I sit here in Marco's apartment happy to be on solid ground again. Let me tell you about the jouneyI took to get here. I got up Wednesday morning EST a little before nine. I did laundry and finished putting everything in my suitcase. Dad was enlisted to (voluntarily, and with great appreciation from a doting daughter) to scan in the pages from a wide variety of reference books I intend to use to apply for my internship at the National Air and Space Museum. I also burned a good amount of music into the music library on my computer so that I would have some more options when I got back to France. We left the house a little after three and my parents and brother took me to the airport for my 5:55 (17:55) flight to Philidelphia.
I arrived in PA with just enough time to transfer from one gate to another and take a little rest at the gate while they boarded the other zones of the aircraft. The 8:20 (20:20 (side note for Lorien: "I'm Walter Mathau and this is Jack Lemmon and this is 20/20")) flight left about 30 minutes late due to a small sensor problem in the cockpit and then we were off. Zou should know that there were a good number of screaming babies on the flight, including two in the same row as me. My window (quality hand craftmanship) was not actually double plated, and ice began to form in between the two panes of glass. The video system had to be reset about 20 minutes in as well. But, I have to say this was one of the best flights I have ever been on. This is because I had the aisle seat and the window seat next to me was empty. I got to stretch out, use two tray tables - which is convenient if you want to cross you legs, and had the benefit of two pillows. I actually slept for about 2 1/2 hours.
Arrival in Paris went pretty smoothly, and after acquiring my baggage I headed for the RER. Two stops later including the Metro, I walked the four blocks to Roger's apartment. I immediately went out to lunch with some of their friends and had Japanese food, which was delicious. I came back and did some quick checking up on the flight stuff, took money out of the ATM and had a 3 hour nap. I woke around 17:30. What a wonderful rested sensation! I grabbed food at the downstairs grocery store, packed up my ag and took two Metro lines to the bus stop to catch the shuttle to the Beauvais-Tille airport.
** If you ever plan on taking a RyanAir or EasyJet flight, do not forget to keep in mind that there are going to be serious transportation costs to get to these weird airports. 13€ shuttle expenses one way is kind of steep, and the smaller costs can add up. Bargain shop wisely.**
Dinner on the bus and a short nap later, I met two fabulous women while waiting for the plane to Dublin. This was good, because I really did stand in lines for check-in and security for the entire two hours prior to my flight. Thank goodness I was early. We talked about all sorts of things and had a generally god time. We were rather amused afer having boarded the plane (you can sit where you want on the flights basically) because a passenger in the first row was asked to leave the plane. He wouldn't, and was systematically removed by police. This added to our take-off delay considerably and fifty minutes after our scheduled departure, at around 12:07 (0:07) we were in the air. The pilot made excellent time and we only arrived 30 minutes late, or around 12:15 (0:15) Dublin time. Luckily I had managed a short nap on this flight as well.
I was going to take the shuttle to the city wth one of the women I had met on the plane, but Marco came up behind me and surprised me. We took a cab to near his apartment and walked the rest of the way so he could show me exactly how to get to the local transportation to get around the city while he was at work. We dropped my stuff off at his place and then ran over to his office, which is like 5 minutes away, and called my parents. We came back and fiddled on the computer a bit to plan my way around before both hitting the sack around 3:40.
So, based on actual hours (instead of crazy travel hours having stood in 3 seperate time zones in less than 24 hours), I traveled working on a total accumulated nap time of 6 1/4 hours for basically 30 hours and having been awake for about 38 total hours before going to bed again. Craziness. I recommend this to anyone who has endurance and a sense of adventure. Or, someone who has been labeled as insane already.
So there it is. A completely documented tale of trans-Atlantic flight. I hope youd enjoyed yourselves. I'll keep you posted on what is going on here, because I know you are going to love hearing about Dublin. Hugs and kisses, ~Heather
I arrived in PA with just enough time to transfer from one gate to another and take a little rest at the gate while they boarded the other zones of the aircraft. The 8:20 (20:20 (side note for Lorien: "I'm Walter Mathau and this is Jack Lemmon and this is 20/20")) flight left about 30 minutes late due to a small sensor problem in the cockpit and then we were off. Zou should know that there were a good number of screaming babies on the flight, including two in the same row as me. My window (quality hand craftmanship) was not actually double plated, and ice began to form in between the two panes of glass. The video system had to be reset about 20 minutes in as well. But, I have to say this was one of the best flights I have ever been on. This is because I had the aisle seat and the window seat next to me was empty. I got to stretch out, use two tray tables - which is convenient if you want to cross you legs, and had the benefit of two pillows. I actually slept for about 2 1/2 hours.
Arrival in Paris went pretty smoothly, and after acquiring my baggage I headed for the RER. Two stops later including the Metro, I walked the four blocks to Roger's apartment. I immediately went out to lunch with some of their friends and had Japanese food, which was delicious. I came back and did some quick checking up on the flight stuff, took money out of the ATM and had a 3 hour nap. I woke around 17:30. What a wonderful rested sensation! I grabbed food at the downstairs grocery store, packed up my ag and took two Metro lines to the bus stop to catch the shuttle to the Beauvais-Tille airport.
** If you ever plan on taking a RyanAir or EasyJet flight, do not forget to keep in mind that there are going to be serious transportation costs to get to these weird airports. 13€ shuttle expenses one way is kind of steep, and the smaller costs can add up. Bargain shop wisely.**
Dinner on the bus and a short nap later, I met two fabulous women while waiting for the plane to Dublin. This was good, because I really did stand in lines for check-in and security for the entire two hours prior to my flight. Thank goodness I was early. We talked about all sorts of things and had a generally god time. We were rather amused afer having boarded the plane (you can sit where you want on the flights basically) because a passenger in the first row was asked to leave the plane. He wouldn't, and was systematically removed by police. This added to our take-off delay considerably and fifty minutes after our scheduled departure, at around 12:07 (0:07) we were in the air. The pilot made excellent time and we only arrived 30 minutes late, or around 12:15 (0:15) Dublin time. Luckily I had managed a short nap on this flight as well.
I was going to take the shuttle to the city wth one of the women I had met on the plane, but Marco came up behind me and surprised me. We took a cab to near his apartment and walked the rest of the way so he could show me exactly how to get to the local transportation to get around the city while he was at work. We dropped my stuff off at his place and then ran over to his office, which is like 5 minutes away, and called my parents. We came back and fiddled on the computer a bit to plan my way around before both hitting the sack around 3:40.
So, based on actual hours (instead of crazy travel hours having stood in 3 seperate time zones in less than 24 hours), I traveled working on a total accumulated nap time of 6 1/4 hours for basically 30 hours and having been awake for about 38 total hours before going to bed again. Craziness. I recommend this to anyone who has endurance and a sense of adventure. Or, someone who has been labeled as insane already.
So there it is. A completely documented tale of trans-Atlantic flight. I hope youd enjoyed yourselves. I'll keep you posted on what is going on here, because I know you are going to love hearing about Dublin. Hugs and kisses, ~Heather
Comments