How I Got to Paris on Ten Bucks
Fun, Travel, work May 1st, 2010Sometimes luck taps me on the shoulder, introduces itself and shakes my hand.
Luck paid me a visit in 2004 and sent me to Paris.
I was sitting at my desk at work, fighting an urge to raid the snack machine downstairs. The urge won and so I grabbed my wallet and headed out the door.
On my way downstairs, I spotted a fraternity student sitting at a table by the elevator, selling raffle tickets for a charity fundraiser.
The sign on the table read “Win a Trip to Paris!”
Curious, I walked over to the table to get more information.
“Tickets are $5 each,” the student said.
Digging through my wallet, I was disappointed to find that I had only a few singles and change I planned to use in the snack machine.
“Will you be around later this week?” I asked.
“Yep, til Friday,” he said.
“Good.” I told him I’d be back later with enough cash in hand for two tickets.
The next day I found the student, paid him $10, filled out a form and received my tickets. A note on the back said the winner would be announced a few weeks after that, and it included a URL with more raffle information. I stuck the tickets in my wallet.
Weeks went by.
And nothing. No phone call to say I had won. Oh, well, better luck next time, I thought.
But then I remembered the tickets in my wallet and thought maybe the winner would be announced on the web site for the contest.
Maybe someone I know won. That’d be nice for them.
And so I pointed my browser to the web site, which revealed an animated image of the French flag.
The caption read “Click here to see who won!”
I clicked on the flag.
The French national anthem began playing over my speakers and the image dissolved gradually to reveal this:
I immediately felt a rush of adrenalin and almost started crying. It was me!!! At least I thought it was me. Feeling like a game show contestant who’d just won a car, I thought for a moment maybe I wasn’t really staring at my own name on the screen.
Winning big things makes you take leave of every last one of your senses.
So I did what crazy game show contestants do. I got up and, arms flailing, ran over to a woman who worked outside my office. “Nancy!!!! Go to this web site!!!! Does it say Kathy Frederick on your screen too?!?!?”
I swear to God I did that and you can ask Nancy. Just don’t ask her how stupid she thought I was at that very moment. She’s such a nice lady, she wouldn’t be honest with you anyway.
There we were, looking at my name and listening to La Marseillaise, letting it all sink in.
Wow. A trip to Paris for ten bucks. You just can’t beat that.
I called my husband and didn’t even say hello when he answered. I simply shouted “Pack your bags! We’re going to Paris!”
He let an expletive slip and we hooted and hollered for a good five minutes, not believing my good fortune.
I contacted the student organization who sold me the tickets and they apologized for not notifying me by phone earlier. They confirmed my prize, told me to contact travel services to make arrangements and the rest is history.
It was the trip of a lifetime.
And all because luck pulled up a chair and gave me a fine How d’ya do?
Stumble it!
May 3rd, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Made me want to buy another lottery ticket even thought they say you have a better chance of being struck twice by lightening…
Glad you had fun..
Dorothy from grammology
grammology.com
.-= Dorothy Stahlnecker´s last blog ..On vacation and I’m thinking too much =-.
May 4th, 2010 at 1:49 am
I dont know why. but when in Turkey access to this site is denied..(( Could never drop anyway..((
But when in other parts of Europe I can. Now in Spain, but 3 months ago in Netherlands, also access denied…weird…
.-= Hans´s last blog ..Day Opening – May 4 =-.
May 4th, 2010 at 6:52 am
How awesome is THAT?!
I wonder if they ever would have called you if you hadn’t checked yourself?!
What amazing luck!
.-= Jenn of Many Cabbages´s last blog ..Bringing Back the Fiction Character Draft =-.
May 4th, 2010 at 7:04 am
I’m so jealous. I’ve never won anything! Yet anyhow…
.-= Lisa @ Boondock Ramblings´s last blog ..The corner. . . =-.
May 4th, 2010 at 11:25 am
I stopped in a local convenience store one morning for coffee. There was a woman stalking up and down the aisles in tears saying, “You have to come here NOW. Just come here NOW.” Her hands were shaking and I figured her car broke down or something. She came to the counter and asked the manager to look at a scratch off ticket she was clutching for dear life.
“Am I seeing this right? Did I win?”
She won $50,000. We all cried. It was a weirdly group-emotional moment. She told us she usually buys ONE ticket but that morning she bought five because she had a dream she won $5,000. Her winner was the fifth ticket.
.-= Shieldmaiden1196´s last blog ..Fecal Matters =-.
May 4th, 2010 at 11:26 am
I forgot to mention she was on the phone. That makes more sense. her husband screeched into the parking lot and they held hands and jumped up and down. It was cool.
.-= Shieldmaiden1196´s last blog ..Fecal Matters =-.
May 4th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Katherine — OMG, that is so wonderful. That’s a better story than mine because you really needed it! Fantastic!
Dorothy Stahlnecker — Go for it, sister. You never know.
Hans — For realz? What the hell?
Jenn of Many Cabbages — They swore up and down they would have. Eventually.
Lisa at Boondock Ramblings — Yes, remember YET!
Shieldmaiden1196 — That’s such a great story. I would have been as happy just to be part of her excitement. And, wow, having a dream about winning? That’s freaky!
May 4th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Kathy,
Wow!
I like these kinds of posts, though I wish they were about me. 🙂
Can I take you to Vegas some time?
Steve
PS. With both our spouses of course!
.-= Steve | trade show guru´s last blog ..Best Trade Show Giveaway Idea Ever? =-.
May 5th, 2010 at 12:19 am
Kathy, I get ERROR 403: access denied. Indeed, weird’
.-= Hans´s last blog ..Day Opening – May 4 =-.
May 5th, 2010 at 10:45 am
How exciting! I’m a total contest ho. I enter everything. Never won anything as fantabulous as that though. The coolest thing I ever won was Flip video cam recently. Now I’m making my way through the manual to learn how the hell to use it — which I know you can relate to. 😉
.-= injaynesworld´s last blog ..injaynesworld we may need to "Duck and Cover…" =-.
May 5th, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Random things happen to all of us eventually, some of them good and some of them very bad…..I am going to be blogging about one of the bad ones in the next week or so. Needless to say, I didn’t make it to Paris, my journey ended in a auto junkyard.
.-= Bruce´s last blog ..Essential Cinema – 49 =-.
May 5th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Steve — Yes, and you would probably do well to come with me. We won $5,000 on our last day of a five day trip. That was the same year we won two different 4-digit state lottery picks (our phone number digits and our house number, straight for a dollar. Paid $2,500 each time).
Hans — I’m sorry about the error. I did have a problem this morning when I was down from about 5AM-6AM EST.
injaynesworld — See, I’m annoyed with entering most things. I don’t like to work for even the possibility of free stuff. Yes, even after this. Jealous of your Flip! Good for you!
Bruce — Yes, you are so right, unfortunately. The luck of the draw does not always act kindly. I’ll watch for your post (cringes).
May 6th, 2010 at 4:35 am
Hmm. Sounds like I need to get snacks more often.
.-= Cromely´s last blog ..Planning for Tokyo =-.
May 8th, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Cromely — And not have any money the first time they’re selling tickets. I’m convinced that was key.
May 11th, 2010 at 7:01 pm
Wow how awesome is that. I wish I could get that lucky.
.-= Karla Bond´s last blog ..Eco-Friendly Laundry =-.
May 14th, 2010 at 3:39 pm
[…] READ THIS, how one woman went to Paris for $10 http://www.junkdrawerblog.com/2010/05/how-i-got-to-paris-on-ten-bucks.html […]
January 14th, 2011 at 4:43 am
This is so inspiring! I wish I could go to London for just ten bucks!