The Strike

April 2, 2010 - En Route to Paris

What a journey this has been! I went to bed early last night so waking up this morning at 4:40 wasn't too horribly painful. I took an early tub to Embankment station where I was picked up by the tour company International Friends at 6:20. There was some initial confusion when it was discovered that I wasn't on the passenger list for some reason. I was so thankful that my mom has always stressed being prepared because I had printed off and brought my confirmation e-mail of my booking. They let me on the coach finally and we pressed on. I was extremely happy to not have to share my seat on the coach and snoozed a bit on my way to Dover, where we were to board the ferry.

Things were going fairly uneventually in Dover as we boarded the ferry. We did board a bit later than expected but it was a normal, relaxing journey until it was announced that SeaFrance (our ferry operator) was now on strike. The engines seemed to shut off and we came to a standstill. Everyone on board just kind of nervously looked around at one another. They told us that it would be 15 minutes until we were in port in Calais, France. At this point, we were sitting right next to shore. Two hours later, they said it would be 30 minutes before they found out if we were going to get a port or if we were going back to Dover. Surely they can't just leave us out in the English Channel right? Wrong! We ended up being on the ferry for a total of six hours! They gave us sausages and chips (fries) which was nearly a riot in itself of people just grabbing whatever they wanted from the food area.

We did finally make it off though and I've never been so happy to be on a coach! It did mess up our plans a bit since we can't do the boat cruise tonight but I really am just happy that we didn't get turned around to Dover. Soemtimes I think France just doesn't want me here. : )