Can we get to France??

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This morning we got up at 5:10am to get to the train station to catch the 6:23am train. I did not go to bed until after one last night because I was up packing and getting all the directions printed out for the trip. I only snoozed my alarm for 10 minutes because I knew that I absolutely had to get up. I got up, made my bed, and put a quick grilled cheese on the stove. I was able to write a few quick Christmas cards to shove under the doors of my roommates. At 5:45am Kyle called to say that the taxi was here and where was I? I grabbed by bags and my food and clunked all my stuff downstairs. When we got down there, there was a big taxi-van. Kyle looked at me and said we have to fit all our stuff in there. I responded, “well we better be able to because we have a lot smaller car then that in France.” We got down to the train station with about 20 minutes to spare. That was okay though because we used the time to call home and say bye. I wasn’t sure if I’ll be able to call from Europe with my phone. We caught the first train to Leeds and from Leeds we transferred to the second train to Manchester Airport. This was almost and hour and a half ride so I definitely took a nap on that ride.

The group all dressed up!
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The train got in to Manchester at the airport at 8:35am, out flight was scheduled to leave at 10:00am. When we found the place to check in there was a huge long line. You had to check in at a little kiosk and then go and turn in your bags. Well at 9:20 they finally opened up another line so we were able to put our bags in. Then we had to go through security still. The security line was outrageous so we asked a person what to do because out flight was leaving in like 20 minutes. She sent us to another security line that was just for domestic flights. Yea, the line was shorter, but there was only one x-ray working. We were in that line with everyone else who still needed to catch a flight in 10 minutes. When we got up to the front I told everyone to just run to the gate as soon as they passed through and not wait for everyone else. Maybe they could stall the flight. Well I got through at the same time as Margeaux so we ran together. I was carrying my laptop and my jackets. So I thought the tickets said gate 14C so we ran in the direction of Gates 1-19. We asked a guy where our flight was and he looks at the ticket and says, “Gate 143, other way, long way, run fast.” Well we get to the end and look at our ticket and it actually said gate 143. So basically, we had to run back the way we came and then to the other side. My hip/leg/butt was practically throbbing by the time we get there. I think I might have pushed a couple people out of the way when I ran. When we get there Josie yells, “Don’t worry they haven’t even started boarding yet.” Basically, I just collapsed on the floor. I was tired, aching and out of breathe.

We asked a guy where our flight was and he looks at the ticket and says, “Gate 143, other way, long way, run fast.”

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The flight ends up taking off 40 minutes late. There was something about the crew needing their legally allotted rest times. Not really sure. The ride was pretty uneventful. So we had to catch out connecting flight at 12:10 in London. When we get to the airport the plane doesn’t have time to dock as it normally would so they bring out some stairs for us to climb down instead. Ramsey and I get on the first shuttle bus to the terminal. When we get there we hurry to the security check point that was for the international flights. I have never been so relieved to see a plane delayed. I looked at the monitor to find our gate number and it said that Flight 344 to Nice was delayed until 13:00. That was good because we never would have made it otherwise. We saw Margeaux and Kyle get in line after us, but never saw Josie. When we got through we headed to the Gate b/c we figured that’s where we’d meet everyone. Josie who was last off the plane and in the last bus got there ahead of us because they rushed her through security. We had enough time to go use the toilette and to buy a soda and sandwich. That was really good. By the time we got back from doing that they were boarding the plane.

Flying over france and the alps
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I got to sit in the window seat and no one was in the middle seat. When we got above the clouds there was SUN!! I sat with the window open and then sun heating my with my ipod for pretty much the entire trip. As soon as we could I ate half my sandwich and got some food in me. They also gave us a sandwich, which was kinda nasty but I ate it just to have some food. At one point we flew over Paris, which unfortunately I didn’t get to see because I was on the wrong side of the plane. I took a nap and when I woke up you could see the Alps through the other side of the plane. As we flew into Nice the sun was setting and it was the most beautiful view. The water was blue blue blue and the airport was right on the water with the waves pretty much crashing right next to the run way. I’m really glad I got to see that as we landed.

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When we got off the plane it was 4:30 Nice time. We went to get our car first thing. And then we practiced fitting all our stuff into the car. I made everyone put all the bags in and then everyone got in and closed the door. It was a tight fit. I had my backpack and Josie’s duffle between my legs in the front seat. They had bags on their laps in the back. Once we got everything in we took everything out so that we could go change into our “nice” outfits for Monaco. We found a restroom in the multi-storey car park that was actually not too bad to change in.

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Then we drove to Monaco, which is the second smallest independent nation. It’s less then 2 square km in total. Driving through there was amazing. You can definitely tell that people there have money. It was that quaint, but expensive feel. All the buildings were perfectly coiffed and decorated for Christmas. We were looking for the Monte-Carlo Casino. When we finally found it, it was a shock. We turned one corner and there it was! Everyone had the same reaction, WOW! It took us a little while to figure out where to park. We went in a no-enter driveway and drove around for a bit.

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The whole square was decorated for Christmas with a huge Christmas tree in the centre. We walked over and went in the lobby part of the main Monte Carlo casino. I got to go in the Monte- CARLO!!! Then we went in some other casino and I played 5 euro in the slot machine. Now I can say that the first time I gambled was in Monaco. That’s kind exciting. No one else seemed too excited about going in the main casino. I don’t think they realized how cool it was, oh well, I did. When we were in the other casino you could tell how Josie thought that gambling was stupid. She kept making really cynical comments about the whole thing. I think she was just really hungry, but it annoys me when people do that. It’s not like we were in there with all our money playing. If we lost 5 euro who cares, we lost it. We went in with the intention of losing it.

Christmas Tree in Monaco in front of the casino
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We were getting hungry being as we had only eaten a sandwich on the plane and had been travelling all day. So we decided to head out of Monaco and find some place that had food and hopefully coffee or red bull. I don’t think we were still in Monaco, but just on the outskirts if we weren’t. We stopped at this little restaurant that was really nice. It was small and a little more posh. But we fit in because we were wearing nice clothes. We all ordered pizzas that were pretty yummy. For dessert we split a tiramisu.

The girls!
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Then it was around 11pm so we decided we had better start driving to Jausiers. We get back on the motorway and pass the airport, when our car starts blinking this gear looking light. The light turned on on the dashboard first as an orange colour then it would turn red and beep at us. We drove for a little bit and it kept changing colour and beeping. We didn’t want to start driving way up into the mountains and have the car stop working. I looked in the glove box for the car manual but there wasn’t one. Josie pulls over at a McDonald’s and tries calling the 24-hr service line. The lady was being really annoying and kept asking where the noise was coming from and was the car running and what did the beep sound like. Then the phone ran out of minutes so Josie decided that we should just return the car. The airport wasn’t too far back so that was fine. We took the car back.

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When we got back to the airport we were all still in our nice attire. Josie and I walk into the office and it was the same lady who had helped us from before. We told her about the light and she took the keys and ran out to look. When she came back in all she said was that we could get a new car. She was going to give us the same type of car, but there weren’t anymore. Then she gave us a choice between two types of cars and I didn’t know what either of those were. I told her that we couldn’t have one that was any smaller, that we couldn’t get any smaller. I kinda hinted that it would be nice we could get a bigger one. She got the hint and ended up giving us a bigger one. So much nicer!

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By the time we finally got on the road from Nice it was midnight. We didn’t get into Jausiers until 4:45am. I really thought we were going to have to stop and sleep for a while somewhere. I knew Josie was just as tired as I was so I thought that if I couldn’t stay awake then I wouldn’t let her drive any more. We tried to find a place to get some red bull but nothing was open at that hour. Then we started looking for any place that had a coke machine outside. Nothing. I couldn’t find a radio station that played upbeat music that we knew. Good thing I had the little plug in speakers for my ipod. It ended up being was loud enough for us. I played music the rest of the way.

As we started going up the mountain right outside Nice we had the most awesome view. You could see all the city light right up to the waters edge. The drive went pretty well. We saw lots of animals: coyote/fox, wild boar, cat, dog, unidentified animal. The roads were pretty curvy so it took a while to drive through.