TRIP REPORTS ARCHIVE
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All I wanted was real French Toast
by chexfan
First
I'd like to introduce my roommate thumbgirl as an honorary member
of the
Community.
Background: We planned this trip back in October. I
was lucky enough to secure a $440 r/t ticket for january travel. I had two
SWUs w/ a 1/31 expiry date and the trip would allow me to have some sort
of balance for 2002 (those zeros are just too much to look at)! A double
miles and European Bonus popped up from the Dividend Miles Folks making my
mileage earning potential exponentially greater. However, according to
koko's law, this was a vacation and not a Mileage Run! I offered thumbgirl
a ticket
to be
my co-hort in the weekend adventure and to help translate. Her
acceptance was
immediate.
Friday
11Jan: "Harry Potter and the South Terminal"
We took
the escalator down to the security area for the S Gates. A line was
nonexistant and w/ the exception of thumbgirl's cowboy belt the size of
Utah we made it through w/o any delays. The tram delivered us to the South
Terminal and realizing that we were going to be on a plane for a long
while, we decided to walk up the stairs to the gate area rather than take
the escalator. We take a quick look around the South Terminal and notice
the NW 747 going to NRT and a NW DC-10 parked waiting to take passengers
to AMS. I made a quick stop at the bookstore to pick up a copy of the
first Harry
Potter book.
It set me back 7 bucks and change. We were then
off to
S5.
Uniquely,
I have noticed that during the day US has been departing SEA from the S4
and S5 gates (which surprised me the first
time I
saw it at xmas) and have been arriving at the S10-S11
gates- who
knows?
We take
our seats in the boarding area and they offer up prebaording for families
and those "requiring more time". They followed shortly w/ First Class
boarding and thumbgirl jumped up. I offered the suggestion of waiting just
a tad bit to avoid being "randomly picked" by security. We let 4 or 5
people jump in line, then we followed. Going down the jetway thumbgirl
asked if I wanted the window or aisle seat. I gave her the option as I
truly didn't care. She took a gander at my boarding pass and hoped that no
one would be sitting between her 1A seat and my
1C seat.
I informed her that there was no 1B, and that relieved
her (I
think).
USAirways180 SEA-PHL: "No Way! There's a Mini-Tray
for my Drink?"
About 40
minutes into the flight, the FA came around offering choices for lunch. A
clear cutback was noticed as the FA read the choices of crab and shrimp
ravioli, sliced sirloin, or a stuffed sole for lunch. Even though asking
us for our meals first was purely against geo1004's "Serve from the West
Theory" we were happy. The starters of smoked salmon w/ capers, parma ham
and the norm was consumed w/o discussion. The salad followed w/ a choice
of oil & vinagrette or creamy peppercorn. My main choice of the
seafood ravioli and thumbgirl's stuffed sole came out w/ nearly perfect
timing along with our second beers (Heineken and Bud Light respectively).
Thumbgirl and I got our third sourdough roll w/ our main dishes. Burning
80k for thumbgirl's ticket was completely worth it to
watch her
eat in amazement that she was gnoshing a 4 course meal
on an
airplne.
Dessert
came around and it was a rather ordinary cheesecake w/ a walnut topping.
Seeing my lack of excitement, the FA said that if she knew we were going
to be on the flight,
she would
have made something special. We declined on the cheesecake but took
a third
beer.
At this
time we pulled out our Lonely Planet Paris Guidebook and started to plan
our weekend. This was
my first
trip to Paris and my list consisted of Eiffel Tower, Louvre,
Notre Dame,
etc…
Being
used to writing teacher's Lesson Plans thumbgirl's itinerary looked
like:
The Envoy
Lounge
The first
announcement for the Paris flight is made and we made our way after 4
beers to
A7 where
the wonderful Airbus 330 would take us off to CDG for
a wonderful
weekend!
USAirways26 PHL-CDG: The Wonderful A330 and
Envoy!
After I
threw our bags in the overhead, thumbgirl's mouth simply drops. Just
remember your first international trip in Business… It was an awesome and
heartfelt reaction. We have some pre-departure champagne and take off
on-time at 8:15. The FA came around shortly after take-off inquiring about
a post-departure drink. I go with a glass of champagne and thumbgirl
gets a
glass of chardonnay. The drinks were served w/ the usual bowl
of mixed
nuts.
The FA
later came around to take our meal orders. Again, another cut-back was
noticed when no menus were handed out. The choices
for the
main dish included: Petit Filet mignon, Stuffed Turbo, Stuffed Chicken w/
spicy mustard
sauce.
Thumbgirl
went with the turbo and I, the chicken accompanied with a Heineken. My
meal was pretty average, however, the spicy mustard sauce gave the dish a
kick. I think the turbo was good as thumbgirl didn't stop to talk! I
think we
pretty much gorged on our dinner so we chose to pass
on the
dessert.
I
inquired w/ an FA if the Crabtree & Evelyn amentiy kits were going to
be handed out. She
informed me
that "they were renegotiating w/ the supplier and they were out
at the
minute."
Following
dinner, I gave thumbgirl a tutorial in using the
P@ssport Entertainment
System. She was a quick learner (or I a great instructor) as she became a
pro in navigating around the system. I decided to listen to a few of my
favorite selections from Paul Simon's Graceland and then watched to
montage of VH1 clips. Watching the VH1 montage, the pure beauty of the
entertainment system came to
light as
I was able to rewind the program to watch Christina Aguilera's
performance 3
times
Shortly
thereafter, I joined thumbgirl in the land of ZZZ's and was out like a
light. We awoke probably about 40 minutes outside of Charles deGaulle
missing the breakfast service. However, we didn't miss much. There is/was
a catering strike at CDG forcing US to double load their flights for
PHL-CDG and the return CDG-PHL
flights. Breakfast
was a simple shrink-wrapped muffin. This could only lead to a
dissapointing flight
back.
It was
very foggy and cloudy as I didn't see the ground until we touched down! We
were one of the first to deplane through 1L and we decided to do a quick
freshen up at the Arrivals Lounge at the Salon Bleriot. To say I was
unimpressed would be an understatement. Upon entrance we surrendered
our invitation,
only to be greeted by a room full of cigarrette smoke.
Welcome to
France!
We
quickly brush our teeth and freshen up. We then faced a 10-minute
line at
immigration that was bearable and our trek to the City of
Lights had
begun!
So… we're
in Paris
As the
hotel came into sight beyond a soccer field I started to ponder where that
darn Eiffel Tower was. The Paris Hilton pretty much bills itself as being
"within spitting distance" of the Tower. As we made our way down the
Avenue de Suffern I turned to thumbgirl and said, "Now where the heck is
that darn Eiffel Tower thingy?" As such, the timing couldn't have been
better. Within two steps, the Eiffel Tower popped into view to our left as
we passed through an intersection. The fog that surrounds
the city
was still around (remember the landing?) limiting our viewing distance. Spitting
distance, it
was.
The
Hilton Paris Rocks!!!
We
freshened up again, ate some of the baguettes and were on our way! We
started off on our trek and our weekend of sightseeing. First on our list
was the Eiffel Tower, it was still too foggy so we decided to pass on
going up and went off across the River Seine. We walked up some Franklin
Roosevelt road, passing some stuff and ending up on the Champs d'Elsyees.
We ambled up the Champs d'Elysees to the Arc d'Triomphe. We saw people
under the Arc, but couldn't figure out how to get there. Surely, we
thought, they all didn't cross the street. Our rationale took over and we
walked around the cirlcle. Of course it took us 180 degrees to find the
underground stariways to the Arc, but neither of us were injured in the
process. We exited the Arc, from the opposite side from
which we
walked up. This made us happy in eliminating the need to
cross the
street.
So we
started our walk back down the Champs d'Elysees in the direction of the
Louvre. Satisfying thumbgirl's urge to do some shopping, we stopped in
some famous
(not to
me) stores to do some browsing. The prices were reasonable, but
nothing was
purchased.
We
grabbed a quick bite to eat at some café and grabbed a café au lait to
warm up. It was now about 4:00p and we decided to head back to the hotel
to get some sort of rest. We got back to the hotel and stopped in the
concierge lounge for a quick drink. Charles was working an introduced
himself to us. I grabbed a Heineken and thumbgirl, an Amstel Light. We had
a little bite to eat and returned to our room for a quick nap. After an
hour and a half
rest, we
awoke and freshened up for a Saturday night out on the
town in
Paris!!!
A Night
Out on the Paris Town
Sunday is
"Be a Tourist-For-A-Day" day
The sun
was actually trying to break out and the top of the Eiffel Tower was
visible! As we walked by the Eiffel Tower we noticed that the lines were
short so we dropped some euros for a ride to the top. On the way up, I
thought what it would be like if I was scared of heights and confined
spaces. Man, that surely would have freaked me out! (right
geo?) But
it didn't. We snapped some photos up top and made our
way back
down.
From the
Eiffel Tower we followed the Seine to the Musée d'Orsay. Blairvanhorn had
given us the tip about reduced entrance admissions on Sundays, and he was
correct. We got to the d'Orsay around 11:30 and ambled around for a bit.
Honestly, one of my secret hidden adorations is for Art and Art History.
Thumbgirl has one as well. Although, one would think this is a good thing,
it really isn't when you are trying to do tons of sightseeing in one day!
We walked around in complete amazement and I was so impressed by the
abundance of works done by Renoir, Degas (both pre and post 1870),
Van Gogh
(though not like in AMS), Gauguin, Cezanne and the entire room
dedicated to
Monet.
We
checked our watches and decided at 1:45 that we should leave. We headed
down towards Avenue StGermain again and grabbed a bagguette and Coke Light
for lunch. We took a left hand turn and made our way towards the
Cathédrale de Notre-Dame. Again I was just simply amazed with this
masterpiece of Gothic Architecture (but I still noticed a number of
Romanesque qualities w/ the roundness of some of the features). We walked
around inside, and I dropped some euros to light a votive candle for my
mother. As we were leaving I posed the question why the University of
Notre Dame has the mascot of the
Fightin' Irish
and not the Fightin' French. We didn't have an answer and
we continued
on.
To
fulfill the need to get something for my niece and nephew, we check out
the souvenir shops outside of Notre
Dame. Nothing
strangely unique caught my eye so we strolled on down to
the Louvre
unfulfilled.
To say
that I had no clue about the pure immensity of the Louvre would be an
understatement. I've heard the requisite "You could
spend two
days in there and never see the whole thing…" But I
just wasn't
prepared.
Anyways,
thumbgirl and I were checking out the admission fees. We qualified for the
after 3pm, the under 25 and the Sunday admission fees. We
went with
the cheapest one, which was surprisingly cheaper than addmission to the
Seattle Art
Museum.
After
picking up an English and Japanese floor map, we headed straight for the
Mona Lisa. I mean how could you not? We made our way up some stairs and
were completely surprised to see Winged Victory greeting us. We took some
photos and made our way to the Rennaissance wing. Around this time I
turned to thumbgirl and said that I was kind of sick of museums and I knew
I wasn't appreciating where I was. She agreed saying that she was in the
same boat. Again, timing couldn't be perfect. I had just noticed that we
passed 3 works by Leonardo daVinci in a row. If this were to have happened
before 12pm, it probably would have taken us 30 minutes to get through the
room, at 5p, it took us about 20 seconds. We caught a glimpse of the Mona
Lisa and then made our way to the Greek and Egypt sections. On the way
there, some famously brilliant paintings were noticed on the walls, but
all we did was turn our heads and say, "Hey, that was on the cover of my
Art History book" when made
our way
past Louis David's The Oath of the Horatii and Delacroix's Liberty
Leading the
People.
We went
through the Egypt stuff and trotted off to the ancient Greek area. We were
happy with some old stuff we got to view including Venus deMilo, where I
was obliged to take pictures of her "lesser known side." There was an
empty exhibit room not too far away where thumbgirl and I decided to have
fun posing as
pieces of
art. As soon as I scan the photos, chexfan in motion
will be
published!
Shortly
before 6pm we were directed towards the exits as the Museum was closing.
The way the whole outside of the Louvre was illuminated was quite
impressive. The contrast of the Grand Louvre and IM Pei's glass pyramid
was amazing. From here, thumbgirl and I decided to take a cab back to the
hotel after we checked out the bright gawdy Ferris Wheel. Although it
didn't look too far away, the walk easily took 20 minutes. When we got
there, we were happy to see a festivity of some sort going on. I turned to
thumbgirl and we pondered if this was to celebrate the last day of our
stay in Paris. We chuckled and
drank some
of the free coffee and ate the free cotton candy they
were giving
out.
Our quest
to find a taxi stand proved elusive and we found ourselves about 5 blocks
from the Eiffel Tower heading back to the Hilton. We talked about heading
back to the hotel and freshening up then going back out, only to realize
that we would most likely never make it back out of the hotel as the long
day of walking took a toll on us. So we did the smart thing and stopped
for dinner on the way. Thumbgirl went with a grilled ham and cheese.
Weirdly enough I was in the mood for breakfast and they didn't have French
Toast, so I ordered an omelette instead which was served w/ Fench Fries
but they didn't call them that.
We
dropped off our stuff in the room and made our way back down the hall to
the Concierge Reception room. Charles was there to greet us. He pulled out
a Heineken for me and asked thumbgirl what she wanted. We sat down and
began to relax. The only other four people in the Club were a Mother and
three daughters (aged 27, 24 & 20 and 51/52nds). They were from
Minnesota and we started chatting with them when they made a rhetorical
comment of "Who would visit Paris for just two days?" Unfortuntely, they
thought thumbgirl and I were a "couple" and I was S.O.L. with the 3
daughters. Shortly thereafter, we had the club to ourselves and Charles
re-stocked the fridge w/ Heineken. Unfortunately we were kicked out of the
club at 11pm but Charles
let us
take some drinks with us to our room, so our "fun
night could
continue".
Monday
14Jan- Do We Have to Leave?
After I
showered I made my way to the hotel gift store to pick up a
t-shirt for
both my niece and nephew. We checked out in the Concierge
Lounge w/
Liesel.
We made
the way back to CDG via the RER C and RER B lines. It took about an hour
and 35 minutes to get there but we still had about 80 minutes before our
scheduled departure. We got a bit confused with all the escalators but I
took a risk and followed the signs to the United ticket counters. I
gambled by assuming they'd be next to the USAirways counters and it paid
off. The line was shockingly long and thumbgirl jumped in at the end. I
smiled to her and said, "I don't think we need to stand in line." We
walked a bit and found the Envoy check-in. There was no one in line there
and after a quick round of security questions, we checked in. The agent
had no problems printing thumbgirl's boarding passes but had some trouble
with mine. After a seemingly long minute, she asked for my SWU. I handed
it over and she excused herself b/c she had to get approval to accept my
SWU! This was the first time I had ever heard of this practice but there
was nothing to worry about.
She handed
over my boarding passes to PHL and SEA and we were
on our
way.
We
cleared Immigration and made our way to the Salon ICARE. This was next to
the Arrivals Lounge but many times nicer. I got a quick soda and we
departed. On the way out, I ask thumbgirl if we could just take a peek in
the RCC. She didn't understand that I just wanted to scope it out, but she
obliged and did the 2 minute visit w/ me. We took the elevator back down.
I bought
some candy for the flight back and thumbgirl picked up some
duty free
alcohol.
We got to
the gate area about 40 minutes before our scheduled departure and a line
had formed already for boarding. We made it through security and thumbgirl
noticed that her carry-on got quite a bit heavier. I reminded her how much
money she had just spent in the duty free shop. We jumped into line for
boarding through 2L. It didn't seem to be moving too swiftly then I
noticed the agents at 1L. I nudged to thumbgirl and we made our way down
there for boarding. We were greeted with a smile and I was "randomly
selected" for a security search. After a brief
one-minute look
through, the security guy zipped up my Tumi and wished me
a nice
trip.
Monday
14Jan- USAirways27 CDG-PHL
The lunch
options were the exact same as the choices for dinner on the PHL-CDG trip
(i.e. Petit Filet mignon, Stuffed Turbo, Stuffed Chicken w/ a Spicy
mustard sauce). I went with the fish,
and thumbgirl
the chicken. Again, I don't have too much to offer on
the food
consumed.
We had a
good laugh as the gentleman behind us told the third person about his
story of
being delayed on his SR flight from ZRH and almost missing
the CDG-PHL
leg.
I
followed up lunch going back to the VH1 programming and fast-forwarding
straight to the Christina Aguilera spot. I threw Memento on and quickly
fell asleep (it required to think, and my brain wasn't up for that). I
woke up to see the credits rolling and thumbgirl laughing to Shrek! I
decided
to switch
over and watched my own version of Shrek… Ah the joys
of the
A330!!!
The
pre-arrival snack was cutback "due to the catering situation" at CDG. It
consisted of wrapped cookies and Ghiradelli Chocolate. Arrival into PHL
was about
15 minutes early, but all that was lost in our taxi
to the
gate.
Deplaning
was through 2L and we were the last folks from the Envoy and First cabins
to leave. Knowing about a debate between the pitch of bulkhead Envoy seats
and second row Envoy seats, I
pulled a
frequent flying dork move and measure the pitch to kill the
time in
exiting.
A Two
Hour and 12 Minute Layover in Philly
From
here, we took off for the USAirways Club between the B and C Concourses.
We walked in and presented our Envoy boarding passes for admission. The
desk agent asked if we would like some drink coupons. Being two people who
rarely turn down a free drink, we accepted.
She signed
over 4 coupons to us and said to come back if
we needed
more!!!
I ran up
to the bar and got thumbgirl and myself two handsomely poured Yuenglings
(I honestly can say that I have missed this fine Pennsylvania Lager since
moving to SEA). I filled up a bowl of pretzels and we sat at the window
looking out at the Airbii moving about between the concourses. I made the
requisite call to my parents saying that we got back to the US w/o any
problems. Thumbgirl borrowed my Nokia and made some
calls as
I made a quick run back to the front desk for
more drink
coupons.
Monday
14Jan- USAirways751 PHL-SEA
Boarding
for preferred flyers and first class was called 25 minutes before
departure and thumbgirl and I were the 10th and 11th ones to board
respectively. We took our seats and the FA greeted us with a smile and
hello. She asked for our pre-departure drink order. Thumbgirl was very
surprised to see that her "glass of water" turned out to be a full litre
plastic jug! The FA laughed and said, "If you need
to go
to the bathroom, it's right there!" and got a chuckle from
both of
us.
We took
off on-time w/ a passenger load of 57 (11F/46Y). The meal service was as
usual and the choices for dinner were the seafood ravioli, chicken or
grilled mahi mahi. We both went with the grilled mahi mahi and we
concurred that it was the best plane meal of the trip. As it was about 2am
Paris time, thumbgirl was asleep before dinner was cleared. After dinner,
I finally had the chance to crack open Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone and put a dent of 65 pages
in the
book w/ ease- ahhh the joys of a book on a
5th grade
level.
We arrive
into SEA at gate S12 about 25 minutes early. We were directed to go to S15
to take a shuttle bus to the main terminal. It seems that the tram is
stopped at night for construction or aome other reason. This new option
wasn't bad
as we probably got to the baggage claim faster than waiting
for the
tram.
We made
our way out to the courtesy shuttle parking where a near perfectly timed
Ajax shuttle was going by. We flag him down,
got a
ride to the chexmobile, and our long weekend in Paris came
to an
end.
We left for the airport
around 8:45 for our 10:35 flight. By the time we parked the car and took
the shuttle over to the USAirways counter, it was about 9:40. There was no
one in line at the Envoy/Preferred/First-Class Check-In line so I thought
it would be a breeze. A line of about 8 was in the regular line. I was
quite surprised to actually have to wait for about 10 minutes before one
of the two agents
finally free'd
up. Thumbgirl and I checked in w/o any hassles and they
collected my
SWU.
We throw our bags in the bins of the Airbus319 and sat
down in 1A & C. Having done a bit of flying in her years, this was
actually thumbgirl's first flight in First. She was quite giddy at the
notion that she could cross her legs and still have room! The female FA
came around and took a pre-departure drink order. Thinking quickly about
Freddy Heineken, I decide Orange Juice is the best choice. Thumbgirl went
the same route. The
flight took
off on time w/ a full FC cabin of 12 and
85 in
coach.
1-Arrive
2- Go through Customs and Immigration
3- Visit an
ATM
etc…
I see her list, let out a
laugh and
put a big X though it saying, "we'll just go with
the flow,
ok?"
We arrive into PHL on time around 6:30 at the B Terminal and
head over to the A gates where our flight to CDG would depart. In
anticipation of amazing thumbgirl even more, we went through the
unseemingly ordinary door and went downstairs into the Envoy Lounge. We
show our boarding passes and are informed that flight announcements would
be made. The Lounge is packed w/ flyers for the flights to BRU, LGW, and
FRA but we are able to find two chairs together in the back. I grab a
Heineken for myself and an Amstel Light for thumbgirl. Forgetting to
un-cap the bottles, I head back to the bar for the bottle-opener. I stop
and bring back the awesome snack mix and some cheese and bread to nibble
on. Continuing to live up to my reputation, I made some "oh yea, I'm going
to Paris for the weekend" phone calls. I turned the phone over to
thunbgirl as I went to meander around the lounge looking for AusTxHiker. I
was thinking that a 6'5" chexfan wearing maroon corduroys would stick
out like
a sore thumb, but it was for not and I missed
a FT
Encounter.
At boarding through 1L we crossed the Galley and made way to our
assigned seats in 2G&H. I don't know why I said it, but I go to
thumbgirl, "Ahh let's just take these seats (2G&H)." An FA overheard
my little comment quickly came over and asked to see our boarding passes.
She was quite shocked to see that
we were
actually taking our assigned seats foiling her little plot to send
us to
coach.
Thanks to the help from blairvanhorn we had a head's up that
we would need to take a shuttle from Terminal 1 to the RER station. After
a while (I think we took the scenic route) we were dropped off and made
our way to "Paris by Train". We stopped by an ATM pulled out some brand
spanking new euros and thumbgirl got to break in her French for the first
time when we bought our tickets to Champ d'Mar station. We took the RER-B
(blue) train
to Notre
Dame, made a quick change to the C (yellow) line and
we were
there.
At check-in the staff noticed my Diamond VIP
status. The gentleman informed me that I would have to go to the 10th
floor to checkin. Thumbgirl and I hopped on the elevator and went up to
the 10th floor. As soon as the door opened, the concierge welcomed us with
a wonderful smile. "Monsier, Madame chexfan… welcome. Welcome! Welcome!"
check-in was a breeze and the concierge personally escorted us to our
room. The room was ready and waiting for us w/ a personalized hand-written
note, a bottle of wine and some bread w/
jellies. I
was amazed with the view of the Eiffel Tower as we
were so
close!
geo1004 gave us the name of Fish - La
Boissonnerie in the Latin Quarter area in the 6th Arrondissment for a good
dinner. We decided to walk to St. Germain des Prés and found Fish on the
Rue de Seine at about 8:15 or so. The bartender asked if we had a
reservation, which we didn't. He said that if we came back at 9:30, he
could get us a table then. We felt this was acceptable so we walked to the
corner bar. We walked in and were completely surrounded by smoke. It was
truly horrible. But thumbgirl and I were both able to finish a drink
before we decided to mosey on out to an outside table on the street.
Outside, under the heatlamps, we each had 2 or 3 more drinks (I was
sipping on Carlsberg at the time and thumbgirl was sipping some red wine).
We walked back down the street to the restaurant at 9:30. The bartender
saw us and asked for another 15 minutes. Thumbgirl accepted the delay
while I walked outside and wandered around. Directly across the street, I
spotted a sandwich shoppe. The sandwiches there looked so good. So I
grabbed thumbgirl and we went there for dinner. Not only were the
sandwiches so tasty, but also it was very reasonably priced. The two
sandwiches and two glasses of wine set us back a total of 17 euros.
From here we went over to some bar that was suggested to thumbgirl. It
was quite small and dungeon-esque and really wasn't anything too
impressive, so we moved on to a brewery located across the way. We truly
lucked out by making the decision to stop here. We were able to secure two
barstools watching the folks come and go all night. At about 1:15 we
finished our last beers and made our way to the taxi stand. After standing
in the queue for about 25 minutes a cab came by to
take us
back to the Hilton. It was a long day but I
was in
Paris!
It was Sunday and our last full day in
Paris (actually our only full day in Paris). We set the alarm for 9:30
and weren't
too happy when it went off. After showering, breakfast was in
the Concierge
Lounge.
The meal was reasonably priced and we were off
to the
Hilton.
We awoke and realized that Sunday night was
the most economical drinking we had ever been a part of.
Easily an
80 euro bill could have been rung up. Ahh the joys
of VIP
status.
We took our seats in 2A&B and had a
welcoming glass of champagne. The first envoy section w/ the exception of
5C&H were filled. Knowing about the catering strike at CDG, I had a
feeling not too expect too much for the return trip to PHL. When we sat
down I noticed that the headsets in our seats were typical coach ones. I
asked the FA about the Noise Cancelling headsets and she went on and on
about the catering strike. She said that if I wanted a pair of used ones,
she would go in the box and get some. Thining to myself that I have been
through far more disgusting things than using someone else's headsets, I
ask her for two pair! She returned w/ two NC headsets still
shrink-wrapped. I was very thankful, as was thumbgirl. The entertainment
portion of the return trip would at least be up to par! However, unlike
the trip
to CDG, they also handed out the Crabtree and Evelyn Amenity
Kits. Go
figure.
We made it through Immigrations
and Customs w/o any problems and made our way back up the stairs to the A
Terminal and went through security again. I made it through all right,
but a
security agent's eyes lit up at the chance of further security
screening on
thumbgirl.
30 minutes before our scheduled departure,
we left the lounge to go mail my Paris postcards. We made our way to C17
where our A319 would take us to the Emerald City. The loud gentleman who
sat behind us earlier with the delayed flight from ZRH saw us. He comes
over and says, "Hey you guys came in from Paris." We nodded and he began
to tell us about his horror story, yadda, yadda, yadda. Being the polite
folks that we are, we nodded as if it was the first time we heard it- but
this time we
got to
hear that he went shopping at the Gap for his meeting
the next
day.
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