Oct 22 - Arles to Perpignan

10-22: Today is a day in need of a lot of flexibility! Right at bedtime last night Stuart got an email saying our train will not be running today due to weather. We know the rain has been a bit brutal but we did not know it was to the point of stopping trains! Things are in turmoil on the ship. People heading to the airport or the extension trip are eagerly waiting to go but their busses are not getting through either. Cruise host Clare said we should go to the train station ASSP in hopes that things will rapidly change and we will get a train out today. That was not the case. In fact, the announcement on the board stated things are hoped to be running on those tracks by 10-27. We had a coffee and croissant but figured nothing would move here so we began searching alternatives for the 2.5-hour drive. No rental cars are available. Most taxis need a 24-hour window to secure the reservation. We opted for Uber and lucked out with a great driver. All along the drive we saw nothing that would make you think that things were not operating as usual. We arrived to the Perpignan train station in plenty of time to get our reserved car – Oh wait, they don’t have our car! We can wait an hour or so and maybe they would have the car OR take a larger vehicle, that of course, costs more. That’s not how it works in the US, but wait, we are not in the US! We will try to claim that on our insurance along with the cost of the train tickets, which are now useless, and the cost of the Uber! We’ll see how that works out. Anyway, we secured the car and headed on the 20-minute drive to our Airbnb in Canet en Roussillon. The place was easy to find but the parking took time. There was a designated spot, but instead of being unlocked, it was locked. We finally got that resolved with the host via phone. We’re inside but we can’t seem to figure out how to turn on heat or the stove. We’ve been doing this for awhile and most hosts leave a bit of instructions for the guest. It is a nice enough place. We are on the 3^rd floor (2^nd in the US) with a great view. The beach is right across the street and it is a lovely shoreline. If weather ever gets above 65˚ and windy, we will walk on the beach. Anyway, we had a lovely sunset, we are safely to our destination, and we are thankful for that.