The meeting at ICAO’s EURNAT regional headquarters ends just after 16h00, and I make my way back to the Gare de Lyon for the return trip to Basel. The metro line 1 runs directly from Les Sablons, near ICAO’s offices in Neuilly sur Seine, to the Gare de Lyon. However, it stops 14 times on the way and takes about 35 minutes to make the journey. The quicker option by public transport is to take the metro line 1 to Étoile and then to transfer there to the RER A local train to Gare de Lyon. Even with the transfer, the journey by metro and RER only takes slightly more than twenty minutes.

I alight at Gare de Lyon and make my way up to the ground floor. It’s only just gone 17h and I still have about forty minutes to kill before my train starts boarding. So I figure I might as well check out the TGV First Class lounge that is located between halls 1 and 2 of the station. Or maybe not – because the queue to enter the lounge is long and winding. I don’t think I’ll manage to enter any time soon.

Honestly, the lounge isn’t that great. But I think I’m coming down with the flu. You know that feeling when you shiver from the cold coming from within you rather than from the outside? So instead I spend my time walking around the station and looking at the shops. I don’t buy anything, but at least the shops are warm inside. I’m feeling a bit like the little match stick girl right now…

At 18h10 my train to Basel SBB shows up as boarding from platform 21 on the huge departure display in hall 2. To access the trains at Gare de Lyon, passengers have to scan their tickets to use the electronic gates. There is another ticket check on the train itself. So I make my way to the first carriage of the train, which is where I have a seat reserved. Despite my slightly feverish state I still stop to take a photo of my ride to Basel and the train on the adjacent platform because I think the TGV is cool and looks like it really means business.

As on the outbound journey, the Business Première cabin on the upper deck of carriage 11 is not very full. The service departing Gare de Lyon to Basel SBB at 18h22 calls at Dijon and Mulhouse. But no passengers board the train at either one of the two intermediary stops.

The crew on this service are great and take good care of passengers. Even after the meal service, one of them notices me looking slightly unwell, so he keeps coming to check on me and keeps me well hydrated with mint tea.

The meal service on the TGV is adapted to the time of day. So on this service passengers in Business Première receive a full meal. There is a choice of vegetarian or fish, and I decide to go with the former. Ahead of the meal, the crew serve hot towels. To drink I have a Coke Zero, while the German gentleman two rows down seems determined to seriously deplete their stock of alcoholic beverages.

The main course is a hot meal. In my case, it’s a leek and potato gratin made with blue cheese and a lentil crumble on top. And it tastes very good.

The first course is a small celery salad with hazelnuts. I can’t be sure, but I think the starter for the fish option is different.

There is a small dish with goat’s cheese, fresh cheese and dried apricot.

And a slice of wholegrain bread and butter.

And the dessert is a kind of sponge with apple compote, some kind of cream and bits of Earl Grey tea on top. It’s very fragrant.

The meal is tasty and can certainly compete with anything you get served on a plane in Business Class these days in Europe. The trays are quickly removed and the crew spend the rest of the journey passing through the cabin and replenishing drinks.

I arrive back home in Basel at 21h26, after a journey time of just over three hours and with a lot less hassle than if I’d taken a plane. By this stage I’m feeling decidedly unwell, and all I want to do is crawl into bed.