She woke up, packed, had some breakfast and was ready
to go. As she walked to the station she felt a considerable amount of stones in
her right shoe. This was most distressing and felt like she was walking on a
beach somewhere in a faraway deserted place. No one was about apart from the
odd drunk and occasional shop keeper. And then there were the people like her,
the travellers with their mountains of luggage which sometimes included
children – if you can call children ‘luggage’ which I’m sure by most parent’s
standards, you can.
She arrived
at Kings Cross St Pancras station at around 5am. Well ahead of schedule which
was a real treat for someone who panics slightly at the thought of running late
or not being organised enough. She bought a couple of forgotten supplies such
as hand cream and gum, before walking through customs, setting off the alarm,
and getting mistakenly padded down by one of Eurostar’s female officer’s. And
there she was sitting in the lounge, waiting. Waiting to walk, waiting to
board, waiting for the small ‘wait in lounge’ sign to change and start flashing
to her particular platform number. As soon as she had settled into the idea of
waiting, a loud announcement (in French) sounded out and the people around her
stopped waiting, and starting walking. She got up and saw the screen
immediately start flashing with the location:
PLATFORM 6 PLATFORM 6 PLATFORM 6
She walked
for what seemed like miles to carriage number 17, wondering if she was indeed
walking to Paris itself. She found seat 24 and began the first 2 and a half
hours of this, her solo adventure. She wondered what this trip would bring, and
imagined all the places and people she may encounter over the next week. Her
ears occasionally popped as she watched the world (or at least England) go by,
and then she did the unthinkable. She turned her data-roaming OFF! No Facebook,
no tweeter, no Instagram and no form of internet communication whatsoever for
the next 7 days. She was completely on her
own and had never felt so liberated. She never knew a world without the
internet could be so refreshing, and for a moment considered doing it permanently.
Feelings of excitement filled her emotions so much so that she almost started
to cry. She soon stopped herself as she realised that she’ll need to save some
of those tears up, for the overwhelming experience of ARRIVAL.
Twenty minutes in the dark and
the train reached day light, by far the quickest crossing she had ever
experienced. After receiving a message from T-Mobile confirming her suspicions,
she saw that France actually looked very similar to England, very green with fields
everywhere. As she sat gazing out of the window, she started to feel a bit peculiar
with the knowledge that the people she knew, weren’t actually that far away at
all. The world became an even smaller place when she received a few text messages
from well-wishers, and continued her journey feeling even more at ease, as the rising
sun blocked out the unknown path ahead of her.
ANOTHER TUNNEL! This time only lasting seconds and she was
then in what looked like some kind of industrial estate from the 1980’s. As she
flicked through the Eurostar magazine trying to avoid the various ‘2 for 1
promotions’, she heard two announcements, one in French and one in English. She
was informed that she had nearly arrived at her final destination, ‘Gare De
Nord’ station.
This was where the real challenge began, as she entered this
new experience ready to take on and embrace absolutely everything that came her
way!
Top Tip: Always carry a map and remember…traffic comes from
the LEFT!
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