the centre of Paris. Rumour is if you stand on the centre circle of Paris, you'll come back one day. I wanted to make sure I stood on it this trip because I'm taking a break from Paris and have no immediate plans to go back. I need to adventure to new countries that I haven't visited yet. We're planning a trip to Wales hopefully for the end of January. My amazing friends Guillaume and Mathilde have invited me to Morocco with them next month but I'm gutted because it's during a time that I have to work! :( Bah! Morocco is 1st on my go-to list!!! And we'll hopefully hit up Scotland sometime next month too.

My travels and experiences over Christmas break taught me a lot. I've always known my family means everything to me ... but I definately don't take them for granted anymore. Going away from London has also taught me how much I love this city and how much I belong here. I know I'm supposed to be here and for once in my life I feel like I'm on track and doing what I'm supposed to be doing ... which feels amazing. It's hard being away from those who mean the most but a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do!!

Well, hopefully I'll have some new adventures to post for you faithful non-commenting readers. This week has been brutal because London has been hit by heavy snow (ha! heavy!) and doesn't know how to cope so it has completely shut down which means kids don't go to school which means I don't go to work. I wish I could say it was fun and I was enjoying these snow days but I really need to get back to work and start making a paycheck again! I haven't worked in 3 weeks and my bank account is getting a sad face on it. Haha. Plus, I tried to make it to the pub last night and I couldn't even get there which was frustrating! I miss my car!

Alright, hope everyone back home is doing well. I miss you and love you all lots and lots! (Well, most of you, anyways. Haha)

Take care,
Megs xoxo