In Paris - Part Deux

Erica here. We have had an interesting travel experience so far. But you know that. I'll talk a little more about the plane ride. It was one of the smaller planes for international travel, an Airbus A-330. Chris and I got to sit next to each other and no one else, which was nice. The movie selection was impressive: Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, The Reader, Valkyrie, Vicky Christine Barcelona, Yes Man, Gran Torino, Bride Wars, and many more. Vicky Christina Barcelona was interesting. I did not like most of the narration. A lot of it seemed unnecessary unless you weren't paying attention to the actors. Dinner was nice. I wasn't able to finish. There was a cucumber, celery, tomato, and carrot salad; a cup of grapes; a cup of melon; a dinner roll; and CURRY AND RICE...and that spinach thing that often times accompanies it - can't remember the name. Breakfast was pretty much more fruit and a biscuit. I am going to avoid fruit for the next couple of days, I think. I don't think I slept much. I know I dozed here and there because I kept catching myself with my mouth hanging open. Attractive. When we got to the airport, I "breezed" right through security...and then had to wait for Chris to make it through...

The lady stamping our passports stamped right over my Oaxaca stamp. Grrr. I knew that was going to happen eventually.

We are going to have to post-post these entries because airport wifi is expensive. So by the time you read this...something else will be happening...which we will blog about later. I've enjoyed checking out what other people are wearing. Chris and I are the only people sitting in this area who are wearing tennis shoes. Scarves are also big. I always thought that had to be sort of a stereotype, but I guess it is for a reason. Huh.

In Paris

Well, we finally made it to Paris. We are now sitting at our gate for our Berlin to Paris flight, which leaves in about 2 hours. I was able to sleep a lot more than I thought I was going to, so I'm feeling pretty good right now. I feel like I've already adjusted to the time change.

The trip began interestingly when our flight to Paris was delayed by an hour and a half. Because of this, we were going to miss our connecting flight to Berlin, and we weren't going to make it to the hostel in time to check in. The airline offered to contact the hostel for us, but we have no way of knowing how that worked out. I decided to email them as well, but we haven't yet received a response. Hopefully they won't cancel our reservations on us! To compensate for this inconvenience, Air France also gave us a coupon for a complimentary drink in the Houston airport, but we never got around to using it. It was a nice gesture, though. Although, monetary compensation would have been nicer.

The plane itself was really nice. We had individual screens and we could pick from a wide variety of movies, games, music, etc. from the menu. I entertained myself by watching the plane's slow movement over the world map when I wasn't asleep, and Erica watched "Vicky Christina Barcelona". She'll tell you about that. The food on the flight was quite good. I had barbecued chicken and potatoes for dinner, and fruit for breakfast. It was nice.

The Charles de Gaulle airport here in Paris is a freaking nightmare, and we had to walk 20 minutes from our arrival gate to the gate for our connecting flight. Our tickets were checked like 5 times, and I had a problem with security...again. They pulled my bag, took everything out, and ran it through the machine a second time. Then they closely scrutinized my US-European travel adapter, as if it might contain some kind of explosive device. And, they spoke to me in French the whole time. It was all very intimidating.

But at least we're where we need to be right now, just killing time until our plane leaves. Check back later!