Back to reality

Day 16:  We have to leave Paris

We had reserved a G7 cab to take us to CDG, pick up at 8am.  Our flight departed at 1030am.  We picked up around the apartment, put the towels in the washer/dryer as instructed, schlepped our bags down the four flights of stairs and waited a couple of minutes past 8 for the cab.  The only complaint was that it was smoky.

I cried as we left central Paris and again when the cab driver said, "you're now no longer in Paris."  I really enjoyed this trip (except for the cold, wet weather in Paris) but know husband wants to see other places so I can't predict when we'll be back.  He's about the nicest guy ever, though, so when I told him this he said "it's easy to go back. We can just get the direct flight from Houston."  Gotta love a man who understands your Paris obsession. :)

Anyway, traffic was much heavier than we had anticipated.  Thankfully the taxi driver had some app and knew our check in gate was at Terminal 2E instead of the normal 2D.  He took some shortcuts around the traffic and got us there with a little less than 2 hours to spare. 

We checked in with no problem but had a good wait at passport control.  We chatted with nice Columbians in line--they encouraged us to visit their country.  Once through passport control, it was a long walk to the gate.  Boarding was chaotic but then we were back in our tight economy seats.  I don't know why I picked the same ones coming and going.  All the seats were taken this time.  The food was edible.  It was super warm (again).  The man across the aisle from us kept drooling onto the tray table and floor (so gross).  The man in front of husband was obnoxious and wouldn't even raise his seat back for meals.  Yup, typical economy. 

Way too many uncomfortable hours later we landed on time in Houston.  I continued on to New Orleans several hours later.

After two wonderful weeks in France and a renewed love affair with Paris, that was that; back to reality and work the next day. 

Takeaways:
1.  Give yourself plenty of time to get to CDG.  Traffic can be atrocious any time of the day.
2.  Buy Premium Economy seats.
3.  Always believe that there will be a "next" time. I would be seriously depressed if I thought I'd never return to Paris.

Merci for reading.  Au revoir.