A Southern Girl in Paris Part 1.2: Destination

If you missed Part 1.1 of A Southern Girl in Paris, check it out here.

Where I Am Now: I’m currently sitting in the airport in Toronto – this airport is awesome. And, by awesome I mean they have a place to plug my phone and a nice high top table with fancy lighting and free wifi. It’s a dream for me when I usually have to balance my wireless keyboard on my lap while my iPad is precariously sitting on top of my luggage.

Naturally, I would get picked for a random body search. They let me pick between a full body scan or a pat down. I went with the body scan – I didn’t feel like being felt up today. My mom thinks the body scan machines cause cancer – she tells me they are “frying” my eggs. Thanks, Mom. Just when the age factor wasn’t enough now I have to think about my eggs being fried. THANKS!

Getting to Paris

I arrived at Charles de Gaulle around 9:45AM Paris time (3:45AM home time) on Saturday morning. The flight was okay but somehow I failed myself and forgot to secure a window seat. I always get the window seat – window seats and tomato juice are my flight rituals. Well, not this time – and on a 6.5 hour flight, too. I wanted to kick myself. I was wedged between a man and a grumpy French woman. It’s bad enough I have giraffe legs but then add not be able to stretch out whatsoever on top of it. I think I slept for about 3-4 hours with my head down on my tray table. It brought back memories of a similar situation when I went to Ireland – minus the bad life decision of taking Dramamine in hopes of falling asleep. Never felt so out of my mind in my life so no sleep aids for me.

A had given me a few, simple instructions. Get a metro ticket (RER B) and get off at Gare de Nord. She told me it would probably be easier to speak to an actual person (but that I needed to talk “slow” – like that’s a problem? I am from the South) but I decided to go AWOL and choose a self service kiosk.

Finding the metro wasn’t hard but it wasn’t really clear either. There were some type of guards there with machine guns just chillin’ and walking around. Typical day in CDG, I guess. While there are signs in English, it’s not like “Hey, American, go HERE!” There were so many people and drivers trying to solicit me for rides, etc. But, I just kept going and finally found the right signs I needed instead of freaking out and running around asking a bunch of people for help. Cause nothing says you’re a single woman traveling alone like not being aware of your surroundings.

It was all well and good until I found the kiosk and realized it didn’t take paper. I had plenty of paper euro but no coins. I took a chance and turned to the woman behind me. “Do you speak English?” I felt bad because I knew I had dragon breath but desperate times call for desperate measures. Thankfully she did and told me she would give me 10 euro in coins for my paper money. I’m always thankful for those little moments of kindness when traveling.

The train out of CDG was easy to navigate and I knew exactly where I’d be meeting A. Why can’t the New York subway system be this simple? Anyway – once I got off at my stop, A’s instructions said to “go to the highest level and that’s where I’ll meet you.” I looked up the three flights of stairs that led to the highest level and sighed. This would be a common occurrence – escalators everywhere – none of them work. I lugged my bag up to the top only to walk up on about five homeless men laying on the ground in front of me. Obviously I had done something wrong. So, I lug my bag back down the stairs and walked further into the station. I pride myself on being able to travel with one bag but my goal is to just get down to a backpack.

I finally found the upper level of the station and there was A waiting for me, looking a little anxious. It was only then that I found out the “SOS” texts I had sent her she could read but not respond to. So, she was getting texts like “I need help”” “Where are you?” “TAKEN PART 14!” without actually being able to help me. Whoops. It was so good to see a familiar face! I love that girl! I think she is so brave and fierce to be living abroad as an au pair this past year. Can’t wait to see her life blossom!

We got out of the station and headed to Montmartre, where the hotel I reserved was located. I had read mostly good reviews about the area and A highly recommended it as her favorite part of Paris, so I felt good with my choice. Even when we were one street over and saw this window display:

Hotel BoroNali was a great choice – the staff was extremely helpful, especially since I had not originally planned for A to stay with me but since she was able to they helped us out getting situated. The hotel had a very boutique style to it. There was a medium sized dining area where coffee and tea were served in abundance and free to guests. They also had a large spread every morning with many varietites of breakfast fare.

I had no idea I was about to see the world’s smallest elevator. A and I stood around for a couple of minutes trying to decide what could fit in one trip. The notice sign said two people could occupy the elevator. Yes, two French people. Or, one normal sized American. That was mean – but, really – there are no overweight people in France. A and I could have fit but our luggage wouldn’t, too. We started putting the two bags in and surveyed the scene.

A: “Just put the suitcases in and send them up!”

PL: “Who’s going to push the button? It’s not going to go up on its own!”

A: “You’ll fit!” She then literally pushes me back into the elevator, shuts the door, and says, “Bonne chance! (Good luck!)”

#goodthingididnteatbreakfast

They weren’t lying when they said the room was small. Our rooms in Ireland were never this small, but it was quaint and plenty room for two people. I appreciated the simplicity of it. The shower was a very accomodating size, especially compared to most European showers. Also, the water pressure was much better than most of the hotels in the States. That’s probably not a big deal to most people, but it’s good to note. The hotel was extremely reasonable, especially being so centrally located to everything. The metro straight into the city is just a few streets down.