Journey

This trip has been something else. Friday I finished work around 10:30pm and went home to pack. I had barely started and still needed to do laundry. At 1am I discovered the information I had been sent by the conference was incorrect and most of my materials for the conference would be arriving a day late. Luckily, I had the foresight to mail my table cloth and sign along with a few brochures to my hotel. By 2:40am I could barely keep my eyes open. I took a nap until 3:30am which gave me enough time to leave around 4:14am. When my dad came in at 4:10 to tell me it was time to go I was still asleep and rushed to shower and finished getting everything packed. We made it to the airport where I met one of my students who was on the same flight to Atlanta. He works for an LDS lawyer in Brazil and the church is one of their biggest clients. We talked about how they are helping the church purchase land for another temple in Brazil.
The flight to Atlanta was cramped and seemed much longer than 4 hours. I was not able to sleep so I was especially grumpy when I arrived in Atlanta. It was nice to see the student (R) at the food court and have lunch together. After he left to take the metro to go see Atlanta - since his layover was over 6 hours, I went to go and buy some Euros. Unfortunately the clerk at the exchange told me my corporate creditcard had been declined. Panic. So I had to get 200 Euros. At this point I am freaking out because I don’t want to have to pay for the trip and I still had the hotel bill to pay. I phoned home in a panic and got the number for the credit card company. When I called they said that nothing was wrong, I am just not authorized to get a cash advance on the card. I was breathing much easier at that point. Soon after I boarded the plane to Paris. When we were rolling out onto the tarmac I opened my large shoulder bag and the purse I had placed inside of it was gone. At this point I am so tired I can’t remember if I took it out and put it down somewhere or if it could have been taken out by someone else. The last time I remembered seeing it was when I put my iPod into it on the flight to Atlanta.

The only things I can remember being in the bag are my chapstick and iPod, other than that I think it was empty. I think. I have not noticed anything else missing. I am sad to experience Paris without a soundtrack. I hope whoever ends up with it enjoys the MoTab. By then I was wishing I had stayed home in bed.

For the flight I requested a window seat because I can't sleep on a plane if I have to sit straight up, I have to curl up against the wall. There was a kid sitting next to me and I heard his mother from a couple rows away telling the stewardess to make me move so that two of the four members of her family could sit together. As the stewardess approached I resolved to be generous until she said that the seat they wanted me to move to was a isle seat. Then I could just picture myself sitting there totally frustrated and tired for the entire 9 hour flight. The plane was ancient, with no personal movie screens so I knew the big screen at the front would keep me up the entire flight if I relinquished my seat in the very back row to move forward. On top of that the last thing I wanted to do in my exhausted state was get all my stuff out of the overhead bins and move across the plane when everyone else besides this family was already seated. I could just picture how sick and tired I would be upon arrival if I gave up that window and I told the stewardess so. After the news was broken to the family the kid left and was replaced by his obviously upset father who (as a large man) helped make my flight quite unpleasant.

I was not the most energetic of individuals when the plane landed. And to fit my mood it was raining – I neglected to grab the coat I had intended to bring with me when I left the house Saturday morning. After getting off the plane it took almost an hour to get to the metro station at the airport. When I tried to buy tickets for the ride to Paris and for the rest of the week all three of my cards were declined by the automated station. After my experience Saturday in Atlanta this made me incredibly anxious. Luckily I had cash so I went into the ticket office and was able to purchase what I needed. I was so tired the poor girl at the desk could hardly understand my French.

Travel to the hotel was filled with more lovely delays. I did manage to come to the rescue of a very confused Australian family who needed directions. When I finally emerged from the underground I was wishing I had printed out the directions to my hotel so I did not have to keep pulling out my map. I was looking forward to a long nap! After a sleepless Friday night and at most seven hours of sleep since I woke up Friday morning I felt a nap well deserved. Imagine my chagrin when I arrived at the hotel at 10:30am and discovered under no means could I check in before 2 pm. Ah, the French. The gentleman at the desk was kind enough to let me deposit my bags in the breakfast room. By the look of all the bags already there I could tell I was not the first to arrive that day.

I left my bags and went to read in the Tuileries garden. Though wonderful to be here - I enjoyed the trip little. And usually the traveling part is one of my favorite parts of travel. After a while it grew cold so I decided to get up and walk around. Halfway through the walk it started to rain, then pour. My goal was to get to Notre Dame and sit inside the cathedral and read. Unfortunately there were several hundred people in line waiting to enter, I had never seen a line before. But then, the last time I was here it was winter, and though the weather today is comparable it is still August. I figured I was far enough away that it would be 2 by the time I got back to the hotel, so I started the long march back in the rain, stopping off at Starbucks to get some hot chocolate to distract me from my cold damp sweater.

Success, they gave me a room and I rushed up and collapsed on my bed. When I awoke it was still light out and I guessed it must still be Sunday since I did not think I could have slept all night, but it was slightly dark so could have been early morning. It took some time to orient myself to what was going on and clear the fog from my brain. In the end I only slept for 4 hours and I am looking forward to a hearty night’s sleep tonight. Although the night clerk is interesting – old and nice – but my American personal boundaries keep me from being too friendly and I think hotel clerks should stay behind their desks. The hotel itself is only two short blocks from the Tuileries and only 3 or 4 from the Louvre. It is a perfect location for me.