return to France
I'm back in France, and it's everything I remember. The Charles DeGaulle airport is absolutely the worst airport on the planet. When we landed and parked at our gate, we had to wait about 20 minutes before getting off the plane. They had to call the bus you see, so that when we walked down the stairs off our 767, we had a bus to board. One of the ironies here is that of my past 8 Delta flights, the previous 7 were late (for reasons OTHER than weather). The arrival at CDG was on-time, so you'd think the bus would've been waiting for us... not so.
Even better, we had a new bus driver, who made 2 u-turns en route to the terminal building. The plane was parked at CDG's newest terminal, actually. The thing is, it was built by the French, so it partially collapsed in May 2004 and cannot be used at all. It is currently full of scaffoldings that are preventing the enormous structure from collapsing entirely. Being the busiest airport in France, you'd think that maybe 2 years is enough time to fix things. If that's the way you think though, you've obviously never been to France.
Once the bus driver finally figured out where he needed to drop us, I had to go through customs, exit the airport, and re-enter through security to catch my connecting flight to Clermont Ferrand. Once I got through security, I had to get on another bus, which drove me to our regional jet for the flight to Clermont Ferrand. They tear your boarding pass and board the bus by zones, just like it's a normal loading process. So the people in 1st class, who get to board in zone one, get to spend a good 30 minutes on this dinky bus while they wait for the people in zone nine (and the stragglers) to get on the bus.
There are several effects of putting everyone for a given flight on the same bus. 1) The busses are small and cramped so people (yes, like me) get grumpy . 2) When you arrive at the plane, they dismiss you from the bus in zones, because you can't have too many people lingering around on the tarmac. Why not maintain a pool of busses so that you can have more than one serving a given flight? You've obviously never been to France.
Neither the bus or the terminal is air conditioned, and as an added bonus there are always a couple old-school Europeans in any given bus/train/plane/workplace who don't believe in silly things like daily showers and deodorant. This means that your nose gets molested by B.O. every 30 seconds or so while in the terminal, on the bus, and on the plane. It's really neat.
I made it to Clermont Ferrand at 9:15AM, approximately 16 hours after leaving Lexington. Once again, I flew economy class. Business class is for people traveling on business, you see... er... wait... After taking a taxi to Michelin, I put in an 8 hour day. I then checked into the VolacanHotelVille.
The Volcan is a 2 star gem near the center of town. I specifically requested it in place of the Citea "apart-hotel" I had last time. The rooms here are larger, the showeheads are self-supporting, and all the rooms have "climatise" (air-conditioning). For all this I am giving up a microwave and a refrigerator - it's a good deal. I know where the Kebab stand and the McDonald's are, so I can still eat pretty cheap when I need to.
Even better, we had a new bus driver, who made 2 u-turns en route to the terminal building. The plane was parked at CDG's newest terminal, actually. The thing is, it was built by the French, so it partially collapsed in May 2004 and cannot be used at all. It is currently full of scaffoldings that are preventing the enormous structure from collapsing entirely. Being the busiest airport in France, you'd think that maybe 2 years is enough time to fix things. If that's the way you think though, you've obviously never been to France.
Once the bus driver finally figured out where he needed to drop us, I had to go through customs, exit the airport, and re-enter through security to catch my connecting flight to Clermont Ferrand. Once I got through security, I had to get on another bus, which drove me to our regional jet for the flight to Clermont Ferrand. They tear your boarding pass and board the bus by zones, just like it's a normal loading process. So the people in 1st class, who get to board in zone one, get to spend a good 30 minutes on this dinky bus while they wait for the people in zone nine (and the stragglers) to get on the bus.
There are several effects of putting everyone for a given flight on the same bus. 1) The busses are small and cramped so people (yes, like me) get grumpy . 2) When you arrive at the plane, they dismiss you from the bus in zones, because you can't have too many people lingering around on the tarmac. Why not maintain a pool of busses so that you can have more than one serving a given flight? You've obviously never been to France.
Neither the bus or the terminal is air conditioned, and as an added bonus there are always a couple old-school Europeans in any given bus/train/plane/workplace who don't believe in silly things like daily showers and deodorant. This means that your nose gets molested by B.O. every 30 seconds or so while in the terminal, on the bus, and on the plane. It's really neat.
I made it to Clermont Ferrand at 9:15AM, approximately 16 hours after leaving Lexington. Once again, I flew economy class. Business class is for people traveling on business, you see... er... wait... After taking a taxi to Michelin, I put in an 8 hour day. I then checked into the VolacanHotelVille.
The Volcan is a 2 star gem near the center of town. I specifically requested it in place of the Citea "apart-hotel" I had last time. The rooms here are larger, the showeheads are self-supporting, and all the rooms have "climatise" (air-conditioning). For all this I am giving up a microwave and a refrigerator - it's a good deal. I know where the Kebab stand and the McDonald's are, so I can still eat pretty cheap when I need to.
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