Road to Elsewhere, Excerpt #3: The Not-So-Great Escape

Wherein our hero battles self-loathing, self-pity, arrogance, and the passive voice on the streets of Paris

I REMEMBER MY SHIPWRECKED STATE when the airport bus dumped me on the street, with Paris roaring around me. I was terrified, bereft, and wanted nothing more than to escape anyone’s notice that I was alone on an unfamiliar continent. 

I had just one solicitous Frenchman to escape: a taxi driver. “Vous allez ou, monsieur?” he asked, doing calisthenics with…