Laura and Joe Booth are now accustomed to making early starts for trips to Paris – only to be told they won’t be travelling.

Last month the couple, from Hull, woke at 4am and headed for their local Humberside Airport for a birthday celebration for Laura. But their airline, KLM, denied them boarding – wrongly claiming Laura’s passport had expired.

Airline ground staff even issued a document excluding Laura from the flight, claiming her passport expired on 21 April – rather than the actual expiry date two months later. “You will not be boarding this plane today,” they were told.

“We left the airport heartbroken and confused,” said Joe.

KLM later apologised and paid compensation for the error.

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The couple planned a second attempt. Distrustful of flying, they decided to make their postponed trip by Eurostar train from London St Pancras International to Paris Gare du Nord.

They booked for the first train of the day on Friday 7 March, and travelled down the night before to stay at a nearby hotel.

But while they were sleeping, maintenance engineers working just outside the French terminus discovered a large Second World War bomb. Their destination station was immediately closed.

“It was chaotic,” Joe said. “We got checked in 4.45am, into the departure lounge and didn’t hear a thing about a delay until 15 minutes before we were due to depart at 6.01am.

“The queue for the information desk was outrageous. So we had to think on our feet. We checked online for the French public transport pages, which suggested lines would reopen at 9 or 10am French time.

“With this in mind, we took a punt and paid £600 for fresh tickets – the only ones we could find before the evening, in first class, on the 9.31am Eurostar to Paris.”

Within an hour, the 9.31am was cancelled. They moved the booking to the 12.31pm, which was still shown as operating. They waited in the first-class lounge – “hoping and praying lines reopen and we get there around 4pm French time”.

All too soon, though, the lunchtime train was cancelled, too. But instead of heading home, they found one of the few remaining flights from anywhere in the UK to Paris: on easyJet from Manchester to CDG airport.

They walked for 10 minutes to London Euston and bought tickets for a train heading diametrically away from Paris.

When they reached Manchester Airport, aviation security rules provided the next hurdle. “Thinking we would be travelling by train, it never ever crossed our mind what we would do if we ended up flying,” said Joe.

“We had way too much for hand luggage only on the flight – and also too many liquids. So we had to repack all our cases on the floor of Manchester Airport train station to get all the liquids and the bulk of the weight into the checked luggage”.

At their third attempt, they were actually allowed on board transportation heading for the French capital.

The easyJet flight was on time, and couple finally arrived in central Paris at 10pm – about 13 hours behind schedule.

They had already invested €330 (£278) in a floating restaurant “as a treat given all the stress of last time” – which they lost.

“We must have really upset the travel gods in a previous life,” said Joe.

But their travel insurer, Allianz, has already “paid out without quibbling” on the train to Manchester, flight to Paris and taxi to their hotel.

“Having just had the travel insurance confirmation, we are only about £400 out of pocket all in.

“Our biggest loss really was all the stress – twice – and missing a full day in Paris. We had an action-packed two days planned. But missing all of day one meant we missed the Montparnasse tower, the Louvre and Notre Dame to name a few.”

Yet the experience has only heightened their appreciation of the city and nation. “We were reminded how much we love France,” said Joe.

“We are already talking of another French road trip this summer which will likely incorporate another trip to Paris, this time with the children, to visit all the attractions we missed and to break the ‘curse of Paris’ we experienced.”