If I knew how to inline videos from youtube, I would post the video from this link. It's kind of stuck in my head right now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTAAsCNK7RA
So I'm sitting in the Jackson airport again. I suspect this flight cycle to go much smoother than the one a week and a half ago. I fly from Jackson to Charlotte, NC and from Charlotte to Frankfurt, Germany. Then I get to sit in the Frankfurt airport for something like 6 hours before flying from Frankfurt to Marseille, take a bus, and either wander up the Cours Mirabeau or take a taxi home.
My bags arrived in Jackson last night around 12:30 on a flight that had been delayed. I got a call at 7:10 this morning from the airport telling me that they were here, and I said, "I'M COMING TO GET THEM!" probably more emphatically than was reasonable to someone whose job was calling people and telling them their luggage had arrived. It took us about an hour and a half to get up and dressed and ready to go for the day, but we drove on up to the airport and picked up my bags. Sure enough, they were here, everything that I had packed was intact, and I was able to give out Christmas presents to my cousins, relatives, and boyfriend before setting out for this second-half jaunt across the pond.
Some things that I am looking forward to:
• Seeing my friends in Aix
• Jason coming to see me in Februrary
• 12 hours a week of work
• Being back in France
• Living in a walking town
• Pastries/Patisseries (and food in general!)
Some things that I am really not looking forward to:
• Being away from my favorite people in the States
• Not having a full kitchen to cook in
• Things being expensive again
• This 15+ hour flight cycle
• Having to go down the street to do Laundry
• My shower
It's gonna be a good trip. Can't wait to see you guys in Aix; can't wait to see you guys in April. Much love to everyone.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Monday, December 27, 2010
Christmas in Pictures
I had a wonderful time spending Christmas with my favorite friends and family. Here are some photos:
 |
| A Niece! |
 |
| This one may be my favorite baby picture from the whole time they were here. |
 |
| A boy told Kakhi that her babies looked like angels... or turtles. This is turtle mode. |
 |
| So sweet! |
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Good Morning, Jet Lag
I woke up about 15 minutes ago from a terrible and odd dream (It was gross, I won't go into detail). And, I'm wide awake.
I fell asleep about 8:30 last night on Jason's couch, and when he woke me up around 10 and told me what time it was, I said groggily, "In what time zone." He looked at me like I'd lost my mind. Maybe I had.
Also, perfectly cooked steak, delicious baked portobello mushrooms with mild tomatoes, parmesan cheese and fresh(ish) basil, sautéed squash and zucchini, and whole clove garlic bread is a wonderful greeting home (and about 4x more than I can eat.)
My bags are off somewhere partying. Delta's website gives me this very helpful piece of information, "We're sorry. We have no updates on this bag and are still trying to locate it. Please check back again." My friend whose parents' bags are still in the states despite the parents' presence in France for about a week now said that the 1-800 number is taking 1-1.5 hours on hold before actually getting to a customer service representative. I might try that number later.
Of course, whether or not I call someone, the bags will arrive when they arrive. Keep hoping it's before Christmas.
I fell asleep about 8:30 last night on Jason's couch, and when he woke me up around 10 and told me what time it was, I said groggily, "In what time zone." He looked at me like I'd lost my mind. Maybe I had.
Also, perfectly cooked steak, delicious baked portobello mushrooms with mild tomatoes, parmesan cheese and fresh(ish) basil, sautéed squash and zucchini, and whole clove garlic bread is a wonderful greeting home (and about 4x more than I can eat.)
My bags are off somewhere partying. Delta's website gives me this very helpful piece of information, "We're sorry. We have no updates on this bag and are still trying to locate it. Please check back again." My friend whose parents' bags are still in the states despite the parents' presence in France for about a week now said that the 1-800 number is taking 1-1.5 hours on hold before actually getting to a customer service representative. I might try that number later.
Of course, whether or not I call someone, the bags will arrive when they arrive. Keep hoping it's before Christmas.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Pittsburgh feels like home.
So, in complete detail, here is my ridiculous experience escaping France today.
I woke up at 4, got to the bus station, took the 4:40 bus to the airport, got to the ticketing desk at the airport and said what the delta lady told me to say yesterday, "I'm confirmed on the 7:00 flight to Paris, but I'm already checked-in on another ticket, so they can't reissue the ticket over the phone. Can you help me."
So the lady took my name and information and sent me to the check-in desk and brought me a piece of paper a few minutes later with what I believed to be my new ticket. After a few minutes, I noticed that the date was for yesterday, and after looking at it for a few minutes, I realized that it was my ticket from yesterday. I got out of my space in the front of the check-in line and went back to the ticketing desk and re-explained what had happened.
It took them 30-45 minutes and check-in was about to close by the time they finally gave me a hand-written piece of paper with some numbers on it. So I got to skip the check-in line and go straight to the desk, where they checked me in and printed 4 boarding passes: Marseille - Paris, Paris - Pittsburg, Pittsburg - Alanta, and Atlanta - Jackson. Which was good.
They checked my bag, told me I'll see it shortly at customs in Pittsburgh and that it's en route to Jackson. Which was good. Then they told me to go stand at the end of the line for security.
Side note: The French are incapable of standing in lines.
Also, in typical French fashion, the security workers went on strike today.
After standing in "line" at the gate we were supposed to go through to security for, like, half an hour easily, they came over the PA and said, "all passengers must now go through security in Hall 2." That meant that a mob of irritated French and international travelers moved as one unit - still unable to make a line - to a small gate where they were letting 2 people at a time go through security. That's four terminals worth of people going through security 2 at a time.
They couldn't hold the planes. The planes fly in rotation, so a plane from MRS that's going to AMS needs to go by a certain point in order for it to leave again from AMS to go somewhere else. When we heard that the first plane (the MRS-AMS one) had left with 4 people on it, that mob of angry French and internationals went ballistic. It scared a lot of people. They couldn't open a door to let them out, so they had to go back out THROUGH the mob that was still pushing forward about 6-wide to try to get through security. On their way out, I heard a fair share of "putain" - the general Marseillaise curse - and other such words that I probably didn't quite comprehend.
That one went to Amsterdam. The next to Paris.
I was supposed to be on the 7:00 flight. By now it was, like, 9:00 and I wasn't quite through security. Then they announced that our plane had left, essentially empty, and that everyone on it needed to go back out and get their tickets changed.
I was in line by a very nice French man who said, "I'm not going back. They can change my ticket on the other side of the gate. I'm not doing it. I'm not standing in this line for 4 hours again." And I said, "I'm with you. And he and I and a German lady we'd befriended in line pushed on. When the guy at Security said, "your plane's already left," he said, "I know. I'm going through security, and then I'll work it out." And the security guy was like, "Bah... Ok whatever"
So, the three of us went on through security.
We walked down the deserted concourse to where some flights were and ended up getting on a plane with 15 people from MRS to CDG.
So THAT was a nightmare.
After I landed in Paris, I sprinted - and I'm no runner - through the airport, completely forgetting that I had to go back through security in CDG and get my passport stamped and whatnot. When I got up to the first line with a billboard that had my flight information on it, I saw that my flight had been delayed until 13:10.
Because I was in sprint-mode, I rushed through security, found my gate, verified that the flight was, in fact delayed, and went and ate an unreasonably expensive lunch of marinated bell peppers, a baby-bell cheese round, and a bottle of water. So, I get in line to get on the plane to Pittsburgh, they check my passport and boarding pass and whatnot and put us in another line to scan the boarding passes. When I get up to the front of THAT line, my boarding pass comes up as cancelled.
After about 5 minutes holding up the boarding line, the lady printed me a different boarding pass with a different seat, tore up my original one, and told me to go on through. So we walk down the hall that goes to the plane, down the stairs outside, onto a bus that took forever to go and had a lot of obnoxious Americans...
We get on the plane - finally - and get our seats and, I'm seated on the aisle next to a very nice lady who's by the window, and there's no one between us. The captain came over the intercom and said, "we're waiting on Air Traffic Control to assign us a take-off time. Give us 10-15 minutes. And we were like... ok, whatever; we're going home.
And then about 10 minutes later, he came back and said, "We still haven't heard from ATC, we're getting in touch with them, please have patience." About 5 minutes after that he comes BACK over the intercom and says, "ATC has lost our flight. We're working on helping them find it. Please have patience."
When we arrived in Paris they came over the intercom and announced that "due to severe weather conditions," there were only 6 bags total on the transatlantic flight. They advised us to go to the baggage claim at our final city and that they would get our bags to us as soon as they arrive in the States. If I have a Christmas present for you, the chances are about 100% that it's in my checked bag. If said bag doesn't arrive before Christmas, my sincerest apologies. I can't help but feel like it doesn't matter as much as the fact that I'm home.
I've calculated that I've been more or less awake for 21 hours now, so I'll crash and sleep a lot as soon as I get home. That said, I'd love to see everyone soon. Give me a call or send me a text if you're in Jackson; I'll be around for a week and a half.
I woke up at 4, got to the bus station, took the 4:40 bus to the airport, got to the ticketing desk at the airport and said what the delta lady told me to say yesterday, "I'm confirmed on the 7:00 flight to Paris, but I'm already checked-in on another ticket, so they can't reissue the ticket over the phone. Can you help me."
So the lady took my name and information and sent me to the check-in desk and brought me a piece of paper a few minutes later with what I believed to be my new ticket. After a few minutes, I noticed that the date was for yesterday, and after looking at it for a few minutes, I realized that it was my ticket from yesterday. I got out of my space in the front of the check-in line and went back to the ticketing desk and re-explained what had happened.
It took them 30-45 minutes and check-in was about to close by the time they finally gave me a hand-written piece of paper with some numbers on it. So I got to skip the check-in line and go straight to the desk, where they checked me in and printed 4 boarding passes: Marseille - Paris, Paris - Pittsburg, Pittsburg - Alanta, and Atlanta - Jackson. Which was good.
They checked my bag, told me I'll see it shortly at customs in Pittsburgh and that it's en route to Jackson. Which was good. Then they told me to go stand at the end of the line for security.
Side note: The French are incapable of standing in lines.
Also, in typical French fashion, the security workers went on strike today.
After standing in "line" at the gate we were supposed to go through to security for, like, half an hour easily, they came over the PA and said, "all passengers must now go through security in Hall 2." That meant that a mob of irritated French and international travelers moved as one unit - still unable to make a line - to a small gate where they were letting 2 people at a time go through security. That's four terminals worth of people going through security 2 at a time.
They couldn't hold the planes. The planes fly in rotation, so a plane from MRS that's going to AMS needs to go by a certain point in order for it to leave again from AMS to go somewhere else. When we heard that the first plane (the MRS-AMS one) had left with 4 people on it, that mob of angry French and internationals went ballistic. It scared a lot of people. They couldn't open a door to let them out, so they had to go back out THROUGH the mob that was still pushing forward about 6-wide to try to get through security. On their way out, I heard a fair share of "putain" - the general Marseillaise curse - and other such words that I probably didn't quite comprehend.
That one went to Amsterdam. The next to Paris.
I was supposed to be on the 7:00 flight. By now it was, like, 9:00 and I wasn't quite through security. Then they announced that our plane had left, essentially empty, and that everyone on it needed to go back out and get their tickets changed.
I was in line by a very nice French man who said, "I'm not going back. They can change my ticket on the other side of the gate. I'm not doing it. I'm not standing in this line for 4 hours again." And I said, "I'm with you. And he and I and a German lady we'd befriended in line pushed on. When the guy at Security said, "your plane's already left," he said, "I know. I'm going through security, and then I'll work it out." And the security guy was like, "Bah... Ok whatever"
So, the three of us went on through security.
We walked down the deserted concourse to where some flights were and ended up getting on a plane with 15 people from MRS to CDG.
So THAT was a nightmare.
After I landed in Paris, I sprinted - and I'm no runner - through the airport, completely forgetting that I had to go back through security in CDG and get my passport stamped and whatnot. When I got up to the first line with a billboard that had my flight information on it, I saw that my flight had been delayed until 13:10.
Because I was in sprint-mode, I rushed through security, found my gate, verified that the flight was, in fact delayed, and went and ate an unreasonably expensive lunch of marinated bell peppers, a baby-bell cheese round, and a bottle of water. So, I get in line to get on the plane to Pittsburgh, they check my passport and boarding pass and whatnot and put us in another line to scan the boarding passes. When I get up to the front of THAT line, my boarding pass comes up as cancelled.
After about 5 minutes holding up the boarding line, the lady printed me a different boarding pass with a different seat, tore up my original one, and told me to go on through. So we walk down the hall that goes to the plane, down the stairs outside, onto a bus that took forever to go and had a lot of obnoxious Americans...
We get on the plane - finally - and get our seats and, I'm seated on the aisle next to a very nice lady who's by the window, and there's no one between us. The captain came over the intercom and said, "we're waiting on Air Traffic Control to assign us a take-off time. Give us 10-15 minutes. And we were like... ok, whatever; we're going home.
And then about 10 minutes later, he came back and said, "We still haven't heard from ATC, we're getting in touch with them, please have patience." About 5 minutes after that he comes BACK over the intercom and says, "ATC has lost our flight. We're working on helping them find it. Please have patience."
When we arrived in Paris they came over the intercom and announced that "due to severe weather conditions," there were only 6 bags total on the transatlantic flight. They advised us to go to the baggage claim at our final city and that they would get our bags to us as soon as they arrive in the States. If I have a Christmas present for you, the chances are about 100% that it's in my checked bag. If said bag doesn't arrive before Christmas, my sincerest apologies. I can't help but feel like it doesn't matter as much as the fact that I'm home.
I've calculated that I've been more or less awake for 21 hours now, so I'll crash and sleep a lot as soon as I get home. That said, I'd love to see everyone soon. Give me a call or send me a text if you're in Jackson; I'll be around for a week and a half.
When it rains, it pours...
And it snows. And flights get cancelled. And rescheduled flights get cancelled. And airlines lose your reservations. And you wait in 4-hour lines to have them close right before you get there. And you take taxis to train stations to learn that the train only arrives at the airport 10 minutes before your flight, which won't do at all, so you take taxis back to the airport and get back in line. And You wake up at 4 a.m. 3 out of 4 days in a row. And when you finally think it's working, the security officers go on strike.
More details to follow.
Also, on-flight wifi is the coolest thing I've encountered this week.
More details to follow.
Also, on-flight wifi is the coolest thing I've encountered this week.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)