« The Left Bank | Main | Chuckanut Writers' Conference »
May 6, 2015
There's No Place Like Home!
I'm sorry that you cannot leave comments on this blog. I was getting hundreds of spam posts each week, so Martin cut it off from comments. Please email me at marilyn@donel.net if you wish to comment. Thanks!
I am finally home from my trip -- I say finally since we took a taxi to Orly and then waited. And waited. And waited. Our small plane flight was very late (ritarde said the sign!). When it arrived, it was a much bigger plane and during the flight, our attendant said that we were missing our London to Vancouver flight. After landing, we had to be bussed into the main airport. We checked in as requested, and were sent to a hotel for the night, given receipts for dinner and breakfast, and a cute little package with a large T shirt, and a bunch of little items such as toothbrush and paste, razor, shampoo, etc. We were tired from sitting around in the airport all morning, so it was lovely to be in London where we could enjoy watching television in English once again. Actually, Barb and I got pretty good at French game shows which were on in our hotel lounge without sound. But, the only channel we could enjoy late at night was BBC and, believe me, you don't want to watch BBC two days before the election of the new prime minister. We did get to see pictures of Charlotte, the new royal baby with the rest of the world.
For some reason beyond our understanding, we were placed on Air Canada the next morning. I was delighted. After going to England on British Air, I can tell you that Air Canada is a step up (a long one). The electronics are far better, screens and sound clearer, selections more interesting, and the amenities better. Barb and I had paid to preorder our seats on British Air, so we were frustrated until we saw that we were going to share three seats because the plane wasn't full. Yea!!! Finally, we got much better food -- full lunch and treats or snacks every few hours -- ice cream, cookies, etc. etc.
Now I'm trying to readjust to another time zone. The first day I went to bed around 9:00, was awake at midnight and finally dozed until about 3:00 a.m. when I just gave up and got up. I made it until 9:30 last night and slept (mostly) until 6:30 this morning, so I'm making progress. It is beautiful here, so that lifts the spirits! The final few days in Paris were mostly rainy.
It is lovely to be home. It was an adventure and a fun vacation. Barb Storms is the easiest person in the world to be with. She is unflappable -- and a good and fun companion. She kindly spent time with my relatives and we have long known that we compliment each other since I'm right brained and she is left brained. She found things that I lost and I always have a sense of the larger picture. We've done enough traveling together (grad school, Maine, yearly to Ashland) that we are comfortable together. And, since we agree on most things political and religious, we can laugh at the same jokes!
How very lovely to be home!
Posted by Marilyn at May 6, 2015 1:52 PM