What?? Who came up with that quote? Well whomever it was, he has clearly never flown a nine hour flight between two major international airports, followed by a four hour train ride, and a twenty minute cab, all with two stinky, misbehaved dogs. I assume he also didn't venture to lands where no one spoke his language. Getting to Montpellier, France was NO fun, but thankfully, after two short days, I think it's going to be worth it. I am thrilled to finally be starting this blog (as I promised so many that I would!) as a means to capture our journey as two Texas transplants to the South of France, to hopefully lend some travel advice to those interested, and of course as a way to keep in touch with all of our family and friends back home!
We left our home in Houston at 12:30 P.M. on Tuesday. We arrived at our new (temporary) home in France at 4:30 P.M. Wednesday. Figure in the seven hour time difference, and that amounts to a solid 21 hours of travelling. Yikes! And I can assure you, lesson learned - I will NEVER do that again! It started out fine. I was especially nervous about flying the pups in the baggage hold, but Air France is a great airline, and they did a fantastic job of explaining the process and making me feel better about it. Of course, I still cried like a baby when it was time to say bye. After the dogs were sent off, everything was pretty smooth sailing until we landed in Paris. That's when things got interesting. After touchdown in Paris, we experienced a number of minor delays: 20 minutes to reroute and taxi to a new gate, and 30 minutes to get off the plane. After a 9 hour flight, this 50 minute delay was significant. And all I can think of is that my dogs have stuck in their crate for 12 hours. We exit the plane and head toward baggage claim. Delayed again! The trams were not running between terminals due to "security reasons." This is obviously not welcome news. We never did figure out the reason the trams were down, but after another 30 minutes of waiting, one of them started up again and we stepped on a
very crowded tram headed towards baggage claim (and the doggies!). We snatched our suitcases and hauled over to the "oversized baggage" area in search of the pups. For now, I will just say that we located both dogs successfully and continued on. (More on this subject another day.)
After picking up Max and Min, it was time to find the train station and give the dogs a potty break. In retrospect, this was a huge mistake. Stress levels were already high for all four of us, and energy levels very low. We should have found the nearest hotel and gotten some rest. But we didn't. We knew we had just under two hours from the time the plane landed to the time our train left. Have you done the math yet? If you factor in a few minutes of walking time around the airport, it leaves us about 20 minutes to find the train station, print out our tickets, and board the train. Yep, we missed the train. By about five minutes. The next one didn't leave for another two hours, so we waited. Neither of us had ever taken a train before, so we had no idea what to expect. It was actually very nice and comfortable, and under different circumstances we might have enjoyed it, but with lots of luggage, a language barrier, and two upset and squirmy dogs, it was a mess. First of all, you have about five minutes to board the train, and that is for everyone and all of their luggage. That leaves no time at all to wonder which car your seat is in, or to find your seat, and there were very few (French or English speaking) people around to ask for help. Keep in mind, during all of this confusion, I've got Max in my right arm, Minnie in my left. Kerry is lugging two big suitcases and the broken down dog crate. He did a great job though and managed to stow the luggage and find our seats pretty quickly. Thank goodness! The train pulled away about 30 seconds after I stepped on board, we barely made it. Now we just needed the dogs to settle in for a nap - which took 45 minutes - and in four hours we would be in Montpellier!
As the train approached our stop, we gathered our belongings and prepared for a speedy departure, as if we had any other choice. I still can't believe how close I was to getting left on the train platform in Paris with a dog in each arm and nothing more. But here we are! All four of us, healthy (not yet happy) and in Montpellier! Next challenge: a cab to the apartment. Actually, Schlumberger was gracious enough to reserve a taxi with our name on it to be waiting for us when we got there. Too bad we missed our train, and therefore our taxi too. We found the taxi spot just outside the train station, none of the drivers looked too pleased to see us travelling with two dogs in tow. And of course, they don't speak English. We ended up pulling the apartment confirmation up on the iPad (I had downloaded it before we left, thankfully) and managed to find a cab to apartment.
We made it. Houston, Texas to Montpellier, France. Twenty one hours, two dogs, two suitcases, and a dog crate. Exhausted, dirty, and hungry. The next four hours we spent cleaning up, finding a take out pizza joint, and wondering what on earth we had gotten ourselves into. Not to worry though, it gets better from here. To end on a positive note, I will share what I think is my very favorite thing about France so far: a big window full of never-ending sunshine and a cool breeze. The view from our apartment:
This, I could get used to!
