Voyage Karma

Yesterday we returned from Chicago. We had an absolutely amazing time and really wish we could have stayed an extra week. Ten days have never flown by that fast. What I want to write about first (for those of you who didn't get the story first hand) is the trials and tribulations that we endured throughout our travels to and from Lille.


In the interest of saving a little money our plane tickets were booked to leave from London/Heathrow airport. By Eurostar trains London is only about an hour and a half away from Lille, but Eurostar is also quite expensive especially if you need to buy tickets around Christmas time only a week or two before traveling. So we settled for a 40euro bus to London rather than the 250euro train. This turned out to be the best (and worst) decision we could have possibly made. That was because of the total shut down of the Eurostar system the day before we were scheduled to depart.

Due to a record amount of snow that fell on Northern France coupled with the "extreme" cold, the trains all broke down. Apparently 50million euros doesn't buy too much these days. The snow-guard on the bottom of these trains failed to keep snow and ice from accumulating in the electrical system. When the trains left the cold France air and went into the much warmer Chunnel Tunnel the snow and ice melted, shorted out the electrical system and stopped five trains dead in the tunnel. The French and English had no idea what to do so of course they did what any European country would do in that situation...nothing at all and try to divert the blame. There were 2000 people trapped on trains for something like 12-14hours with no food and no information.

With no idea how to fix this problem Eurostar totally stopped all train travel between France and England leaving over 100,000 people stranded; the only secondary option would be to drive and take the ferry across the Channel. Thank God we were cheap and booked a bus.

Let's go back a little over a week to December 20th.

10:15p.m. - Kathryn and I were packed and out the door towards the bus stop. That day we had an extra inch or so of snowfall, and we wanted to get there early to be prepared for any problems the weather might cause. Little did we know what kinds of problems we were in for.

10:55p.m. - We arrived at Gare Lille-Europe on the Boulevard de Leeds where we were told to meet the bus. What we were told by the man at the Eurolines counter was the bus would arrive sometime between 11p.m. and 11:30p.m., we would board shortly after that and leave for London at midnight. Gare Lille-Europe is the second major train station in Lille, and it is mostly outside. Yes they had glass walls enclosing the station, but there were gaps between them and the doors were always open. This was where we had to wait for the bus. The temperature was the same as outside, but at the very least we were shielded from the wind. We found a group of other people also waiting for the bus and joined them.

11:45p.m. - A bus pulled up and everyone grabbed their bags and rushed over. Its destination was Southern France, and we dragged ourselves back to the station. We were beginning to get a little concerned. Luckily so were the other French people we were waiting with, and they had cell phones. One person called the Eurolines office trying to find out where the bus was and when it might be arriving. The person on the other end told him they didn't have any information.

12:30a.m. - Still no bus, and still no information from the Eurolines office.

1:00a.m. - There was a loud announcement over the P.A. system saying that the station was closing and everyone had to vacate. There were about 20 or so of us waiting for this bus so the general idea (between Kathryn and I anyway) was that they would allow us to continue waiting in the very top corner of the station until the bus arrived. We were wrong. They sent security over with a very large German Sheppard, and instructed us that they had no connection with Eurolines and that we all needed to grab our bags and go wait outside in the 25degree snow and wind.

1:15a.m. - A group of four or five people (one of whom was probably 70+ years old) went across the street to the Crown Plaza Hotel seeking refuge. All of them were immediately turned away back into the cold. It was unbelievable how inconsiderate and insensitive the French could be in certain situations. In general the French are kind and helpful, but not this night. It was also at about this time that someone called Eurolines again to try and find out what was going on. This time we got some "good" news. We were told the bus was en route and should be there in 30min.

2:00a.m. - A bus pulled up and everyone grabbed their bags and rushed over. It was going to Eastern Europe. We went back over in front of the station.

2:45a.m. - People are huddled together under blankets on a bench; others are bouncing around and doing jumping-jacks to try and stay warm. The bus still hasn't come. Back on the phone with Eurolines the person was transferred to speak with someone at an office in Paris who still had no information. The person on the phone told the representative that we had been informed the bus would arrive in 30min and that was almost an hour and a half ago. The representative’s response: "well it must be your fault." He literally said it was OUR FAULT that the bus wasn't there yet. Then we were hung up on. So we called back and after about 10 seconds of explaining we were hung up on again.

3:00a.m. - It was now three hours after our buses scheduled departure time, and four hours since we arrived at the station. We were both freezing cold, Kathryn could barely stand her feet were so frozen, and we were pretty discouraged by the lack of humanity exhibited by the French. It was at this time that someone new got on the phone with Eurolines, and was being told that the bus was "Annuler" (cancelled). It was also at this time that Kathryn and I were starting to freak out because the trains were shut down so we couldn't get to London that way, and the 7am bus to London was totally sold-out which was why we chose the midnight bus in the first place. The bus being cancelled and all, we figured we were out of options and would be stuck in France forever. We called Fiona to see if it would be possible to get picked up. She was awake and said that would be fine.

3:03a.m. - We could see a bus pulling off the expressway and heading our direction. Having been told that the bus was cancelled no one really believed this was it. When it came to a stop a large rather round British man got off, and yelled "Eurolines to London, hurry up and get on!" We quickly called Fiona back to inform her not to come, and then got on the warm bus as quickly as possible. Six hours later we pulled in to the bus station in London.

We had a few hours to kill so we got some breakfast and then tried to figure out the best way to take the underground to Heathrow. Other than the mishap at the beginning the trip went very smooth. Kathryn and I got seats next to each other in the Economy Plus section of the plane and in an exit row so we had more than enough room. After only 8hours in the air (the flight was scheduled for 9hrs) we touched down in Chicago.

I titled this entry "Voyage Karma" because I think that was exactly what happened to us. We were forced to endure harsh conditions of icy wind and below freezing temperatures for hours as well as rude and inconsiderate French people. This was all made up for by our flight back to London. Due to the Christmas "Underpants Bomber" and the anticipation of strengthened security at the airport we made sure to leave about three hours early for our flight. We got there so early that they couldn't give us our seats when we checked in, and had to get them at the gate. When we got to the head of the line at our gate the lady quickly found our tickets and told us "congratulations we decided to give you more comfortable seats." Then she handed us two business class tickets. I have never had a more comfortable eight hour flight in my life (even when I was upgraded to business class to Athens). We moved quickly from Heathrow to the train station St. Pancras, got some breakfast at the station and were back home in Lille by 2:30p.m. We immediately went to sleep.

I cannot say enough how great of a time we both had in Chicago. It was awesome seeing friends and family, and just all around feeling totally comfortable and relaxed. We resume school on Monday; go for about a month, then have Winter Holiday vacation until February 22nd. Kathryn and I are so excited for the next eight or more months here. Let's just hope my Dad's cooking school buddy comes through and we can spend the summer working in Sardinia!


A bientôt,

Jordan and Kathryn