Newcastle to Paris, Day 1

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Our route is commencing on the train to Glasgow, then we’ll be on our first flight for 4.5 years ....... to Paris, where we spend two nights before a further flight from Paris Orly to Yerevan, capital of Armenia.

We’re celebrating Marion’s significant birthday, originally imagined to be a circular trip around the Black Sea. Odessa was high on the agenda. But recent events have changed our plans.

So, because our trip to Georgia made such an impression we are now focussed upon the the adjacent mountains of Armenia for our next exploration. We considered travelling overland, but ended up back tracking on our vows to stop flying by air, opting for a fast, direct flight with Air France/KLM budget airline Transavia.

We’ll have two weeks in Armenia, followed by one week in Georgia and a visit to Villejésus on the way home.



8.56 Newcastle Central Station

We’ve spent too long selecting a minimal wardrobe to fit in tiny budget airline lockers. Despite all this planning, as we settle into our train seats I notice that my freshly laundered jacket smells of something biological ........drip-drying the heavy canvas has been a mistake.....

I’m also airing trousers of note: they were worn for a year on our round the world trip of 2008/2009. Beyond nostalgia points, they score highly for practicality with numerous pockets, zips, and altering leg length. The down side is that they rely upon an elasticated waistband for a rather slack wrap-round-fit. A ‘comfort fit’ trouser always feels a little uncomfortable to me.



Noon Buchanan Street Bus Station

We walk up the hill from Queens Street Station, Glasgow.

We are reminded of our 2008 trip by the sound of Acme Thunderers piping out as we arrive at the bus station to await the 500 express airport bus.

It’s two men in orange gilets efficiently guiding buses as they reverse out of their bays, waving arms in a shared dance.

But the memory imagery, summoned by the whistling, is of zebras directing traffic ........ not in the wild, clearly ....... but on the busy streets of La Paz in Bolivia. Traffic controllers in full head zebra masks and stripy onesies directed the streets, whistling midst the chaotic jams.

The 500 express arrives. A pleasant Englishman takes our fare and sets off ...... to stop at the Queen Street Station we’ve just climbed from.



14.00 Glasgow Airport



Everyone, including me, is on their phone. How do the Wi Fi systems here, or 4G, or satellites cope with all that individualised info? And all those waves in the air, how are our brains not scrambled?



A national security alert (?) has slowed the pre-gate Check-in process. We join a hyper-long snaking queue which works in a counter flow / pro Covid manner, as we sweatily breathe in the shared companionship of imposed captivity.



The hard working security staff show patience and get us through the throng painlessly. Only our pride is hurt as we are offered bottled-water-for-the-elderly.



The contrasting calm of the Cosmetics Corridor is beyond belief. The primped and shiny staff standing on spot-lit marbled mezzanines waiting for a sale amidst the cartoned sheen of cellophane covered goods.



Easyjet in descent.



No sooner than we’re up and past views of the LakeDistrict, a gin and tonic and a chapter or two of ‘The Sandcastle Girls’, the pilot announces than we are commencing our descent.

Sandcastle Girls is a novel exploring Armenian history from the perspective of an American Armenian. It’s set largely the time of the genocide, before the 1st World War when half a million Armenians were killed in a spate of Ottoman dominance and cruelty. It’s history that we need to confront and gain some understanding of, on our trip.



Charles de Gaule to Hotel Aviatic


The RER B line is a direct railway link to our day's final destination, Domfert Rochereau station. In terms of going from A to B the train did the business ..... but was incredibly hot, packed and (at many stations) delayed at the platform for significant periods.

10pm
Anyway, here we are grazing a shared platter next to our modest hotel, close to the ‘Orlybus’ terminus where we’ll making a early start from on Friday.

Bon appétit! Et bonne chance!

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Photos

Setting off from Newcastle

Glasgow Airport 500 Express

Bus Whistlers, Glasgow
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