Arrival!

France 2004: Part 3: Arrival In Paris

L’Aeroport Charles de Gaulle is confusing as hell. Especially after over 30 hours of travel.

We were supposed to be met at the airport by an STS France representative. Upon descending from the plane, we looked around, to see no one. Of course, it never occurred to us that there was no way that they’d be able to get in this far, we had not even picked up our baggage yet. Only passengers and Airline staff could possible be in that lounge…

Like most huge airports, it had awesome flat escalators, to help you ‘walk’ the long distances between terminals and the baggage claim areas. They are actually quite fun, although we weren’t really in the mood at that point. The stress of being in a huge foreign airport, hardly understanding the spoken language was getting to us.

We waited quite a while for our bags. We checked and double checked that we were in the right place. Triple checked. Waited some more. Quadruple checked. Walked around the terminal a bit. Whatever-the-fifth-time-is-called-ple checked. Finally a German dude I recognised from the plane got his bag. They slowly came out. Kitty’s bag was broken. As was mine. Not impressed. Inside were little pieces of paper saying that out bags had been physically opened and searched in LA. Lovely.

We had our bags. Where to next? We had no idea. Obviously there must be a way out. I mean, people were somehow leaving. There was a distinct lack of people standing around with bags. There must be some trick that they all know and we don’t. We made a few more tours of the terminal, looking for a way out. The way we came wasn’t possible, it was a one way escalator. We asked a few people, and were pointed in a few different directions, most likely because of our french being misunderstood for something like “Where are the toilets?” or “From where can I throw myself out a window to get out of this horribly designed airport thingy?”. Finally, we found the rarest of all treasures, an airport employee who spoke english. Suddenly everything fell into place.

Customs. We had to go through customs.

Which was hidden away in plain sight.

Customs was a breeze. No checks, just walked straight through. Suddenly, there were people everywhere. Screaming, yelling, photos being taken. Clamouring to get a sight of us. Well, not us per se, more everyone was trying to see, and greeting, the people they knew coming out. The poor lady from STS who had been waiting all the time as we circled in the Airport came and greeted us. In french. And told us flat out that she refused to speak English with us. Lovely.

Next thing you know, Kitty and I are bundled into a Taxi, zooming down the French motorway at 150kph, on the wrong side of the road, with a driver we can’t talk to.

Oh fun.

August 3, 2005 | Filed Under Classic, La France 

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One Response to “Arrival!”

  1. A Ben Week » Blog Archive » France 2004 on October 1st, 2007 8:58 pm
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    […] Onwards and Outwards Arrival Paris, la cité de l’amour The Family First Real Day French […]

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