Found Your French Connection

(It is my first time catching a plane from Paris and as I’m visiting from Australia, I am totally unfamiliar with my surroundings. I can speak a little bit of French to necessitate polite greetings etc. within the country but as I am travelling all over Europe and have many other languages to grapple with, I have not been able to learn the language fluently. I leave really early for my flight to give myself plenty of time to get there. However, as I get to the train station, I realise I’ve left my glasses behind and have to run back. I finally get to the train station again and go to pay for my ticket with my card. The card machine will not work and will only accept cash. I count out my cash and realise I must have dropped some coins whilst running and no longer have enough to pay. I’m at a loss of what to do until…)

Person: “Here, I have a few spare coins.” *hands me some money*

Me: “Really? Thank you so much! Merci beaucoup!”

(I get into the train station and follow the signs to the airport train. Unfortunately through the large amount of people at the station, I get very disoriented and end up on the wrong train, heading in the wrong direction. It is only when the train reaches the next station that I realise my mistake. I’ve only had a couple of hours of sleep the night before and I’m so exhausted from carrying my luggage up and down flights of stairs that I just burst into tears. A French woman comes up to me.)

Woman: *In French* “Can I help you?”

Me: *In broken French and English* “Please help. I need to get to the airport!”

Woman: “Here, let me show you where to go!”

(She ended up taking me to the right platform and even finding some English speaking tourists heading in the same direction! I was so grateful to those people for helping a weary, exhausted traveller find her way to the airport!)