It's a Wonderful Life: Day 88/89

Well I have no idea where I will be and what time I will get there tonight. I'm not quite sure why I assumed that my travels would go as plan. They usually don't, so why I had the hope that I would be sleeping in my bed in my house tonight, is beyond me.

OKay where did the day start. It started early. Ally and I got up about 15 minutes before we had to leave for the airport. We left the house at 6:45. Our host mom drove us to Port Maillot where we caught a shuttle to the airport. It cost fifteen euros per person for the shuttle. We were out of money. I was hoping to be able to use my card. I had 25 euros and Ally had about 1.60 in change. Thank goodness the bus driver liked us, or felt sorry for us, because he let us ride.

We got to the airport about 7:45. Ally was flying on British Airlines through London to LA. I am on American to Chicago and then to San Fran. Ally went to check in first because her flight was at 10:40. They said that her plane was delayed so she would have to come back at 9:00 to see if it was still going and then check her bag.

After we headed over with all of our junk to the American desk. We stood in liken for awhile and then I heard a lady who was working for the airline tell someone that it was too early to check in for the Chicago flight. I asked her if it was okay if we just stayed in line and hopefully by the time we got to the front it wouldn't be too early. She as super nice! She told us to go and sit down and she would tell us when we could come back. I asked her if I would have to wait in line again and she said she would let us back in.

Ally and I sat and chatted for a little while and then the nice lady came over and told us we could come. She let me go in some other line and tell them that Kathy sent me. There were only two people in front of me. So nice. I had to answer some extra security questions, but it wasn't that bad. I would do that every time if I got to cut the line :)

Ally went over to get her bag checked while I finished at American. Another nice lady helped me get everything set. She could see I had a ton of stuff and most of it was heavy. Also Ally and I both had bags that ended up being over 50 pounds and they let them through. I was pretty happy with the staff at the Charles de Gaulle airport. It was a nice way to leave the French people. Thinking they are usually courteous and nice, which more often than not, they are.

Ally and I went through security and went to Ally's gate. It was so unreal to say goodbye to her. I have spent every single day with that girl for the last 89 days. We have travelled all over Europe together. We have experienced Paris together. We have grown so much in the last three months. She was such a huge part of my wonderful experience here. It was so weird to say good-bye and that I would see her in a month at Provo. It's not like we wont talk tomorrow, but still weird that she won't be there any more.

After I saw Ally off to her flight, I headed to my gate. I stopped at a little cafe and had what I thought would be my last meal in France(spoiler alert! IT WASN"T) I had a chocolat chaud and a pain au chocolat. My plane was about 45 minutes late boarding and as I was waiting at the gate, the weather was getting worse and worse. At first I would call it snow flurries, then I would have just called it snow. But we finally made it on the plane. I had an exit row seat, so I was not complaining much. I ended up getting the two seats to myself. Our flight was not too full.

We had to wait awhile for the runways to be clear and all the stuff. Finally we pulled away from the gate and headed to the de-icer. We were next in line when our captain said they had been informed of an anti-freeze problem on the plane and would need to return to the gate to have it checked. So we headed back.

I don't know exactly what happened after that, but all I know is we sat at the gate for another two hours on top of the two we had already been sitting on the plane. The finally concluded that we would need to switch planes, but it was at another terminal, so that took some more time to get it over here.

Here comes the best part though! Because the flight crew had already been on for so long, they couldn't legal work that long, SO their best plan was to reroute us to JFK and change flight crews and continue on to Chicago! Yipee!!! I don't know what it is about JFK but on the way out I had to go through there unplanned and now I am returning for another visit(I am hoping a short one). Before we switched planes however, I received my last meal in France. I included a picture below. It was not the best meal I have had. I will just put it that way, but it was food, so I ate it.

Then there was all the drama about if we had connecting flights could we just reroute out of New York. That has yet to be determined, because customs might not let us de-board. Something about we are only authorize to fly to Chicago. Who knows so I guess I will see in a few hours when I land in New York.

I made a friend on the flight of course. She is an Aussi living in Chicago and use to be an airline attendant. She is funny and so Australian. Her name is Karla. She said if we make it to Chicago tonight I can sleep at her house until I can get a flight out to San Fran.

All of us de-boarded, but we couldn't get right on our next plane, because the flight crew had to be the last ones off the first plane and the first ones on the new plane. So we waited a little while, but little drama. We are making friends with the flight attendants and making fun of all the snobs in business class who are giving them a hard time.

We almost didn't make it out on time because we are still pushing the twelve hours that the flight crew can work. When we finally closed the doors for the last time. Our captain announced to us that our Paris grounds crew had got our door closed with just one minute to spare. I was happy I had been friendly to everyone on my way on and off the plane.

It is so funny to me how I have changed in the last few years. If this had happened to me senior year of high school or freshmen year of college I would have 1. been super annoyed and 2.been so scared about making sure I could get home and that everything would work out. Now I just laugh and enjoy the journey. I figure I will get home sooner or later and I might get to see a few more cities on the way. If I weren't sore from carrying my twenty-five pound duffle back and ten pound purse, I might be a little happier. Getting a little bit more sleep would be nice as well, but oh well.

So now I am just some where over the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Fun times! I still have three more hours on this flight and I have done everything I can think of to entertain myself. Solitaire, blog post, sleep, writing my missionaries, watching the flight entertainment(I am now opting out of that lol)... I guess next I will write in my journal I do have a lot of catching up to do with that. This is a journal, but there is obviously stuff I don't put in here that is important to me. Can you tell I am bored and want to talk to some one? Well I can!

There might be a part two to this post. Hopefully it has a happy ending and I hope I have a few hours of sleep between these posts. I hope all the other girls got out okay. I am a little worried about them, but all of them are so capable of traveling the world on their own. It is amazing how much everyone has grown (even if they don't see it).

Part 2

Okay an update. We landed in New York airport JFK after 15 hours of being on the flight. They wouldn't let any passengers get off because we didn't have authorization to go through customs in New York. This was the first time I was able to get any word out to my family on where I was or what was happening, because we had been flying and I didn't have a cell phone. I had to use my Aussi friend's phone. They had figured that something was going wrong, but they couldn't seem to get any info. So I just told them no one needed to come pick me up tonight and I would call when I had figured out what was going on. Anyways, our crew got off, another crew got on and we were off in no time. We landed in Chicago and surprisingly the airline had really planned for us.

We went through customs and I had no problems. As we reached baggage claim there were airline ladies there to give us a few things. First they would be putting us up in a hotel for the nice. That made me happy. Second they gave us meal vouchers for dinner and breakfast the next morning. And last they gave us the itinerary for the rescheduled flight. That was the most organized I have ever seen an airline.

So I got my bag and as you can imagine I look really cool with all my luggage. By the end I was carrying two coats on top of my two carry-ons and my huge suitcase. They directed us to the hotel shuttles. I checked to see what hotel I would be staying at, because they were all different, and I was excited to find out that I was staying at the Hyatt Regency. Definitely not bad. Of course they got four inches of snow this weekend, so it is cold and there is lots of snow.

I made it to the hotel and got checked into my suite in the executive wing. (I was a little happy that American Airlines would really have to be paying for that!!!) The room was so perfect. As soon as I got there, I just started dropping stuff, my suitcase that can't stand on it's own, my purse, my duffle bag, all of my coats, and my shoes. I finally realized how exhausted I was when I started crying because I couldn't find the light switch. That was the low point. But then I realized how funny that was and just enjoyed a nice laugh.

I called my parents to let them know that I was alive, in Chicago, and at the Hyatt. I talked to my mom and told her my new flight plan and all that stuff. Then I once again began to cry and tell her that I was tired. I knew at the time how ridiculous it was, but I really didn't care.

I took a shower! A real shower! Not one where you have to sit and hose your self off in a tub. It was really wonderful. Before I went to bed I got a burst of energy and decided that I needed to go take pictures of the lobby because it was beautiful and there was a Christmas tree that I really liked. I came back and I was so happy for my bed. It was normal size, not only five inches off the floor! It had a big white fluffy comforter. That was the high point.

I had a wake up call for 5:45 with a flight at 7:15. Now I see how that didn't really make very much sense, but last night it seemed to. I got to the airport and they told me I was too late to check my bag. I thought I was in an okay mood, but I quickly realized that I was not. I was grumpy with the lady at the desk. She was slightly nice though, probably annoyed, but nice. She moved me to the next flight, which leaves at 10:30. Its al good. I really did want to spend another four hours in an airport!

I realized one more thing. I think Americans, or maybe just people in Chicago are not very pleasant. All of the TSA people were barking at people, being sticklers on weight and carry-on numbers and stupid things. Really at one point it was offensive. There was a man who put his shows in a tray at security and the lady had been yelling at everyone that shoes were suppose to go right on to the conveyor belt. So instead of explaining again, she just barked at him, "Shoes, out." It caught me kind of off guard as well as a few other passengers. I wanted to ask her if some how she had mistaken him for a dog, but I didn't.

I thought about France. People just don't really treat each other like that. And if someone were to act the way that land did, it would not have just gone by. The French refuse to be treated like that. I have noticed a lack of respect for people in the last day here in America, and I am not a fan. Hopefully it is just a bad day here.

I think the most disconcerting part of this whole thing is that it has been dark the whole time almost. When we took off in Paris, it was dark. When we landed in JFK, it was dark. When we landed in Chicago, it was dark. When I woke up and went back to the Chicago airport, it was dark. That is about a full 20 hours of darkness. Not really a fan. It messed with my head a little bit. Now I am waiting for my flight to San Francisco and it is getting light. I like it. I think that coming back will be a little bit harder to break jet lag, but it took so long to get back, that it might not be that big of a problem.