Nov. 23, 2024
We’re fine, and nothing ended up happening, but that was likely due to our travel schedule. But, we did experience someone who, as Steve put it, was “very nice, in an almost creepy way.”
I have a long history of getting lost on the Paris metro. It happened when I was here in undergrad, and overwhelmed by all of the train lines, stops, people, etc. It all worked out, but not without the help of a very nice kiosk worker.
Fast forward 24 years, and Steve had a plan to get us from the Gare du Nord train station to our hotel in the 18th arrondissement via metro. Steve was great about navigating us around Amsterdam (and many other cities on other trips), so I had no doubts about his ability to direct us. However, we were having a hard time getting started.
Steve’s directions wanted us to take the 4 train to the 2, but we saw signs for both the 2 and 4 trains at Gare du Nord. We were torn about which train to take, and we hadn’t even purchased our tickets yet.
As we were in line to purchase tickets, a very helpful man in the next line became overly interested in our troubles. Our would be helper didn’t speak English, snd Steve was working hard to use his French to devise a plan.
Our helper walked us from our original ticket line to another ticket machine around the corner that was closer to the train that we’d eventually want to jump on. Then he stood in line with us to buy tickets.
He asked us several questions to better understand how long we would be in town, presumably to help advise us on what tickets to purchase. We were clear about only needing a single ride ticket, which is when he became overly interested in a woman and her teenaged son who were having issues with the ticket vending machine.
This is when it crossed the line from helpful to creepy.
Our good samaritan swooped in to help this other woman. First she was having issues selecting her preferred language, so he took over and drove the transaction in French. He asked her about the length of their stay, and determined they would need a five day pass. Then she had issues using the credit card saved to her smartphone. “Luckily,” he was there with his card to complete the purchase.
From there, he followed her and we were left to buy our tickets.
When all was said and done, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this was all part of a scam. Once we were settled in to the hotel, I did a little research.
Reddit suggests the scam probably played out a little something like this:
He got the woman to scan in with her ticket and then asked her to reimburse him (in cash). (We already know she wanted a five day pass, and he probably said he got the more expensive all zones passes. So, she’s looking at €114.25 (€76.25 for her ticket and €38 for her son’s).) She pays the train station helper, and he disappears. She’ll discover that all she has are two single use tickets valued at €2.15 each, and has been scammed out of over €100.
Hopefully, this isn’t how the woman’s evening played out. (It probably was.) And, she got to her hotel without further incident. (Seriously, I hope he didn’t take her to an ATM for the cash reimbursement…)
Well, the lesson I learned today is to be wary of overly helpful people.
Scams aside, our evening was pretty uneventful. We grabbed dinner, and went for a walk. We found ourselves in front of Moulin Rouge, so this happened:
All our love,
Tara (and Steve)
Tara’s Adventures 