Backpacking France and Belgium

I took a 3 hour train ride down the east coast of Ireland from Dublin to the very south to a town called Rosslare.  Once in Rosslare, I boarded a huge ferry that was going to take me to Cherbourgh, a city in France that is on the very west coast near the top.  I had never been on a ferry before so i didn't know what to expect.  I waited at the ferry station in Rosslare for a small van to come pick me and two other backpackers up to take us to the ferry.  Once we got near the ferry, we drove right onto it, along with semi trucks and cars.  We walked to an elevator that took us to the the 10th floor of the ferry.  The place was huge.  I didn't book at sleeping cabin on the ferry because it is pretty expensive, so i just booked a reserved seat.  I was kind of worried what the "reserved seat" for such a long ride was going to be.  But, it wasn't too bad.  On the 10th floor are the rooms for just the reserved seats and we were allowed to go to whichever room we wanted and sit/lay wherever.  I chose to plant my things and sleep on the floor along a wall in a room with one of the other backpackers that i met on the way to the ferry as well as other people.  The ferry ride took about 18 hours, i wasn't expecting that. I was afraid that i was going to get sea sick, but i didn't.  Our floor had a movie theatre. On the floors below, we could go to restaurants, big lounge areas, a bar, an arcade, a kids play area, shops, a salon and more. You could even take a shower on the ferry too. We could also go onto the roof of the ferry which was outside.  It was very beautiful to see the sunset and rise and the horizon there but, it got offly cold.  As we approached France, i gathered my things and the three of us backpackers went to the 5th floor to exit.  We walked outside to a bus that took us to the customs building of France where we had to show our passport and get a stamp.  Then we walked to the train station which was about 20 minutes away.  Lucky, one of the backpackers named Lauarent spoke french so he helped a lot at the train stations.  We all took the same train going east but Sonja, the other backpackers from Finland, got off in So Li.  Laurent and i took the train to Paris which took about 3 hours.  I was a bit taken back when i got to the Paris train station because the military walks around with their guns out.  Once in Paris, we split ways and i walked around Paris at night to see the lights and buildings.  Paris is filled with lots of very expensive stores, wealthy people at art shows and fancy events, very much what i pictured Paris to be like. People in France are not too fond of Americans, especially if you do not speak any French.  They can be extremely rude and arrogent.  I ended up staying with a friend in Paris.  I would definitely recommend that anyone who wants to stay in Paris should do a lot of research on where they are going to stay because it is very expensive.  Many french people speak enough English to answer your questions.  The next morning, i walked to the nearest train station and got a ticket to Brussels.  I had to transfer trains 3 times until i finally got to Brussels.  In Brussels i walked around a bit and saw the Grand Plaza.  I found a hostel to stay in. Brussels is farely large and there are many areas of it.  The part that i am in is very pretty.  There is a very diverse amount of restaurants here.  The candy, chocolate and waffles in the windows are very inticing.  The architecture is great and the whole area had a very old rustic feel to it. Tomorrow, i am going early to the train station to catch a train to Amsterdam.


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The train ride back to the South of France was absolutely gorgeous.  We passed several bodies of water which had beautiful scenery.  After about 4 hours, i got to Beziers, France.  At the station, i wasn't sure how to get to the airport.  I went outside to the buses and asked the bus driver how to get to the airport.  He wasn't sure.  I asked a few patrons outside but they didn't really know either.  The bus driver said that if i just jump on the bus and take it to the bus station, there would be a bus that goes to airport.  When i got to the bus station, a lady on the bus tried to help me find the bus to the airport.  She asked around for me but no one knew.  I looked at the bus scheduling board and it said that the next bus to the airport wasn't leaving until 5pm, which was after my fight was leaving.  I started to get really scared.  I then knew that i had to take a taxi but i wasn't sure how i was going to get a taxi.  There are taxi signs around where taxis are suppose to be at but there weren't any taxis in sight, anywhere.  I walked to the busy street down the block in hopes to see a taxi, i didn't see one anywhere, not even taken ones.  I asked a few people how to get a taxi and they told me to go to the taxi signs.  After freaking out for a while, i stopped an older lady and asked her how i could get to the airport.  She saw that i was upset and she offered to drive me to the airport.  I was SOOOOO grateful and happy! She just wanted to stop for a small coffee first.  That was the only time that i was glad that the coffee sizes in Europe were so small.  The lady spoke very little English was we were able to communicate.  We drove for about 40 minutes to the airport.  It was in the middle of nowhere and it was extremely small.  It was one of the airports where you walk out to the planes.  The lady parked and walked me inside the airport to make sure that i was okay and everything was set for me because she was able to communicate in French.  I didn't want to keep her any longer because i was so appreciative for what she had already done for me so i told her that i was okay.  Little did i know that i had to print out my boarding pass for RyanAir.  Since i didn't print it out beforehand, i had to pay another 40 euros!!! that's about 55 dollars.  I was so pissed.  I tried to explain that i didn't have a printer because i staying in hostels and they didn't have printers.  The lady who worked for RyanAir didn't care at all.  I had to go to a desk to pay the 40 euros for my boarding pass.  I tried to pay with my debit card but the lady said that it was declined.  That made me worry that something may have happened with my bank account since i had been using my debit card at different cash machines throughout Europe.  That stressed me out even more.  I then was going to pay with cash but she said "we don't take cash". So luckily i had a backup emergency credit card, so i paid with that.


Then i went through security.  They are so impatient with you.  They checked my passport just about every 5 feet that i went.  I sat and waited to board.  With RyanAir, there aren't assigned seats so you sit wherever you'd like.  You have to walk outside to the plane.  It's an really small, packed plane.  As soon as you take off, they try to sell just about anything and everything to you such as cigarettes and coupons.  They don't pressurize the plane so your ears continue to pop.  The plane ride wasn't too long and before i knew it i was in London, England.