A glitch!

So Zoom Airlines sends me a reminder that the rest of my ticket fare for October is due (hello, Mr. MasterCard), and at the bottom of a terribly long e-mail I do a double take. My plane from Paris home on November 12th is leaving at 8 in the morning? I thought take-off wasn't untill 11:30!

And sure enough, when I check my previous ticket confirmation (doesn't the name itself imply something that's confirmed?) it clearly states that the plane leaves Charles de Gaulle at 11:30. Now, I'm an early bird - so missing sleep for an early flight doesn't bother me much. The problem is that I will be in Caen - 3 bloody hours from Paris where the morning trains only start running at 5. So, if I do the math:

5 a.m. + 3 hours = 8 a.m.

Arrrghhh! So I take a deep breath and figure OK, hold on, let's get a few hours sleep and catch a night train. But it turns out that the latest one runs at 7 in the evening. So now my choices are:

a) catch the 7 p.m. train and sleep at the airport (and hopefully get a refund on the last night of my hotel stay - which I've already booked)

b) leave November 11th in the afternoon and book a place to sleep in Paris

The problem with the latter is that I'm going to Normandy to be there on November 11th for the Remembrance Day ceremonies. That's why I chose the flight I did on the day I did and at the time it was offered. But an insignificant time change (so said the guy at the 'help' desk when I called to complain - while adding that flight changes are covered in the Terms and Conditions) has gone and put a big stick in my wagon wheel, as they say in French.

I guess that's all part of travelling - making adjustments and amendments to plans you thought were set in stone. Still, with all this changing of flight times willy nilly, it's a wonder we ever get anywhere. It does explain why my baggage usually ends up visiting another city, though.