It all started at 10:30pm on Dec 17th, 2010. I just finished packing up the rest of my things and thought that since my flight leaves at 7:00am the next morning, I should just sleep at the airport so that I don't miss my flight. I get to the train station at about 11:35pm and find out that the train to the airport isn't working anymore cause it was snowing too hard. So I think, well at least I can wait at the train station and take the 5:00am train to the airport. Little did I know, the train station here shuts down at 1:00am, along with everything else in Lyon. So I'm stranded outside of the station for 4 hours in -10 degrees celcius weather. Thats ten degrees below freezing. I spent the night awake in order to try and keep my blood circulation up and not freeze to death. Wrapped my head in two scarves, four layers under my large jacket, legs wrapped in bath towel, and feet stuffed into my luggage so that they wouldn't freeze to death. Officially the hardest night of my life. It really gave me a new perspective on life though. What homeless people must go through EVERY NIGHT. Trying to survive until the city wakes up and being able to find comfort within a building with heat regulators. Lets just say I was thanking God for being able to keep me safe and warm for a majority of my life. Anyways, 5:00am FINALLY comes around and I'm waiting for the train to come along with maybe 100 other people. The train never showed up because of the snow. They didnt even think of providing a different method of transportation until 5:30am. However, the tram they provided us with didn't stop at the airport. Instead, they said we had to transfer onto a bus. But because there were literally 100's of us, not all of us could fit on the first bus. It was literally a struggle to the death to get on to the bus. I almost disappeared with in the crowd (since i'm like a foot shorter than the average european). I eventually got on but there was such a large struggle that the bus didn't leave until 6:15. By the time we got to the airport, about 50% of the people missed the flight, including me. My plane was still on the ground, but the gate was closed and they refused to let me on. Then I had to pay an obscene amount of money to change my flight to monday even though none of it was my fault. Basically, the craziest, coldest, most stressful night of my life. The only thing that kept me sane through the process is knowing that God was watching over me and knowing that he protected me through the night despite all my unfortunate circumstance. I didn't get sick, I didn't get raped or hurt, and I still have a chance to go to Italy and go home. Not everyone can say the same. Just remember how blessed you are to have a roof over your head, and by the will of God, that you are still safe and alive.
But lesson learned, NEVER EVER rely on France if you need to get somewhere. You MUST have a plan B. France is nothing like America and no one will cater to your individual circumstances. The public transportation will not think about the consequences that their tardiness has caused for hundreds of people. The airlines will not make exceptions even if hundreds of people under the same circumstances on the same flight are about to miss their plane. So what is my plan tonight? Well, my flight to Rome is once again, at 7:00am tomorrow morning. The plan is to head to the airport right after dinner and sleep at the airport. No snow today so hopefully, everything will work out. In the end, I just need to catch my flight home. Thats the most important thing to me...
Pictures from my epic fail journey.
-first picture: head wrapped up
-second picture: legs wrapped in towel and feet plunged in luggage
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