A nightmare travel return with a happy ending. I had a whirlwind trip to beautiful France for the Videogame Economics Forum, where I had a great time. But the trip back was challenging. I took a train back from Angouleme to Paris. I arrived at the Montparnasse train station and was directed to the nearby TimHotel. But they didnt have my reservation. So they sent me to the next TimHotel, which contacted my host and then redirected me to the third nearby TimHotel. We went out to a fabulous dinner and then I got ready to head back in the morning. The problem with the hotel was that it didnt have a computer with a printer, so I couldnt print out the plane ticket for my connecting flight. This would come back to haunt me. I rose early, snapped some pictures of the lovely Luxembourg Gardens, and then headed back to the hotel. Then I took off toward the airport, after talking with the clerk about how to get there via the Metro. I had done this before, so I figured it would be easy. Well, it wasnt quite. The first train clerk told me to take the 6 line to the airport. But he forgot to tell me to switch trains to the B line at Chatelet. I wandered around Charles DeGaulle Etoile for a while, then another clerk told me to go back to Chatelet. There, I switched to a B line. But it was the wrong B line, which I figured out after talking to a traveler who was going to Orly airport. I then went to the B line headed for Charles DeGaulle airport. That was B3. I arrived at the airport without much time to spare. Then I got off at the first stop, which was the wrong one. So I took the tram to Terminal 2, for international flights. I had printed this ticket previously in Angouleme, so I sped through security and made it to my gate with 15 minutes to spare. I boarded, only to find the plane was going to be an hour late because of a luggage mix up. I slept well on the 11-hour flight home, which landed in LAX, which was where my original flight came from. I was supposed to transfer to an American Airlines flight at 225 pm. But since I didnt have a printed ticket, and could no longer get a mobile ticket at that time, I had to wait in line to get one. (I could have gone to self-service, but I didnt see the terminals until later). But by the time I had gone through customs and transferred to the right section, it was already 214 pm. I went to the American Airlines counter, but since my flight was late and bunch of others were too, it was full of unhappy travelers. No one wanted to let me go to the front of the line, and the AA person on duty was quite unsympathetic. So by the time I reached the counter, my flight was already gone. They put me on standby for the next available flight late in the afternoon at 445 pm. But that was too late for my schedule. So I called Southwest and moved to Terminal 1. They luckily had a flight leaving at 3:55 pm. So I had plenty of time for that. I booked it and went to the gate. Then they said the flight was delayed until 4:20 pm. It actually took off at 4:45 pm. This was after I spent $209 just to get the earlier time. I got on board and landed at 5:45 pm. I took at taxi home and made it just in time to snap these photos. You see, I had cut the trip to France short by a day so that I would be able to take pictures of my daughter, Tanya, as she headed to her senior prom. Her face lit up when I arrived in the taxi, just in time. It was a logistical nightmare to make it happen, but it was worth it. I wouldnt miss these memorable pictures for an extra day in Paris, or anywhere else in the world. :)
Posted on: Sun, 18 May 2014 04:35:22 +0000
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