Stopped by Paris Immigration: The Trip to Scotland That Almost Didn’t Happen! | Janice in France

A little different than all the rest.

I'm quite oldfashioned. Wear a hat, sometimes play chess, and when I'm out, I'm looking for that vintage flame.

Isn't this something new? I am usually in my own bathroom at home with a green shower shade behind, but now I have this luxurious bedroom behind me. The light

is not that great, but I'm not really doing too much right now because I'm getting ready to put a horse helmet on.

A horse helmet. A helmet to go ride the horse. So, there's not really I can do

horse. So, there's not really I can do too much to this hair because it's all going to be shoved up inside a helmet.

And yes, I'll have helmet hair when I get through. But I do want to do a

get through. But I do want to do a little bit of makeup.

I really saturated my face this morning with um cream. I mean all kind of different creams. Apologize for the puffiness, but I don't have my little

aloe vera with me. You know, you just can't bring everything with you on a trip. So, but I saturated my face with

trip. So, but I saturated my face with um cream this morning because the wind

looks like it's going to be horrid outside. It's like 45°

outside. It's like 45° and the wind is blowing big time. So,

I am really creaming my face up so that it I don't come back and I have a wind wind look face. Now, you may be saying,

"Okay, so why are you doing your hair, Janice, if you just said that you're going to be in a helmet?" because I have to go down to breakfast and hopefully I'll meet some other

people that are going to go riding with me today. I'm hoping I will be leaving

me today. I'm hoping I will be leaving here at 10 a.m. and hopefully the rain will stay away for a little while, but

um nevertheless, I'm going. This has

been a dream of mine for almost a year.

I've been paying on it and paying on it, and I can't wait to go. And the people were so nice to me last night. Oh, the

people here have just been lovely. I

mean, I just can't say enough. Uh, the

people in Pebbles at the Crown Hotel were fabulous. Um, just fabulous. I had

were fabulous. Um, just fabulous. I had

a taxi driver bring me out to Cringle yesterday. It's about 5 minutes from

yesterday. It's about 5 minutes from town.

And he said, "That'll be£10." And I said, "You don't take a credit card?"

And he said, "No." I said, "Oh my gosh, all I have is a credit card." And he said, "I'm sorry, but I don't take a credit card." And I said, "You know, I

credit card." And I said, "You know, I just felt so bad." And then he just said, "I guess I'll see you when I see you." And I thought, "Oh, man." So, I

you." And I thought, "Oh, man." So, I had a tremendous a tremendous amount of an issue yesterday with electronics. Uh,

this is why I did not go horseback riding yesterday because I had to get the electronics. I mean, you know, you

the electronics. I mean, you know, you can't go horseback riding and have a video about horseback riding and a video about going to Scotland if you can't take any pictures. So, I had to get that

all taken care of.

And so, I did and but it took quite a bit. In fact, I had to get another taxi driver come pick me up. He took me to the ATM. I got

me up. He took me to the ATM. I got

money out and then we went to the Crown Hotel and I kindly asked the lady if she would let the taxi driver know and I handed her£10 that this is from me, you

know, cuz I didn't want him to think, "Oh yeah right.

She just scammed me on that one, little old lady." But uh certainly didn't mean

old lady." But uh certainly didn't mean to in any way did I mean to do that. Uh

I think I'm going to put my hair because of this high collar. I think I'm going to put my

high collar. I think I'm going to put my hair behind my ears for breakfast because once I get through with breakfast and then I put my helmet on, it's just going to be helmet. Let me

show you. You'll see it later, but let me show you.

Okay, so here is my helmet. I have to be very careful because this is the wall. I

want to knock myself out. So, this is the helmet. And for those of you that

the helmet. And for those of you that have ridden before, you know exactly what it's like. I have never ridden.

Well, yes, I did ride with helmets, but it's been a long time ago. But when I did country, well, not country, but when I did western riding, I certainly never wore a

helmet. But see, this is what it's going

helmet. But see, this is what it's going to look like.

And that's just not an attractive look.

I don't think any of it's going to be attractive. But anyway, I think I'm

attractive. But anyway, I think I'm going to use this and put my hair in it. I couldn't find a hairet in France to save my soul. I went

to every store there was that I thought that would be carrying it. And so I'm going to stuff my hair in that

and then just put it up above my ears.

And I think that's how I'm going to do it.

I'm going to hear crinkly crinkly crinkly all day long, but that's okay.

But it's not I don't know. It's not

going all the way up. I don't know how I'm going to do this. We'll figure it out. But not right now. We need to do

out. But not right now. We need to do makeup. I might could just Let's see if

makeup. I might could just Let's see if this works.

What I need is a rubber band. That's

what I need is a rubber band. And I will get a rubber band when I go downstairs for breakfast because then I can pull my hair back and put it in a little ponytail

and it will be little because I have the short hair. But anyway, uh I think

short hair. But anyway, uh I think that's how I'll do that. But I really want to wear my hair behind my ears today because number one, you know, I

don't like long hair. And number two, I don't want to feel like I'm choking. I know I shouldn't

feel that way. Honestly, I don't think it's that cold today. But you know what's going to happen? It the stables are like 15 or 20 minutes away from

here. What's going to happen is we'll

here. What's going to happen is we'll get up there and it'll be a higher altitude and it'll be cold because I'm I'm just sticking my hand out the window and I'm

going that's not very cold. That's not

very cold.

So, I don't know. Um,

but I think I'm just going to wear my hair and lacquer it down and that way when I get a um

rubber band, just pull it back and all those little tiny hairs will stay. I

just don't think there's any way that you can really be gorgeous or even try to be gorgeous in a helmet.

Although I am going to wear some earrings so that I do look like a girl and not a boy.

I am going to do that. I love these little items that I bought. I bought

them on Amazon and they just took my my little toothpaste in one and um

the light is not so great right here.

So, I'll probably end up doing a little bit of a finished product when I finish with this.

But um because I want to make sure I get every crease and every corner, decide on what kind of lipstick I want to wear.

I did bring my mascara. When I get home to the States, I think I'm going to buy another type of

mascara.

I think so. Let me tell you what happened the other day. I videoed this the day I got into Scotland, but it didn't it didn't I don't know. We had

lots I had lots of problems with electronics. I'm just letting me put it

electronics. I'm just letting me put it to you that way. And then yesterday I just said, you know what? I'm taking a day off. I'm going to just um

day off. I'm going to just um charge everything and un I'm going to recharge everything and recharge myself

and so that's what I did. I slept a lot yesterday.

But what happened is I got to the train station and um immediately the gentleman picked up my passport and said, "You're illegal." you know,

illegal." you know, why are you illegal? You can't, you know, whatever, whatever. I couldn't

understand him. I mean, I knew what he was saying. I knew the essence of what

was saying. I knew the essence of what he was saying, and I knew he was true. I

mean, that's why I'm going back to the States. And I really wouldn't be going

States. And I really wouldn't be going on this trip had I not put in a great deal of money for it, and I didn't want to lose it.

So he took me to the back where there were other people, other officers, not other people, other officers. And he um

officers. And he um told me that I'd just have to wait there. I mean, they were going to have

there. I mean, they were going to have to figure out what to do with me. And I

thought, well, okay. I mean, you know, they can't shoot me.

Well, I say that. I don't mean to be rude or blunt, but anyway, they talked to somebody else, then they talked to someone else, and they talked to someone

else, and I stayed in a room. I could

see them, and they could see me, but um we couldn't I mean, I wasn't going in there and talking to them. I wasn't

going to go in there and do anything until they told me, "Ouch.

This is what I get for not wearing earrings. I'll do that later. I don't

earrings. I'll do that later. I don't

want to do that. that hurts. So, finally

a tall guy comes out and he says, "I don't speak much English." And I said, "That's okay. You live in France, you

"That's okay. You live in France, you know, I understand." And he said, "Um, worst case scenario, you're going to miss

your train." Because I'd already told

your train." Because I'd already told them if they wanted me to go back to Fontinlau and not go to um Scotland, I would do it. I mean,

whatever they wanted. I mean, I realized that I was in the wrong. I had a letter from my attorney. It was in English and in French, but they didn't seem to want to read it. That wasn't their concern.

Their concern was I was illegal. And

that's exactly what their concern should have been.

And um so what I did was just waited and finally this tall guy came out and he said, "We're going to approve it

because you're only going to be gone a few days and then you're going to the States, but when we approve it, we're going to take you over to the UK

border patrol and if they say you can't go, we can't do anything about it." I

said, "Okay, fair enough. Thank you so much." you know, and they were very kind

much." you know, and they were very kind to me. But I have to tell you the funny

to me. But I have to tell you the funny part. So anyway, I was just standing

part. So anyway, I was just standing there waiting for them to tell me what I was going to have happen to me cuz I didn't have a clue. And um I said the

worst case scenario, I mean, they already knew that if they wanted me to go back to Font Blood, go back to Font Blue and wait till I go back to the States. And um I said the worst the guy

States. And um I said the worst the guy came out and he said well the worst case scenario is you could miss your train. I

said well the worst case scenario is I could go to jail.

And he said although I wasn't laughing at the time, trust me. And he said, "Well, you ought to be glad you're in France because if you were somewhere else that we both know, you would

already be handcuffed and probably thrown out that glass window."

And he just laughed and I laughed with him. I thought, "If you think that's

him. I thought, "If you think that's funny, I'm laughing, too."

Uh, I don't think it's funny. And I

don't think it's funny the way immigrants are being handled in certain places. So, uh, but I certainly did understand how they felt.

I mean, at least I had a home to go home to, you know, I had money enough to get back to that home. So, um, that was more than a lot of people. But anyway,

he takes me back to the first man that refused to uh do anything. He had to take me back to

do anything. He had to take me back to the office. And the man just shaking his

the office. And the man just shaking his head and shaking his head and I'm thinking, "Oh my gosh." And the man is just talking to him and finally the man, you could tell he was not happy, stamped

my passport. And then they wrote

my passport. And then they wrote something on the side of it and it just had my passport number and my name. and

he said, "Uh, let's go to UK." So, I went to the UK and he said, "How long are you going to be in Scotland?" And I said, "3 days." And he said, "Okay."

I couldn't believe it. I was so very excited. And I thought, "Oh my gosh, I'm

excited. And I thought, "Oh my gosh, I'm going to get to go." And so, I went through the the U TSA where they looked at all the luggage and looked at everything and made sure I

did everything right. I was so excited.

I had not had any coffee that morning.

So, I thought, "You know what? I'm going

to get me some coffee.

And um I went and they had decaf and so I thought, you know what? If nothing else, I'll just stand here and wait till my next train comes because I had missed my

train. But they had another one coming

train. But they had another one coming and it was going to be loading in 30 minutes. So I had nothing to worry

minutes. So I had nothing to worry about. They were very kind. They had

about. They were very kind. They had

already been told by the French police that I was going to be detained. So, I

didn't worry about that. So, I went and got my coffee. And all of a sudden, this tall guy that was letting this other man know that I was going to stamp that

passport, he walked around me and he said, "Madame, dear Wester."

I looked up and I said, "Yes." Oh crap, I haven't made it out yet.

He said, "We need your address in Fontlau." And I said, "Gladly." And of

Fontlau." And I said, "Gladly." And of course, the first time I wrote it, it was wrong. I said, "I am so nervous. I'm

was wrong. I said, "I am so nervous. I'm

so sorry." He said, "It's okay. It's

okay." And um or da da. And um I gave that to him and he said um have a good trip. And I said, "Oh, thank you so very

trip. And I said, "Oh, thank you so very much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you."

So I got on the train. I was so relieved to be on the train. I was so stressed out. I slept for about an hour. I did

out. I slept for about an hour. I did

take a few pictures of the um French countryside and the London countryside.

Well, the British countryside and then I had to change trains and then I went from London to Scotland and it was the most boring 4 and a half hours. I know

people say it's a gorgeous, gorgeous train ride. It wasn't gorgeous to me. It

train ride. It wasn't gorgeous to me. It

was pretty but not gorgeous and not 4 and 1/2 hours worth. So, I am glad tomorrow when I go home that I'm flying and I hope I don't have any issues when

I go back. But anyway, I'm flying and that's it. And I'm so glad I'll be home

that's it. And I'm so glad I'll be home in about an hour or so. And I really made my flight later because I might get to go riding in the morning or maybe I just get to go back to the stables in

the morning and take some videos. I

don't know. But I'm guaranteeing it was hellacious. I will never ever ever ever

hellacious. I will never ever ever ever ever do this again. Uh I know I didn't do it intentionally, but I should have sought

out help sooner. I just thought I could do it myself and I proved to myself that I can't do it myself. So, um I'm going to get ready in a few minutes and uh

I'll let you see my outfit in a little bit. I'm going for breakfast right now.

bit. I'm going for breakfast right now.

Well, I finally found a mirror large enough so I can show you my outfit. I am wearing a jacket and I'll

outfit. I am wearing a jacket and I'll show that to you later. And then I have my wellies on as you can tell.

And um this is it. This is the final day. So this is me saying

day. So this is me saying just stay safe, Janice. Just stay safe.

Enjoy. Smell the aromomas.

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Hey.

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Heat. Heat.

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This is one of those times that you can be alone but not lonely.

I picked up this book in the room and it's about an autobiography of a pioneer woman doctor and I started reading it and I couldn't

hardly let it down. I just I hope they let me take it with me. I really want to finish it.

Yep. There's a difference between being alone and being lonely.

I'm going to finish my video and I'm going to enjoy my book and my cappuccino and as the lady calls it here, my fake

cappuccino because it's decaf.

Hello, it's Janice in France in Scotland and I want to talk to you today about a subject that I think we get confused

with and I think maybe I've done it and maybe you've done it so maybe you can relate.

There is a difference between being lonely and missing something. For instance, I

miss not having a bathtub.

And since I've been in this hotel, I think I've had about five.

But I miss that.

But I'm not lonely because of it. But I

do miss it.

I miss my house. I miss my dog.

But I'm not lonely.

What makes people lonely, I believe, is when they're not happy with themselves.

And I get comments from women all the time on here. They want to travel by themselves. They want to go places by

themselves. They want to go places by themselves. And then I know other women

themselves. And then I know other women and some of my friends, they're just lonely. They want attention. They want

lonely. They want attention. They want

someone to spend their life with. So

there is a difference between being lonely and being alone.

and then missing. So yesterday I had the privilege of going horseback riding.

And as I've mentioned on this channel a thousand times, I had a meniscus repair in my left leg.

And when you get on a horse, that left leg or that left knee, sorry, has got to hold you to get that right leg up. And I

have worried about this probably for about 60 days. Is it going to work? And

it worked. And I even, believe it or not, I even did a little bit of trotting yesterday. So, I was able to uh go up

yesterday. So, I was able to uh go up and down, up and down. Now, would I take a video of it? No, because I haven't done it in 15 years. And I looked

horrible. But the main point was

horrible. But the main point was I didn't hurt. And all this worrying has been for nothing.

So, I going back I'm going back to what I was talking about. I miss riding a horse.

Would I go out and purchase one? No. But

I miss it. Am I lonely for not having a horse? No. But I do miss it. And when I

horse? No. But I do miss it. And when I walked into the stables, we went right into the tack room and I could smell the

leather and it brought back such great memories when I was a teenager.

Just lovely memories of going out to the stables every day and and getting my horse ready and and going and riding

with my friends. H I miss those days.

Do you see what I'm saying here? There

are things that we miss. We don't have to recreate them.

I mean, I don't have to go out and buy a horse and spend a dozen tons of money, which I don't have, and put into that just because I miss it.

But boy, yesterday was such an experience.

On the way over here, as you've already heard, I had a little bit of a traumatic exit out of France. I don't know what's looking forward

for me when I enter, but I'm going to think positive.

And it was the day that my husband had died and I was already emotional, but I couldn't be emotional in front of them.

I had to show them that I knew exactly what they were talking about. I

absolutely did not disagree with them and I respected absolutely their laws and I would abide by whatever they said. If

they wanted me to go back home, I'd go back home.

And I made it very clear to them that yes, I know what I did was wrong. I

didn't try to make up excuses. It was my fault. I had a letter from my attorney.

fault. I had a letter from my attorney.

They didn't want to see it. And that's

okay because I understand where they were coming from.

So, going back to missing, I miss my daughter.

I really do miss my daughter and I can't wait to see her.

And I am lonely for my daughter sometimes. So, I do kind of have both of

sometimes. So, I do kind of have both of those that go together.

I miss my dog, but I'm not lonely for him.

I am missing France.

And after I've been in the States for about 30 days, I'm going to be lonely for France. I'm going to want to

be back in my home in what I call home.

Now, please let's don't take this out of context. Yes, I was born a United States

context. Yes, I was born a United States citizen. I am a United States citizen. I

citizen. I am a United States citizen. I

will remain a United States citizen. But

I do consider the US my second home now and France my first. That's just the way it is. I love being there. I love the

it is. I love being there. I love the culture.

I just love everything about it. And I

will miss it and I will be lonely for it. But I won't be alone. Does that make

it. But I won't be alone. Does that make sense?

Some people that live by themselves are just lonely.

And some people that live by themselves are alone but not lonely. I fit into that category. And that's really the

that category. And that's really the only category that I can talk about.

I live by myself alone, but I'm not lonely. I am one of these people that I

lonely. I am one of these people that I can putter around in my house all day long and talk to my dog and talk on the phone and I'm just happy. Now, I do like

doing videos. I do think that's good

doing videos. I do think that's good therapy for me and I hope sometimes that I do give some good advice and maybe that you can think

okay if she did it I can move to another state or if she did it maybe I could take up ballroom dancing or if she did it maybe I could go horseback riding myself.

It doesn't mean you have to make tremendous tremendous changes.

But maybe I can instill in you to keep on living, keep on trying.

I never thought at 73 I would be riding a horse again. But it was lovely. It was

wonderful. I absolutely embraced it.

I embraced the smell of the barn, the smell of the horse. It just brought back such great memories of childhood. It was

lovely. And I hope to be able to go to another one in the Cotsw walls. It's a

few more days longer, but it's closer to home. And I'm going to pick a time. I

home. And I'm going to pick a time. I

hope that it isn't raining.

But there is a difference between being alone and being lonely. So, if you are living alone and you are lonely, let's click off some boxes that you could do.

You can do some volunteer if you are disabled. You can even help on a

disabled. You can even help on a volunteer phone call. Um there are suicide hotlines that you might want to become involved with. There are so many

online charities and online self-help groups that you could volunteer for.

And maybe if you're not disabled and you can get out and help others in your town. It doesn't have to be an everyday

town. It doesn't have to be an everyday thing. I have a friend of mine that

thing. I have a friend of mine that lives in California and she works in a volunteer shop uh in her hospital and she loves it and

it gets her out of the house for two days. Not that she needs to be because

days. Not that she needs to be because she's kind of like me. She lives alone but not lonely.

And then she's involved in her church. A

lot of people get involved in their church and I hope to be going back to mine speaking of churches when I return because we've had construction so we've not been able to go to church or I've

not been able to because I don't have a car. So get involved with your church,

car. So get involved with your church, get involved with any kind of activity you want to besides just scrolling on

that phone and scrolling on that iPad or watching too many movies.

get involved. So, there's a big difference between being alone and being lonely.

I miss not having a bathtub.

I miss not being able to soak about 30 minutes in my tub.

I do miss that.

Would I move out of my apartment so that I could have a soaking tub? No, I

wouldn't. But I do miss it.

I miss a lot of things. The older I get, I miss my dad more. The older I get, I miss a lot of things. But I'm not

going to stop living. And I'm not going to stop doing. And I'm not going to stop going.

I'm going to live life to the fullest.

I'm going to live life every day just like it was my last. And I'm going to call my daughter every day. And even if she doesn't pick up that phone, I'm going to tell her that I love her

because I miss her.

But I also want her to know your mom lives alone, but she's not lonely. I

have a life. And if you're one of those out there that just say, "Janice, I don't know how you do it." Email me.

We'll talk about it. Maybe I can give you some tips. Or maybe you're one of these people that just want to be lonely. You're okay being lonely. You're

lonely. You're okay being lonely. You're

okay being alone and you're okay being lonely.

That's up to you.

But there is a big difference.

A lot of women have lived longer than their husbands and that's just a fact.

And a lot of us live from paycheck to paycheck. I'm very

fortunate that I did have a an education. Sorry, I see my hair sticking

education. Sorry, I see my hair sticking up back there and I was able to provide for for myself and my daughter. But those of you that

are alone and you're lonely, please try to do something about it because you know what? If you don't, nothing will

know what? If you don't, nothing will change.

If you are mad at your family, if you don't get along with your family, if you are mad at your neighbors and you don't get along with your neighbors, nothing

is going to change unless you make it change.

Your life will not change unless you make it change.

So, please do me a favor. If you have a bathtub today in your house,

sit back, enjoy it, enjoy life every day. Not just today, every day.

day. Not just today, every day.

Take care.

And thank you so much for being here with me. And thank you so much for

with me. And thank you so much for putting up with me in my bathtub. And

thank you so much for watching all my Scotland videos. And there'll be more. I

Scotland videos. And there'll be more. I

have enough.

As always, I love you.

Awa.

Well, as usual, I'm sitting So, I'm sitting in the Edinburgh um airport and I'm just a few little

miles down the road to go get my Air France, but it's still a couple more hours. I just got here early because I

hours. I just got here early because I love Scotland so much because they have a coffee shop I can just sit in and I can plug in all my electronics on the

train here. No such thing. And in the

train here. No such thing. And in the airport, I mean the train station, no such thing. So, I'm very happy to be

such thing. So, I'm very happy to be here. So, all my electronics are plugged

here. So, all my electronics are plugged in. So, when I get in there, I can tell

in. So, when I get in there, I can tell the people that this is the flight I have. I don't have to worry about not

have. I don't have to worry about not having a ticket and then when I get to Paris, I'll have my phone in case Luke can't find me or I get in late or

whatever. So, it's just a real

whatever. So, it's just a real nice feeling to know that I'm connected again. Not being connected to be able to

again. Not being connected to be able to give your ticket and talk to people that you may need to talk to is just really concerning for me. And I don't know

about you, but it really bucks the heck out of me, especially when I try to be so efficient and so great when it comes to taking trips at home. Not so

efficient, not so great. But traveling,

I try to be on my way home. And that's France. I

hope I don't have any trouble at the border. Oh, good lord.

border. Oh, good lord.

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