Jason got up extremely early for his train while Robo and I slept in a little more before heading to the train station. We encounter some people trying to give us newspapers and promptly ignore them. After grabbing some croissants for breakfast we board the tram. Previous to this tram ride we bought tickets that allow one round trip. So, in theory, you buy one ticket when you leave the airport to get to the city and don't have to buy another one to get back to the airport after your trip. The trams were quiet and clean and there was a staff member that scanned everyone's tickets.
I end up being very early for my flight while Robo is pretty much right on time. He checked his luggage, we hung out in the cafe for a little and then we parted ways. I lounged around in the seats near the Air France departure area until a couple hours before my flight time. I approached the electronic kiosks and an employee quickly assisted me with getting to the English version of all the instructions. The staff at the counter recognized my odd French and asked what language I spoke. We continued in English.
There were very few people in at the gate for the longest time. I breeze through security and grab some lunch. I ask the cashier if he spoke English, which he said he did, but he only answered me in French. I'm guessing he understood English better than he spoke it. Same for me with French. Anyway, closer to departure time, the terminal is packed with a kids French-Canadian Hockey team and many others.
I get to Paris without any trouble. Within CDG airport, I had to walk for what seemed like miles to my next gate. I went through two different checkpoints and finally made it to the VERY last active gate in my terminal that day. Again, there were no real lines except when people were forced to go through some marked off aisles to go down the walkway to the jet.
The flight was less than comfortable for reasons I probably need not explain here.
When I finally make it the USA, a very weird transport takes us to customs and baggage claim. There was a very cute drug dog sniffing bags. I meet up with my friend who drops me at my car and I go home. I was exhausted...again, I could not sleep on the plane.
To summarize, it was a fantastic trip. I had not been overseas for over ten years and it was due time I go. I was lucky enough to know someone over there to speak the language and help arrange the lodging and transportation. If you love to ski, visit Les Trois Vallées. While there is definitely good skiing here in the USA, France (Europe in general) is definitely a different experience. Brush up on your French before you go, but being a touristy area, some English is fine. There were a ton of British tourists while we were there. The plane ticket is really the biggest cost, everything else was cheaper than the USA. Lift tickets, ski rental (at least compared to some places), lodging for the week, etc....all very reasonably priced. Eating out was expensive but that is what the kitchen was for!
And that's a wrap on my trip to France. I hope you enjoyed reading about it.
~
No comments:
Post a Comment