How are you handling staying at home and the disruption to your routine? It’s been an interesting transition at our house. I’m still coming into the office most days as we continue to sort out vacation plans for those traveling in the next few months. As most clients are not ready to start planning that next vacation just yet, I thought starting this week I would share some of my favorite vacation stories.
My story this week is about how we lost our 11 year old in Paris this past summer…
We were nearing the end of our European vacation and had just left the rest of our travel party in London as we took the train to Paris. By this point we had been in Europe nearly 2 weeks and had visited London, Belgium, Denmark and Norway. Hannah is no stranger to travel and we usually give her the lead to navigate the airports, train stations, neighborhoods, etc. However, as I mentioned, we had just arrived in Paris. We were taking the Metro to our hotel, it was only a few stops from Gare du Nord to St-Michel. According to a quick Wikipedia search, Gare du Nord is the busiest train station in Europe with over 700,000 passengers daily.
When we got to the platform there were at least half that many perched to step onto the next train and equally as many getting off that same train. Normally we work as a family and Hannah positions herself between us so if something happens as we board she’s always with one of us.
That didn’t happen.
In the push of people, Hannah made it on the train, we did not.
The doors closed (nope, they don’t stop for anything, we tried) we were able to communicate through the window for her to get off at the first stop and wait for us. Of course, we were also able to communicate that with everyone else crammed against the window, who all now knew that she was alone. As the train pulled away, I’m quite certain that my husband and I looked exactly like those cartoon characters who’s eyes bug out and jaws drop to the floor, but we managed to keep our cool. We never entertained the offer (verbally at least) that she wouldn’t be waiting for us at the next stop. Remember, this was her first trip to Paris, she had not yet navigated their metro system and wasn’t exactly sure where the hotel was at that point.
An excruciating 3 minutes passed until the next train entered the station. We jumped on as soon as the doors opened (my apologies for being the ugly American who didn’t wait for anyone to get off the train first). Quickly we arrived at the next station and found Hannah standing right there with a lovely local lady who waited with her to make sure everything was ok.
Now, you may be wondering how this made the list as one of my favorite travel stories! It’s at the top of the list because it taught all three of us what to do when something unexpected occurs and that panic is not the answer.
You also may be wondering whether or not you would trust me with your own travel plans when I couldn’t even keep up with my own child when I was on vacation.
I’ve got two answers for you:
#1 – I’ve already navigated the worst and given you a detailed plan on how to handle a similar situation.
#2 – Let’s support each other through this unsettling time – by your entrusting me with your vacation plans you are supporting a local small business, getting personalized attention and in turn supporting my family (maybe even future therapy sessions as an adult when Hannah flashes back to the time she was lost in Paris)
If you have a story you would like to share, I would love to have you post it to our Facebook page.