Lyon

There's a difference between going on vacation and traveling.

Vacations are nice.  But, I like to travel.  Traveling comes with adventures.  And sometimes, these adventures aren't always expected.

Like when I am sitting on a train in Paris, bound for Lyon, and my husband reviews the email he saved with the hotel information, only to discover there is a disclaimer at the bottom which reads, "This is not your reservation.  Click here to confirm your reservation."

Oops.

It was a nailbiting ride to Lyon.  At least he was biting his nails, freaking out, thinking in his jet-lagged fatigue he overlooked that last step.  Or did he? 

Me, I was calm as could be.  No worries.  We'll find Wi-Fi service when we get to Lyon and see if there is another email that arrived later.  Or we'll just start walking until we find another hotel, regardless of the price, for just one night.

Walking out of the train station, I spotted a hotel across the street.  Yes, they had a room available for 279 euros (gulp).  Yes, we could use their Wi-Fi to check our email.  But the front desk clerk could also just call the original hotel where we thought we had a reservation.

Who said the French weren't friendly?  Not us!

And we had a room reservation.  Whew!

At that point, I suggested we splurge for a taxi to take us to our hotel, where we would sleep in the next day, then find a laundromat.  By this time, we've been living out of two carry-on suitcases for nearly a week.

Nothing like a good night of sleep and clean clothes for these travelers to get their groove back!

We finished the day taking it easy, exploring Lyon on foot.

The next day was a huge market, arts and crafts on one side of the river, food and flowers on the other.

And that email to confirm our hotel reservation?  It arrived in our inbox three days later.  Thanks, Expedia.

Next stop...Avignon