Stranded in Paris

A Saturday night pub crawl through Paris ended shortly after midnight at Pub St. Germain. As public transportation is unavailable at that time, a few of us decided to find a taxi for the 20 km journey back to our university residence. I wish I had known that finding a taxi in Paris after midnight is mission impossible as I would have left the pub crawl a few hours earlier to catch the last train.


The few taxis on the road were a rare sighting. The ones we did see were either full or unwilling to drive beyond the city limits. We continued to hunt for taxis in the 4e, 5e and 6e arrondissement for more than 2 hours. By this time, nothing was open, not even the creperie stands. We were frozen, tired and thirsty. The city was dark and eerily quiet. In desperation, I called a few friends living in Paris in search of some temporary relief from the elements until the trains re-started. I guess they were sleeping as nobody answered their phone.

Next we tried to find shelter at hotels but the lobby entrances were locked. Imagine the feeling of being completely stranded in Paris? We were frustrated. Prior to living in France, all four of us had traveled in developed and less developed countries and had never encountered such a hassle in finding a taxi.

Over the next hour, we flagged down a few more taxis until one of them finally accepted our generous incentive. We offered him double the regular fare. We got back to the residence just after 4 am. It certainly was a night that I'd like to forget.