Public Transportation

I live in a city where the public transportation is underutilized and a car is the way to go. When I travel I usually try my best to look like a local. I look at the maps of the city, restaurants, safe areas (low crime rate) in the city to make sure that we take full advantage of our destination. I read on recommendations for transportation on what is best, economical, and safe for a family of 4. My children are more on the teenage range so we embarked on our first abroad trip to Europe. We selected London, Paris and Rome as our destinations. This was my second time to Europe at these locations but many things change in the span of 20 years. The best tip I got when I went 20 years ago was to always stay close to families in case we needed help. We arrived in Paris on the train that went from London thru the Chunnel. We look towards the subway system (METRO) and thought we were on the right path. On the first stop we realized we were going the wrong way. We quickly get off and pay for another ticket to go the other way. We finally get on the right metro and on our way we go. Suddenly the metro stops at a station and it did not move for about 2 to 3 minutes. You see people starting to get off and on. There is a person talking on the intercom and just like the Peanut teacher I could not decipher what they were saying. A man with 3 little kids jump on the metro and I over hear their conversation and they were talking about going to the same location that we were going to. Suddenly they get down. So I tell my family let’s get down. I approached the man and I asked him if he knew what was going on. I told him that the intercom lady spoke too fast for my non-French ears. He told me that there was a protest outside that stopped all of the metros from moving. I told him that we were going the same that he was going and I asked him if we could follow him. He did not hesitate and was nice enough to get us into the bus for free since it was not our fault that the strike was going on. He took us to the front door of the hotel to make sure we arrived safely. Families in any country are willing to help any lost soul. I am not saying no one else would do it but it is in their nature to make sure you are safe and well they will put themselves in your shoes if their children were lost as well. For those of us who are not used to using public transportation don’t be scared to ask for help and ask people who are in a family setting.