Fetching a Staff in Paris

     ...continued

I finally reached Gare du Nord. I started to enter when I turned around an focused on a hotel across the street. I couldn't quite make out the sign on the door, but I thought I could see a symbol for my credit card! I crossed the street to get a better look. Sure enough, the symbol was right there on the door. I opened the door and walked up to the desk. No one was there, but door opened onto the bar next door. I went into the bar and asked if they had a cheap room still available. One of the men at the counter came out and took me back to the desk. They had one available and my credit card was acceptable. At last! I had somewhere to sleep, even if the night would be short. I couldn't get the door open and had to get help, but once I got in the room, I collapsed on the bed and slept like the dead.

Monday morning arrived too soon, but I managed to get myself up and on the street. I started back toward the coach terminal, stopping along the way for coffee and a croissant. I was tired, my clothes stank and I probably looked like a bum, but I knew where to catch the bus I would be there in time. When I arrived at the terminal forty minutes later, I discovered other people were already waiting ahead of me and the office wasn't open for another half hour, so I wandered off to get another coffee. When I returned, the office was still closed and I had to amuse myself looking at the fashion magazines I had picked up by the phone booth the night before.

The office eventually opened. I lined up with all the other travelers. The woman at the desk told me I would have to wait until boarding time before she could give me a seat because I would be traveling standby. I sat down and opened my magazines once more. Once the coach pulled up and the regular passengers began boarding, I gathered my bags and stood near the coach. With only a couple minutes to go before the coach left, the woman from the counter stepped on to make a count. Three empty seats left. I was on! I quickly threw my bag and walking staff in the luggage compartment and practically up the stairs to find a seat.

The coach pulled away a few minutes later. I was going to make it to London after all! I wasn't going to be stranded in Paris any longer. By the time we reached the outskirts of Paris, exhaustion took hold of me. I dozed off the best I could in the coach seat and before I knew it, we had arrived in Calais and were getting ready to board the Hovercraft to cross the Channel. If I had the chance to plan my time in Paris again, I would have arranged to stay in hotel in the first place, instead of ending up staying in one by accident. That Monday was a Bank Holiday in England, so many of the attractions I wished to visit in London were closed. I arrived in London just in time to make connections with the friend I was visiting in my last three days of vacation, so I didn't bother trying to figure out how to spend a quiet day in London. And I had would have been so exhausted after a second sleepless night of traveling that I probably would have been forced to search out some quiet park bench and sleep once I reached London.