Early Saturday morning, we woke up, did our final packing, and crowded into the elevator. We caught the 6:15 shuttle over to the terminal and checked in for our flights to Paris and onward to Dulles. We were in the terminal in plenty of time. Security went smoothly. Sara got some breakfast near the gate. I decided to wait and eat what they fed on board.
We got onto our first flight pretty much on time but then sat on the ramp for about 20 minutes. This got us into Paris late. To get from our plane to our next plane, we had to take a bus from the plane to our arrival terminal then another bus to our international departure. We went through security behind two of the slowest, most complexly dressed men I ever hope to encounter. We ran to the gate, arriving 10 minutes before the posted departure time, only to be told the flight was closed.
They rebooked us for a flight in 3 hours, handing us vouchers for food and drink in the terminal. We wandered around people watching and wishing we’d caught our flight then ate our complimentary sandwich and drink. Sat at the gate and read while our fellow passengers slowly arrived. There were two large school groups, but they were fairly well behaved.
The only interesting note on the flight back is that Sara and I both watched a French comedy about a Provencal postal worker who tries to scam himself a job on the Riviera, only to get caught in the scam and posted to the north of France instead. Turns out to be a very nice place, but his wife’s sympathy for him being sent to Siberia is the only improvement their relationship has seen in years, so he plays along with telling her it’s as awful as she thinks. Hijinks ensue.
We had a little confusion on arriving at baggage claim since we knew our bags might have arrived ahead of us. There was no Air France rep visible. Fortunately, while I was still running around looking for one, our bags popped off and Sara grabbed them.
The cab drive back was untroubled. We found the house in good order. We dropped the bags, ordered comfort food from our favorite Chinese restaurant and settled down for an evening at home congratulating each other on how well we had enjoyed our vacation.
