Euro trip 2010 – 2nd leg 100% completed!

3rd stop: Paris

The Paris-leg of the trip did not get off to a great start. When we got off the train late at night and had trekked through some of the shadier neighborhoods of downtown Paris, we were not too thrilled to find out from the hotel front desk-guy that the hotel was temporarily (read: 2-3 days!) without hot water, that the only available room was a smoking room, that there was no fridge in the hotel room for Ethan’s milk, that there were no ironing boards available in the whole hotel, that we’d have to pay a €20 deposit just to borrow an iron and finally, that all other hotels in the area were currently fully booked and that we would not be offered a discount or compensation as he had just told us about the hot water and given us the option to go elsewhere! Phew!

We decided to suck it up for the night and accept the poor conditions, paid the deposit for the iron and checked in. The guy kindly gave us someone else’s room (someone who had not yet showed up to check in) for the night so we did not have to stay in the smoking room. In all fairness; he did his best and he tried to be helpful, as helpful as he could be under the circumstances.

The morning after I took a taxi to work, which in itself is an accomplishment, as I soon realized that getting a taxi in Paris is near enough impossible if you have not pre-ordered or have very sharp elbows and a knack for cutting lines. Research-queen Shaena and her protégé on the other hand took to the streets to find us a new hotel to stay at due to the above and after canvassing 7 different hotels, they found a Best Western that had one room available. “Sold!” they said and began lugging and tugging our stuff from the crappy hotel to the less crappy hotel. After that and a lunch and a nap they got on the hop-on hop-off to see the sights of Paris.

Besides all of the above, when you are in the nicer areas of Paris, it really is a beautiful city! The landmarks of Paris are truly amazing and you really have to experience them for yourself to really understand, and this is going to sound cheesy, the magic that surrounds the Louvre and the Eiffel tower or just walking alongside the Seine river watching the river boats go by. Fortunately we did have a chance to go out all three of us and walk around and check out some of the sights a bit closer but before we knew it, it was time to board the Eurostar to London…

…well, at least after Ethan bailed us out by flirting and winking with the Eurostar-people after we managed to miss the first train because we did not consider the fact that the Eurostar actually travels across country borders and therefore, going through immigrations and passport controls both for France and the UK is required before boarding the train. Silly us!


4th and last stop: London

London was a whistle stop to say the least! We arrived early in the morning to St Pancras train station slightly delayed after our Eurostar-debacle and a very pleasant train ride under the English channel. We made our way to our hotel as quickly as we possibly could as I needed to get changed and rush to the office to deliver my presentation.

Shaena and Ethan relaxed for a little bit in the hotel and then headed out to check out the ‘Ripley’s Museum’. You may have seen the ‘Ripley’s Believe It Or Not’ TV show at one point or another? Well, this museum is the real-life experience where Mr. Ripley’s whole collection of weird and wonderful items is on display. They came back with some really cool photos so I think we need to pay this one another visit next time we are in London.

As we had our very early flight to Menorca the morning after, we tried to get as much rest as possible so we had a nice dinner at good old Pizza Express and then headed back to the hotel for some R&R.

…and that was it for the work-part of our whistle stop tour of Europe! All in all my presentations went really well and some very constructive conversations were had but business travel sure is tiring! Therefore; my conclusion after a week’s worth of country hopping and business meetings is that all business travels should be matched by the company with an equivalent length all-inclusive holiday. Wonder what my manager will say when I present my idea?