Stranded in France

It was early in the morning when I reached the euro tunnel terminal.

I had 50 euros left and I hoped that this was enough to get me a ticket on the shuttle but it wasn't!
The cost was £119!

I waited until 9am to call my friend Richard and asked him if he would book it for me. He agreed and said he would book my ticket on line but he would have to do it in a few hours as he was driving and so I was happy to wait for a few hours to hear from him with the details for my booking.

When he finally called me back I was so elated as I hoped to be on the shuttle and home that day but instead he said that he was unable to make the booking on line and suggested I go into the ticket office and see if they could make the booking and over the phone he would pay for it but they could not do it!

It was now afternoon and I had been at the Euro tunnel terminal since 6am which had meant waiting 7 hours in the cold already just sitting in the car. It had been torture waiting the 7 hours already as it was so cold and after driving for days and having slept in the car now for nearly a week from first leaving Byala to Sofia and then across Europe  I was so tired as well as unbearably cold and in need of a shower and a bed!

I called my dad in tears and told him what had happened and he said that my stepmother would try and book my ticket online but I was not holding out much hope that she would be able to book it if Richard had not been able to do so but she did manage to book it and I was finally going to get home.

I was booked on the shuttle at 3pm that afternoon and without delay, I went to check in which I had to go to the pet check in area to do.

I gave them my booking ref and our passports and felt sure that in an hour or so I would be leaving France but it wasn't to be!

One of Lula's vaccinations had expired by a few days and we were not going to be able to travel until she had received the vaccination and then would have to wait 24 hours after she had it to travel back to the UK.

At first the check in staff said that I would have to wait until the morning for the vet to see Lula which meant that it would be another two days before we could travel. However my emergency travel documents were going to expire the following day so I would not be able to get home by the time Lula was fit to travel!

I was of course absolutely distraught as we had already endured so much to get this far and now so close to home we were in another impossible situation which I was not sure I could get us out of as I just didn't have enough left in me!