Travel Series

New Year Started With An Emergency Alarm

Do disasters make travel more memorable or just disastrous?

I had big plans for this Christmas vacation. I had plans to walk by the Mediterranean, away from the cold and rain and grey sky in the Netherlands. But I had to cancel my vacation at the last minute due to Covid regulations.

I made alternate plans for Copenhagen. Yes, extremely different from the Mediterranean climate, but I was happy to go anywhere I guess. Alas, that had to be canceled too, just two days before our vacation, once again due to the change in Covid-regulations.

However, I am a passionate traveler. I don’t give up hope so easily when it comes to travel. I make it happen. I set about the task of finding a new destination with vigor and booked a very last-minute trip to Paris.

I had been to Paris several times. This was my 5th time I guess (I have lost count).

Besides, the last time I came to Paris, was in the summer of 2019 with my entire family — my parents from India and my sister and her family from the USA had joined us as well. We celebrated my niece’s 6th Birthday. That was a happy time.

I didn’t know that was the last time I would be spending time with my entire family altogether. I didn’t know my father would be dying in a few months. I didn’t know the world would change entirely and millions of people’s lives would be affected by a strange virus.

So going back to Paris was a challenge for me. I didn’t really look forward to it. However, spending new years eve all alone at our little house seemed more dreadful.

The loneliness seemed grueling. Even my daughter seemed sad. To cheer her up, we booked a last-minute hotel in Paris and we even booked a trip to Disneyland for new years eve.

Now, this is not our first trip to Disneyland Paris either. We have even been to the Orlando one. And to be honest, I don’t like rides. So Disneyland couldn’t cheer me up. But hell, it’s way better than staying alone at home and watching Netflix. I suffered from FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) desperately.

As a child, my new years eve ritual was always watching the special new years eve celebration program on television. At that time, we didn’t have a lot of options on television so we eagerly waited all year long for this special show.

Also, this was the only day in the year when we were allowed to be up so late in the night. And maybe there would be some special food, I don’t recall that.

Right before approaching midnight, there would be a countdown and exactly at midnight, we would hear loud firecrackers that people would have saved from Diwali.

It was a win-win situation — we would be in our PJs but still enjoying the fun from the comfort of the home along with the adults.

When I grew up and got married, we used to go to a restaurant with some of our close friends and cousins. We didn’t have to book table days in advance. There was no such madness, but yes getting a table would be a bit difficult compared to the other nights.

When we lived in the USA we celebrated Christmas and new years time at my sister's house where other friends and their families would join as well.

But after moving to Europe, Christmas and new year’s eve had been a hit-or-miss situation. I wrote in this article how lonely I felt during this time of the year.

Our daughter, on the other hand, is very enthusiastic about the rides and visiting an amusement park is a great deal for her. So we booked the hotel only one day in advance and packed our bags, ready to soak in the atmosphere in Paris.

Surprisingly, the weather cleared up and bright sunshine after many days of grey sky cheered our dampened mood.

Day One

On 29th December we arrived and checked in to our hotel, we realized my husband’s Janssen vaccine is no longer valid in France which was not updated on the Ministry of France travel regulations website (which we had checked many many times).

This new policy meant he wouldn’t even be able to eat in a restaurant or enter any museum, or in fact any building whatsoever. He would have to take an antigen test every day as the validity of the test was only 24 hours.

Right after check-in and hauling the luggage to the room, our mission was to find a test center where we could book a test immediately without an appointment.

The receptionist in the hotel suggested we check in the mall nearby. We had booked at the Hyatt, near the airport, a similar room in the city was way more expensive. Which meant there weren’t many options nearby (read NO option).

Also, we had to have dinner, and the mall seemed like a good option. We didn’t find any test center but we managed to find some food where the vaccination check wasn’t needed. So we had food in a mall in Paris. Fabulous!

Luckily, we read on the web that the French government has opened many pop-up Covid test centers for tourists all over Paris.

Day Two

The next day, we decided to check out the Latin quarter, except that we were looking for test centers most of the time.

Finally, we found one, my husband got tested and we went to check the Pantheon (only the building from outside, we were still not allowed inside without the result), while he kept checking his phone for the results. Finally, we called them, and they agreed to send the result by email.

I thought we would make up for the day by having dinner somewhere nice. However, my daughter said she wasn’t feeling well and we decided to head back to the hotel. Almost near the hotel, she realized she was starving, so we headed to the mall again for dinner!!

Day Three

The next day was near year’s eve and we headed towards Disneyland with the objective that we enter the park while my husband’s test result was valid (the antigen test result is only valid for 24 hours).

After messing up the directions (and going to two different parking lots), we finally managed to get to the right one, and entered the park just minutes before his test result validity expired.

Disneyland was anything but magical this time (I somehow had this vague remembrance of a magical place). It was jam-packed. I realized there were several thousand people who were also suffering from FOMO.

My husband and daughter could manage only two rides all throughout the day after standing in queues for hours, while I waited somewhere, just sitting and checking my phone. Wearing a mask all day long was also very suffocating.

I wondered if the 300 Euros entry fee all went to waste.

New Year’s Eve

By 6.00 in the evening they were done with waiting in queues and we waited again for the Disney illumination and fireworks show. It felt like a stampede.

I have not been in that close proximity to strangers in the last two years. If the authorities wouldn’t limit the entry, how are we going to maintain the distancing? The museums had limited slots and timed entries and didn’t allow any extra sale of tickets after the tickets sold out. Disney, apparently, didn’t seem to care.

The fireworks show was amazing, though, and made up for the discomfort somewhat.

After the show ended, we stood in a corner for some time debating where to get dinner. Walking to the exit following this crowd and getting to the car and then finally reaching somewhere for dinner would take a long time and we were literally starving.

Also, we couldn’t enter a restaurant now the validity of my husband’s test is over until he gets to do his next test.

So we followed the crowd to a restaurant inside Disney. While waiting outside, I decided to check their menu and in the light of my phone, I read the cost as 336 Euros per adult, and the child’s menu was priced at 288 Euros.

There is no way I am spending 1000 Euros on one dinner.

At this point, I am ‘hangry’ — hungry+angry. I have started to regret all the bad decisions that we took for this trip and wondering if the last-minute trip was a good idea. Perhaps staying back at home and ordering food wouldn’t be such a bad idea after all.

We found another restaurant named Hakuna Matata and waited in a long queue. I am mostly vegan these days, I was not really a vegetarian, but my allergies and food restrictions limit my choices severely.

There was nothing vegetarian or vegan on the menu, so I ordered a chicken with vegetables and rice and ate just the carrots from the chicken dish along with dry rice.

It definitely didn’t fill me and it left me emotionally unfulfilled as well because this is not what I wanted to have for dinner on New Year's eve after standing in a queue for such a long time.

We decided to order a pizza from the Pizza Hut in the mall and eat it in the hotel room. We started walking towards the exit and noticed there were a few thousand people sitting on the pavements, railings, seats, benches, and even by the garbage bins.

It didn’t rain that day, but the road was all muddy and wet because of the fog the night before. It was filthy but people seemed oblivious.

I dragged my body towards the parking lot.

I had been having this sleeping issue for a very long time and the last two weeks before Christmas has been exceptionally bad. I barely slept, which gave me a permanent headache.

I suffer from some chronic disorders and pains and combined with the lack of sleep, uncomfortable walking shoes, and anxiety that I had been having about my daughter’s impending surgery (she has cholesteatoma), my pain flared up. I suffered from extreme fatigue and could barely manage, mostly limping all the time, dragging my tired body and feet.

The car seat felt like heaven. We reached the mall again and I limped all the way to the Pizza Hut to find the shop closed.

We came back to the hotel, and my daughter noticed leftover pizza in the hotel restaurant. Now the hotel had a restaurant but they were not operating full scale because of the pandemic.

They had a limited menu from which we could order. I saw Pizza Margherita felt like I hit the jackpot. I absolutely detest this food, but when you are hungry, even Pizza Margherita seems like a delicacy.

We ordered the pizza, took it to our room and we all realized — this is the worst pizza we have ever tasted. Anyways, at least we had some food.

We started to watch Karate Kid on Netflix from our laptop in that small hotel room. Well, isn’t this what we didn’t want to do and that’s why spent so much money, except we were doing the same!!

The Night of 31st

At 12.00 we wished each other a happy new year and went to sleep. Well, they slept and as usual, I tried to sleep. I thought tomorrow is a new day, a new year, and things will change for the better. Tomorrow I will have a good lunch or dinner to make up for all the troubles we had been facing so far.

Just before I slept, I thought of checking the responses to my Medium account and there is this one response by the writer Frank Ontario for this article of mine that struck me so much.

He mentioned that he felt his father’s presence in a hotel room after his father passed away. I was a disbeliever when it came to life after death. But after my father passed away, I am sort of convinced there is definitely something, but I always associated the soul usually comes back to their place of dwelling.

I must have fallen asleep because I had a dream about his response and how deeply it had affected me. Suddenly I woke up from my dream and wondered if my father could also be here in this hotel room. I so deeply believed that, that I looked around the room, but saw nothing.

However, I had a very strange feeling that as if something was about to happen, although I had no idea what. And within a few seconds, the alarm blared.

I was startled. My husband woke up with a startle too and we wondered from where was the alarm coming. It is then they announced in French and English that this is an emergency alert and we need to keep calm and leave the building immediately.

My daughter seemed most disturbed because this was the first time she has experienced an emergency alarm.

I was still dillydallying. Now, I have this weird problem of having to go to the bathroom right after I wake up, doesn’t matter at what time of the night/morning.

I debated going to the bathroom for a quick visit, but my daughter’s anxious urges made me think otherwise. We took our passports, and phones and I started packing shawls, caps, socks, jackets, etc because I was more concerned about the cold outside.

The damned mask also had to be found (and worn at all times).

I thought of wearing my Fitbit watch for a moment because I didn’t want to miss the footstep counts. I also debated if I should just take the elevator (my husband did that once in Sydney) but our daughter seemed way more responsible and dragged us towards the staircase.

While walking (read limping), I noticed how well dressed other guests were while we were in our pajamas. The guest right behind me had her full makeup. I wondered if she slept with full makeup on.

I was ashamed of my tangled hair, which of course I didn’t have the time to comb. I wondered when did they have the time to get ready.

I limped down from the 5th floor only to be told the emergency was over, whatever it was. Seriously? The hotel didn’t even give any explanation.

After all these sleepless nights and the lack of proper food and rest, all I had wished for was a good night’s sleep. And I thought one night of good sleep would cure me of all my problems.

But is this the way you start your new year? I feared that the proverb “morning shows the day” would come true for this year.

My daughter was upset too. She hasn’t been sleeping well too. The room has been too hot and sleep would be quite a challenge for anyone. Anyways, she managed to fall asleep sometime in the early morning. So could my husband. But I couldn’t.

Day Four — The New Year

The next morning when the alarm rang, I felt something like a hangover except I had consumed no alcohol. The breakfast in the hotel was available only till 9.30 AM and we didn’t want to miss it, because honestly, we were still very hungry and breakfast options in France are a bit scarce.

After breakfast, we had to again go out to find another test center (see how our lives revolved around test centers). We found one near the Sacre-Coeur.

After the test, waiting for the result and finally receiving a negative result, driving in the mad Paris traffic and finding a parking garage, we reached somewhere near the Place de la Concorde.

I was determined, we would have a good lunch after all, except barely any restaurant was open or if they had a place or if they had anything remotely vegan to eat. At this point in time, I told my husband I would eat even a chicken burger or a pancake or a panini or a sandwich if that was available, but we couldn’t find anything.

It was 3.30 in the afternoon when we have still not managed to find any food. We found a Subway on Google map around 1.8 km away and we started walking towards it.

On the way, we found a Pizzeria that had Pasta Pomodoro on their menu. Voila. I can eat that. The problem was it was overcrowded and people were standing on other people’s necks for them to get up and leave. The waiters didn’t even look at us despite standing there and looking at them desperately.

We asked the ‘Maitre d’ if she can manage a seat for us and she asked us to wait. After 15 minutes or so, she let us in and the food felt heavenly delicious. That was by far the best meal of our entire Paris trip.

After the food, we all felt a little energized but the lack of sleep was making it difficult for all of us to really enjoy anything. I limped around the city and dragged myself to see the light in Champs-Élysées and finally to Julia Child’s house.

Then we called it a day.

We didn’t have any more strength left to again look for a place to eat, so we safely landed at the mall to find dinner. While having dinner, my daughter requested us if we can please not come back to Paris anymore.

This was our last night and we eagerly wanted to come home to the comfort of our own bed and homemade food.

As much as I hated being in the mall or eating the mall food, I am actually grateful for the mall — otherwise, we would be left with no food.

Conclusion

I don’t know what had changed — the city or us. I think both. But I could understand a few things about me after this trip:

• I am getting older (isn’t that obvious?)
• Big cities are not for me anymore
• Last-minute travel plans are no longer for me (although I have had some crazy ones, one of which I wrote in this article).
• And definitely not during the peak holiday season.

This also led me to think about something that I was quite oblivious to: I need to take care of my health. I am in a bad shape and my body needs immediate attention. I need to devote some time to self-care otherwise my plan for walking the Camino would remain a dream.

Amidst all the difficulties and challenges, there is one ray of hope though — during the emergency alarm, the instructions were to stay calm and I actually stayed calm. Wow, what an achievement!

We came back home a few hours ago and had homemade food and I am writing this story on the favorite part of our couch, my daughter and husband watching Kungfu Panda beside me.

I don’t know what will happen by the end of this year, perhaps my FOMO will come back again, but for now, I definitely wish that we could have just stayed home and watched Netflix, and perhaps we can make this our New Year’s Eve ritual. (and as my husband would say, we’d save a lot of money as well)

But again, without this trip, I wouldn't have been able to write this story. I even told my daughter that when we look back, we don’t remember the pain, they rather become great stories.

Thank you for reading this story and I would love to know if you have a New Year’s Eve ritual, or if you ever had challenges in your travel, and what do you think about them when you look back.

Thank you Sharing Randomly for the Coffee Times prompt in your article:

This article by Niall Leah is a must-read. It had a profound effect on me.

And I found this article by Kristina God very informative. I came to know about the Christmas traditions in Hawaii.