We’re actually at Charles de Gaulle!
Hello!
Into every trip there are days that are definitely more challenging than others … and this was such a day. Up this morning about 5:30 am; breakfasted, packed up and loaded up the car. We were on the road about 7:08 am. Our information indicated that from Carnac to CDG airport, it would be something about 6½ hours. Well … it wasn’t. We were moving along nicely until we hit the traffic in Rennes. Ugh! Fortunately, Robert was using Emmy, our GPS, as a resource, and not as the guiding light. In that way, he could look over all of our options, in the hope that the awful detour through Nantes last Tuesday wouldn’t be repeated. And that worked out really well! However, because of traffic in general, it took us almost 8 hours to get here. What made it worse was that about 50 km from the airport, our tire light indicator went on. Good grief! I had hoped we had left that when we last left Montana or Wyoming a few falls ago, but I guess not. We did stop at a service station so that R could inspect the tires – he said they all looked okay, so we proceeded. The low pressure could have been because of the cold weather; it actually reached freezing at one point.
So … got to the airport and needed to 1) drop luggage at the hotel 2) fill car up with gas; 3) return the car to Enterprise/Alamo. We knew there was at least one gas station in the conglomeration that surrounds CDG…we just had to find it! Eventually, we found the hotel – CDG Hilton – first. This required that we pull up in front, unload the car and see if we could check in. We could, which was great. Our room had been upgraded – 8th(top) floor, end view of the airport; great! We dumped everything into the room and back into the car, now on the hunt for gas. It took us several passes both around and through CDG to come up with the gas station. [Driving around CDG airport is no joke; almost as bad as Heathrow] We were able to fill up, and then back along the same path to turn the car in. So … we the instructions to the Terminal 1 car return – only to find that when we got to the actually turn-in place, it was closed and all blocked off with cones and tape! Ok! Try again … this time, we went after the rental car return in Terminal 2. Well … made it there, only to be told (and we’re actually in the turn-in parking lot, next to the Enterprise/Alamo signage – but nope, couldn’t drop it there - closed! Rather than being in parking lot 2 A, B, C or D, we needed to be in the parking lot for 2 E and F! Silly us! So, back around several more times to 2 E. And there was actually a person there! Incredible! Loved the question: Is the car full with fuel? Well … it was, actually, half an hour or so ago, but we’ve been making quite a few trips around the airport, so … all checked in, and all fine. Always a relief. So then … back to the Hilton! Turns out, there is an airport train that takes people around and through parking lots and terminals. In this case, we just had to get off at Stop 3, Roissypole, and then walk maybe 10-15 minutes and we were back at the Hilton! Who knew? Not nearly as convenient as Rome’s Hilton is, but it worked!
This hotel, being in the middle of the airport, is very convenient for our purposes but it is not the best Hilton we’ve seen. The restaurant menu is very sparse (not surprising during the Covid pandemic) and the lighting in the room is minimal. Robert then found the business center so that he could print out our declarations that we need to have to re-enter the U.S. Two copies all now printed. We were not able to get our boarding passes from Air France yet, but as they cleared us last night with “GOOD2GO” for our documentation, I don’t think that will be much of a problem! Our flight doesn’t leave until 3:50 pm tomorrow, so I’m thinking we have a nice morning and breakfast, and then work our way over to the airport about noon-ish. And then, hopefully home sooner rather than later!
Robert had some thoughts he wanted to share about traveling with computers! Read on:
A word about travel in the modern world: Ya gotta have a computer!
As we get ready for our return flight home, we have to deal with all the requirements for travel. First, we are receiving – by email - detailed instructions from the airlines (both Air France and Delta) regarding our flights, including lists of documents required to get on the plane.
Specifically, we needed to upload – via the internet - to the airlines (a) copies of our vaccination records and (b) copies of recently-obtained negative Covid test results. The test results, by the way, were sent to us (again) by email. Finally, we had to download – from the internet - attestation forms to be filled in, printed and presented at check-in. And, tomorrow, we get to download – from the internet - and print our boarding passes.
Maybe all this could be handled with a smart phone; I’m not sure. But it can be done using our computer and even so, it’s not easy. As it is, we will have to make use of the Business Center at our hotel in Paris to print whatever is needed as paper documents. (Is the day coming when we are going to need to travel with a portable printer?)
Clearly, the travel industry now assumes people have access to sophisticated internet and email platforms, which may be true when one is at home, but less likely when on a trip.
Thank goodness for our MacBook Pro!
So, for now, lots and lots of love!
m
xxx
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