Paris, France to Washington, DC - Fredericksburg, VA
Flight 17 of 18
3,861 miles of 22,121 total miles to be travelled
I woke up about 7:30 surprised that I had slept that long after the night with the mosquito chasing me. Showered, dressed, checked the room thoroughly and then lugged my luggage to the front desk to check out. After checking out, I set out the 3 blocks to the Hotel de Ville Metro stop. I checked my Paris Visite ticket and as I had suspected, it was expired. So I stood in line to get a new ticket. One guy took forever to get his ticket so it was slow going.
I quickly got my new ticket for 8.5 euros, went through the turnstile and headed to the train for the one stop to Chatelet where I'll pick up the RER train to le aeroporte Charles de Gaulle. There was a lot of pedestrian traffic but I made it painlessly. Waited at Chatelet a short time and the next train was a nonstop train to CDG - perfect. Got on with my luggage and got a seat with my luggage beside me. A 30 minute ride to CDG, then off the train, back through the turnstile using my new ticket to get out, to the CDGVAL train, and off to Terminal 1. On arrival at Terminal 1, I went to the United business class check in desk and was able to check right in and check my large red roller bag.
I then went to the Duty Free Cash Refund desk to get my receipt stamped by the customs agent for the Czech glass vase I bought - that will give me about $60 back. I'll mail it in and get a credit on my credit card instead of cash. Went up "the tube" to french immigration. The lines were long as usual and slow. Just as I got to the front of the line, the agent closed my line - so the other agent alternated between her line and my line. They have a way in France.
Went through immigration and to the United Red Carpet Lounge - not too many people there. Had my coffee and a croissant there and read a USA Today. Left the lounge a little before time to board since I still have to go through security. That was interesting. The guy in front of me pulls out 2 bottles of beer and a pint of scotch that he wants to take on the plane and he doesn't understand that he can't take it. He decides to leave the scotch and take the 2 bottles of beer back out of security and drink them - hot. Stupid. Then he has to come back through security. They pulled me aside to check my carryon bag but then they got distracted with the beer/scotch guy so they forgot about me. I took my bag and headed to board the plane. I got on and took my business class seat in row 9 next to a woman from Indianapolis who had been in Paris on business.
Got all settled, and we actually left Paris early. I watched "The Hangover" movie - it was hilarious and I was laughing out loud during a lot of it. I then watched the ending of "Imagine That" that I had missed on a previous flight. The rest of the 7 1/2 hours was eating lunch (filet) sleeping for about 1 1/2 hours, and reading. I watched the map showing the progress of the flight. We arrived at Dulles about 30 minutes early. Note to self: I hate Dulles. We had to walk forever only to get on one of those remote busses to take us to immigration. Then the lines were slow at immigration. But it didn't matter because when I got to baggage, none of the bags had come up and they didn't for yet another 20 minutes - over an hour to get through this. Ridiculous.
I retrieved my bag, when through customs and to the National Car Shuttle. Got my car, checked voice mail on my phone, and then headed to Virginia. I somehow missed the turnoff on the loop and ended up at the Pentagon! Oh boy. I finally got to 495 and the traffic headed out of DC was heavy and slow. Long story, short - it took me 2 1/2 hours to get from Dulles to Fredericksburg. Unbelievable.
It was good to see Chris. We talked for a while, then I showered, shaved and dressed for dinner. I started a load of clothes since all of my clothes are dirty, dirty, dirty. We went to an Italian restaurant in Fredericksburg and it was really good. Chris treated which was sweet. We headed home and watched some TV, I dried and folded my clothes, caught up on email. I headed to bed about 10 pm - it has been a long day.
It is so good to be back in the U.S. Almost home.
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