A Full 24 Hours Of Travel- Shem

It was bitter sweet leaving Biarritz because we really enjoyed our time there but we wanted to continue on with our trip. Sylvie offered to take us to the train station which we were very grateful for because we didn't want to chance our luck with the bus in the morning when our train was leaving at 8:10.

Two days prior to us leaving we reserved tickets insuring that we would have a spot on the train this time. As we traveled through the french country side Andrea slept the whole 4 hours which is not common. The scenery was beautiful and going through the mountains was gorgeous. One town that I would like to see and visit that we passed through was called Lourdes and seems like an amazing village. A conversation that I overheard on the train is that the village was made famous in the Catholic church hundreds of hears ago by people being healed there.

We made our first of three changes in Toullouse where we just hung out in an insanely hot room that smelt like really bad B.O. I felt bad for this pregnant lady who had to sit behind the culprit of the smell who not only smelt bad enough to stink up the whole room but he had to have constant conversation. Once someone had stopped talking to him he would immediately strike up another conversation with another random traveler. It got so bad he tried coaxing one girl into a conversation three times making small jokes but she just kept looking forward and acted as though he was not there. This was our first introduction to some of the interesting characters you will find in train stations.

Our next train headed for Montpellier. The scenery was not as nice as the first but still good to see the countryside and small farms. Time seemed to be going by fast and we felt as though we would be in Antibes in no time.

After arriving in Montpellier we did what we always do and first found out what time our next train left and the platform it would be leaving on. Everything seemed in order as we waited the 2 hours for our departing train. The train we were to take was 25 minutes late but it was not going to cause any conflicts with our future stops and changes because we had about 2 hours of wait time between each stop.

The train arrived and we got on thinking that we were headed to Marseille as our tickets say the platform and the assumed time indicated. We were traveling for about a half an hour when the ticket man came by to check our tickets. he looked at our tickets and then with incredibly fast french he demanded us to get up with all of our bags. I spoke to him in French but for some reason he felt that communicating in French and English both at the same time would be more effective which actually made the whole process very confusing. He began to tell us that our tickets said Marseille and that the current train that we were on would not pass through Marseille, which it wouldn't, and that we had to get off immediately. This didn't make any sense because we had reserved these tickets days prior and there was no problem then. He then showed us a map of where the train was headed which was Lyon, this is where our day felt like it was about to unravel.

What had happened is that when we reserved the tickets the man who reserved them for us missed one change somehow. There should have been a change between Montpellier and Marseille and that change should have been at a station called Avignon. The train that we were currently on was going to pass through Avignon but our tickets showed Marseille so the train man insisted on us getting off at the next stop so we can get a train to Marseille instead of letting us stay on the train to Avignon and getting a train from there.

As we got off the train and watched it leave we were still really confused at what was happening but we knew we needed to catch the next train possible train so as not to miss our connection out of Marseille. I went down and spoke to information and the guy took one look at the same ticket the man on the train looked at and he said that we were on the right train. The frustration and confusion was burning inside me but knowing there was nothing that could be done now I asked how long to the next train and will we still be able to make it to Antibes (our final destination) before the night ends. He turned his screen towards me which showed we would only be able to make it to Marseille that night and he said, "C'est impossible.". I now had the challenging task of explaining all this to my little wife who was still waiting with our bags on the platform.

When I first told Andrea that we were not going to make it to Antibes that night she didnt't believe. When I told Andrea again that we were not going to make it to Antibes that night she still didn't believe me, I guess that's why you shouldn't joke around too much. I then had to break down what all had transpired when we were forced off the train and that, that one act had a rippling effect on all of our other trains and that we would miss the connecting train out of Marseille to Antibes by an hour. Now she believed me but it was probably better when she didn't because she was as upset and frustrated as I was.

We got onto the next train to Avignon and then from there we made the connection to Marseille. By this time it was around 11:30 at night and the station was clearing out after the last trains were departing for the night and none of which were going in our direction until 5:30 a.m. We went to the information and asked about possible buses going to Nice which is just 20 minutes past Antibes and there was none. The distance between Marseille and Antibes was over 70 kilometers so a taxi would have been extremely expensive. Even the thought of a renting car came to us but the rental places were closed for the night.

The reason it was so important that we get there that night is because we had already booked and payed for a bed and breakfast so if we didn't arrive that night we would be throwing away close to $100. Furthermore, we were incredibly tired and all we could think about after fourteen hours of traveling was sleeping on a bed.

Exhausting all possible resources and refusing to spend more money on another place to stay we decided we would sleep in the station.

It was late and and everything was closed except McDonalds, of course. I didn't think the Big Mac could get worse but it does. Maybe they make the Big Mac taste so bad so that you buy a McFlurry or an ice cream to get that taste out of your mouth, good business sense I guess. Another reason we got McDonalds is so that we could use their free wi-fi without getting the boot.

We got online and told our B&B lady that we had missed the last train out and that we would not be making it to stay our first night. Trying to to keep our minds off the fact that the next 5 hours could get crazy we stayed at McDonalds (it was in the station) and online as long as we could.

1 a.m. came very fast and things got very interesting. The Marseille station during the day I'm sure is very nice but at night it is creepy. I feel that the most interesting people come out at these hours. There were about 30 people left in the station which comprised of 4 or 5 bums who tried bumming cigarettes off us and everyone else at least twice. There were a few groups of backpackers and then people who might of been like us and missed their train.

Things started to get weird and kind of horror filmish when they (the security guards) wrangled us (the survivors in the station) in a small area with about 6 small benches, clearly not enough seating for 30 people. As one guard stayed watch of us the other two went around the station doing two things, bringing in the stragglers and LOCKING the doors (even the bathroom doors), no one comes in, no one gets out. Andrea and I had secured our post by one of three double doors that are entrances during the day. We had bags against the wall and used them as pillowish supports.

As the night drew on we layed  on the floor which was really dirty and Andrea actually at one point said, "I wish we could lay on that floor over there." as she pointed to an area where a man was buffing the floor that was just beyond the security guard. Our makeshift bag floor bed was seemingly comfortable but our realistate was poor. We had thought we picked a good spot until we heard a pull and a jerk on the doors, they were trying to get in! It was like those zombie movies where the survivors are locked in the this random building and zombies are constantly rattling on the doors and windows. Even when the people outside realized they couldn't get in they would hit the door or give you a dirty look like 'I'm gona get you'. Maybe it wasn't that dramatic but it felt like it at the time.

Sleep came surprisingly and we managed to get a solid 3 hours, maybe. We woke up right at 5 somehow and my first thought was, we made it through the night, no bags stolen, our bodies were still in tact, we're doing ok. We got on our train to complete a full 24 hours of travel, what a feat!