I might just be delirious but sometimes I look back on my life and laugh on how much stupid stuff I’ve been allowed to get away with.
After Germany my “schedule” had me traveling by train from Frankfurt to Paris. Once again, I had no plan and no idea where I was going. I was waiting for a train to show up, but not entirely sure what train it would be. Eventually one arrived that matched some of the numbers on my ticket, just like the lotto. So I jumped on and when they didn’t kick me off I decided I was on the right one. Also keep in mind, I’ve never been to Europe before and certainly had no idea what a Parisian train station looked like but I figured it would be the one that a lot of people would get off at.
Soon the train ground to a halt, a little sooner than I thought but it was a high speed rail so I figured I must have lost track of time. I jumped off and looked around… Silence… No one was around and only about 20 people got off. So I turned around and got right back on before something bad happened to me… You know like getting stranded in the middle of nowhere France. So, sure enough 3 hours later we pulled into a bustling train station with banners saying Paris everywhere. I prayed that they didn’t just hang up Paris banners in France for kicks and hopped off.
Okay, made it to Paris physically unscathed… Now what? No idea, no plan, no hotel, no contacts and no clue. Only logical thing to do now was to wander around aimlessly until something fun happened. In a matter of 6 hours I walked from the major train station to the Louvre, Le Arc de Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. By now it was around 6PM local and I hadn’t eaten or found a place to sleep. Luckily I wasn’t completely without a plan. I scouted a hostel in the area and made my way for it…
NO BEDS AVAILABLE!? What about floor space? Couch? I’ll sleep with her… No? Okay…
Plan B, the row of hotels down the random road outside the hostel…
Hotel number 1, NO VACANCY
Hotel number 2, Doesn’t like English speakers and doesn’t speak mandarin apparently.
Hotel number 3, BINGO! 62 Euro a night works for me. I had a bed now, albeit a crappy little one with a crappy little shower, but who am I to complain.
I guess I wasn’t being completely honest when I said I didn’t have a plan. At this point in life I was doing something called hashing. It’s not what you think, it’s actually a running group called the Hash House Harriers. Basically we’d drink beer, run and do all kinds of faux ritual stuff. I discovered and made contact (I guess I lied about not having contacts too) with the Paris Hash House Harriers and found that they were having their 666th hash the weekend I was there. So the second night I was in Paris I went to a bar and found them.
Hashers from England, Scotland, Australia, Canada, all over Europe and even a few American were in Paris for the hash. I got to chatting with one of the locals, who was actually from Canada and spoke English and French. He had an apartment in Paris and offered me a spot there to sleep. He also had another hasher from Switzerland staying with him so he said one more wasn’t any inconvenience. I happily accepted the offer and the next night I packed my stuff, checked out of the hotel and moved in to the apartment.
The following day I was supposed to leave for Barcelona. I decided that I had a place to live, a fun group of new friends and for once a bit of comfort. Therefore, it was in my best interest to change my flight and go directly from Paris to Rome and skip Barcelona. Besides, the Aussies warned me that everyone gets mugged in Barcelona, so it was probably safer for me. Odds were good that I was going to be wandering around quite a bit looking for a place to stay. Actually that’s exactly what happened in Rome, which was probably the scariest part of the entire trip.
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