Happy Christmas!

It's been quite some time since my last post and I do apologize, it turns out working in another country with another language takes it's toll eventually, especially there has been a need to supplement my income!

Another problem I was having with posting here is that it has become more and more biographical than the original goal I had which was to showcase what Annecy has to offer. I feel now that it's not so important as to stop me from writing, you can always skip the bibliographical posts!

However I'm now home for the holidays visiting family and friends and the girlfriend Niamh, which has been super! But it was not an easy journey and I hope to give you a good laugh as you recover from your festive excess!

When I woke up for work on Thursday the 18th of December I realised I had lost my wallet, This lead to me missing the early train and I had to search the couch for money to actually get to work! (Which did not put me in the best humor let  me tell you!).

Skip to Saturday morning, the wallet was found (although my french card was cancelled), leaving me with little funds to work with. As I strolled up to the train station at 7 o' clock my sleep deprived brain failed to realise straight away as to why there was about 50 people standing next to the customer service desk at this time. It turned out the SNCF decided to pull a strike (pretty convenient time but apparently very common) resulting in the first two available trains to Grenoble cancelled.

I still took my time figuring out that the next train would be too late for my connection to Grenoble airport so I would have to find a taxi when I got there. Which ended up being a whopping 80 euro! Thank god the parent bank was able to bail me out!

And then imagine my delight when the flight was delayed by an 50 minutes! To top it off I was flying with ryanair so I had loads of space for my legs*!

               (*Please note this paragraph contains dangerous amounts of sarcasm)

I have learnt some things from this which I wish to pass on to you,

1. If you can at all possible when travelling to Annecy fly in to/out of Geneva as it is cheaper and less connections to miss (it is also possible to get the bus which is a lot more reliable strikewise!).
2. When travelling with SNCF check their Réservation query here  the night before because they go on strike frequently.
3. ALWAYS have an emergency fund available to you in cash in case your wallet goes missing and causes problems!

Anyway I hope you have had a good Christmas and have a very good new year, thanks for reading!

Joyeux Nöel!

Éanna