Train woes

Ken had a ticket on a train out of Blois at 11:57 Monday morning. The best laid plans. When we arrived at the station about a half-hour before departure, there were trains posted as late on the board. Ken's was listed as on time, but after about five minutes that changed to late, too.

There's Ken pulling his suitcase along toward the Blois train station.

 
The station personnel made an announcement that people going to Paris should get on the train going to Orléans, leaving imminently, and then change to a Paris train there. We hurried out to the platform to find the train and someone to ask. Things were a little (but not too much) confused on the platform.

Ken's train pulls out of the station. He had to change trains in Orléans, about a 45 minute ride up the river from Blois.

Ken verified with an agent that he could board this train with the (non-refundable, non-alterable) ticket he had. So he did. He found a seat and we waited (me out on the platform) for the train to pull away. It left about fifteen minutes late, but fifteen minutes before his scheduled train would have left.

Bye, bye!

He called me from Orléans to say that things there were a mess; there was a problem on the line between Orléans and Paris, and he might have to wait an hour or two before a train could leave. The staff served little boxed lunches to people waiting.

This is a good reason for not trying to take a train to the airport on the day of departure. Ken was not in a hurry and not in danger of missing his plane. He got the first train out to Paris then on to the airport and to his hotel without having to stress about making the flight. He'll probably blog about it when he gets a chance. I'll be tracking his flight which is scheduled to take off later this morning.