Paris Trip: Travel

I was thinking about carrying my Laptop and writing a live travelogue, but then decided against it. It was too heavy for all the walking we were about to do. So I tried to write it down in my mobile notes. But after half a day it proved to be too tedious to type. So till the first half of the day from my mobile.

21st 8.30 PM: Ufff finally after a really long week of working really late everyday, here I’m in the bus station waiting for the bus or coach as they call it here. It’s got delayed by 15 min.

8.45: We are called upon to another bus which was scheduled to go before ours. We went into the bus only to realise that it was almost full and we got the last but one seat. It wasn’t so comfy. Not even as good as the Volvos and the executive coaches back home. It’s ok. I’ve travelled in worse buses for longer durations. For a 48£ return ticket, I don’t have complaints.

11.30: We reached the port of Dover, got the passport stamped and have been waiting for the alst one hour for the ferry that will ferry us across the English Channel. Why can’t they just dig another tunnel for buses also just like they have it for trains?

12.30: Where is the Goddamn ferry???????

22nd 1.00am. Finally the long wait is over and I got into the ferry or rather the bus got into the ferry. When they said ferry, the thing that came to my mind was the one in Goa. The small one used to ferry ppl and cars across the water. But this was like HUGEEEE. There were about 4-5 busses and 6-7 trucks apart from lots of cars in one of the 2 decks available for vehicles. There were restaurants, coffee shops, a book store, a perfume shop and lots of sofas and chars to sit and sleep. After a small tour of the ferry, we settled down for a short nap. It was a 1.5 hrs journey across the channel.

3.30: We got into the bus again and touched the French soil. (Thanks to the 1 hr time diff, it ended up being a 2.5 hrs journey.)

7.00: Arrived at Porte De Bagnolet half an hour late. We were welcomed by French, French and more French. Maps, directions etc.. I realised we should have tried learning a bit of it before going.