Missed Connections (Camino de Santiago)

I met Tim at the gate for our British Airways flight (operated by American) to Chicago which went smoothly, arriving with plenty of time for beer and pizza. We boarded the flight to London a half hour late and sat on the plane for another hour and a half as thunderstorms and flashes of lightning passed overhead. I was seated next to a young woman from Prague who was flying home to visit family and as the time passed we both began to worry about our next flight connection. Suddenly a hail storm began to pound the outside of the plane and we were de boarded. All the planes that could have sustained hail damage needed to be inspected. Our flight was delayed five hours but we were able to reschedule our London to Paris flight to a 2:45p departure. Arriving in London (late again) we got in line for boarding passes (the front desk in Chicago was not able to print boarding passes). We still had 45 minutes until our flight but the computer system would not print the passes as we were told we didn’t have enough time to get through security. Our only option was to rebook a later flight at 6pm arriving in Paris at 8:10pm. We finally arrived in Paris but missed our EasyJet non refundable flight from Paris to Biarritz. By now we were exhausted and numb as we wandered around the airport trying to figure how to make it to the south of France. There were no trains or flights until the next morning and we contemplated renting a car and driving the nine hours to southern France. We could take a chance and try to get on the only direct EasyJet flight at 7am without a reservation (and another 175 Euros each) or a train from the Montparnasse Train Station in central Paris. We had a conversation with a staff member at a tourist information center and were dissuaded from driving. He gave us a business card for an inexpensive hotel that had a free shuttle from the airport so we rented a room for 63 Euros to get six hours sleep and a much needed shower.

The next morning we were up and in the lobby before 5am and requested a cab to the train station. We were informed that no taxis were available and we would have to take the shuttle back to the airport.  Once back at the airport we split the cost of a taxi that took us into Paris at sunrise and left us at the Montparnasse train station. We attempted to understand the large overhead schedule reader boards and after some frustration found the ticket office which was just opening. We asked for a ticket to Bayonne but their computer systems were down so we were told to just go to the train platform and board the Bordeaux train and buy a ticket once we were on the train. So back to the platform and 45 minutes later the reader board provided the number of the train. We got on the train but knew we had to have a ticket in hand….even asked a fellow who said we needed a ticket so off the train we jumped. We found a printed schedule at a kiosk that listed the train schedule and there was a direct to Bayonne that morning. I attempted to buy two tickets through the kiosk but it would not take my credit card so back to the ticket office and to a different employee and asked for two tickets on the Bayonne train. Economy was sold out so and we purchased two first class tickets at a cost of 128 Euros each. At 8:30am we boarded the high speed TVG train for the five hour ride to Bayonne. Journal: May 3rd..“We joked that walking 500 miles will be easy after all this effort just to get here. I realize this is a pilgrimage and it is not suppose to be easy but I am already exhausted. “