Day 8 - Bon Voyage
After the gargantuan meal that we had last night, no one wanted to get up this morning. Well, that and the fact that leaving Paris is bittersweet - on the one hand, there are those at home who we love and miss and on the other there's this city that just captivates you in more ways than can be explained. We left our apartment at about 7:25 this morning, and as we walked by the local greengrocer he stopped me to say goodbye (I'd become a regular and told him I was leaving last night). Took Metro 6 to Denfert-Rochereau and connected to RER B to Aeroport Charles de Gaulle. The train was crowded when we first got on, but after passing Gare du Nord, it pretty much cleared out. Check in and security clearance took about an hour, and we stopped at the little cafe in the terminal to get one last crossiant. We borded the plane at about 10:45 and finally got in the air about 11:30. As I write this I'm sitting in seat 25A on American Airlines Flight 49, and we are somewhere between Greenland and Canada (at 62 42.301N, -44 06.62W according to the GPS in this laptop (since I'm posting this after the fact, it's over Greenland)) at an altitude of 9833m (appx 32,030 feet) moving at a ground speed of 445mph. Flight time was supposed to be 10:10, with about 1:30 layover in Dallas. Should be in Little Rock by 6:45. I really miss my nieces and someone special at home, but I hated leaving. Maybe one day I will get the opportunity to share this place with them....
update -- We're actually going to land about 7 minutes ahead of schedule. I feel like I've been sitting on a metal tractor seat for the last 10 hrs. Our stewardess is not friendly, and I'm just ready to get off this plane!
update2 -- We made it to Dallas, intact and luggage accounted for. My bag of Wal-Mart Peppered Beef Jerky warranted a visit from the Food Dog. They have these cute little beagles who come around sniffing for illegal foods and such. Oops. She let me keep it (not that I wanted it -- I intended to eat it on the plane and leave it there) since it was processed in the USA. And she probably felt sorry for me because she knew I had been on an airplane for the last 12 hrs and it was the only thing on there actually edible. Anyway, our plane going from DFW->LIT is an ATR 72. It's a tuboprop plane, and since we've boarded they're moving people around to make sure the weight is properly distributed. go figure.....last time that happened I was on a BAe Jetstream 31 going from Chicago (ORD) to LaCrosse, WI (LSE) for a fishing tournament with 15 other guys all carrying fishing poles. Gotta love airlplanes! Oh, and the flight is delayed because American Airlines (who sucks, btw) no longer provides meals for their flight crews while they are working. They are holding the flight up so the Attendants can eat dinner. Even the folks on AA49, a 767-300 from Paris had to bring their own lunch. Geez -- that crap they feed us on airplanes can't cost more than $0.08 to produce. Here's a tip AA -- Boost employee moral. Let them eat some of that square chicken you feed us every now and then.....
