Day 1-2 - The Surprise has been Paris-Sprung

Leaving Charlotte at 2:34pm…or so we thought. I told Anna we were leaving later in the morning, so she would be ready and could not back out of repacking. Once I got her out of the house, around 10am, I informed her as to when our flight was and that we were go to USNWC for a walk prior to heading to the airport. Luckily we gave ourselves plenty of time, because the day was the Monday after Thanksgiving. Can we say BUSY at the airport!!

Checked in and read. As we got to the gate it showed that the flight was delayed an hour. Made me quite a bit nervous as we did not have much cushion in DC to catch our flight to Paris. Not but 15 minutes later, the flight delayed another 30 minutes. Now that was a problem. We would not be able to catch our connecting flight. Apparently our incoming plane has wheel issues. I immediately got on the phone with customer service (was on hold for 55 minutes) and rebooked ourselves in DC with Air France on a flight that was an hour and half later around 6:30pm.

We thought that would be enough time. We – I – was wrong. The flight landed in DC at 6:08pm. Exited the plan at 6:19pm. Both of us ran like the wind hoping we wouldn’t miss the flight heading to Paris. Down the last escalator and saw our gate. People were still boarding.

Wow – cutting it close. Out of the breath I headed to the counter and spoke with the attendant. Flight is booked and unfortunately we are not able to get on the flight. I was confused (easy to do). I tell the flight attendant she must be mistaken – we have the confirmation and tickets. “Sorry,” she says, “You did not check in”. “What?”, I said, “That’s crazy! How can I check myself in from the air?” I believe since we got there at the same time as it was supposes to be leaving, they gave our seats up.

Back to customer service again. New flight – now London – four hours later at 10:05pm. Rolled with the punches at headed to restaurant for a couple of beers and some Brussel sprouts and Siracha Fried Cauliflower. I have to say the cauliflower was quite good and would have definitely loved to have gotten the recipe.

Got on the plane and powered down some movies and meals. Mama managed to get some shut eye and we eventually arrived in London at 10:45am local time the next day. We had about an hour layover so we did not have to rush to the next terminal. However, everything in London seemed to be crawling and apparently the terminal we need to get to was some distance away. Arrived about 35 minutes later and noticed our plan to Paris was CANCELLED! This can’t be I thought!

London was plagued with heavy fog earlier in the morning and all outgoing flights were cancelled. Upset and irritated we headed back to customer service. Waited in line for a line over an hour and managed to get a rebooking on Air France for a 3:35pm flight. Supposedly we were to arrive in Paris at 5:40pm. Since we had about 5 hours of down time we thought of what better way to spend the time than at a restaurant. We eat at the Commission. French Onion soup and Maple Chicken Wings. Oh yeah!! I was pretty yummy!!!

No more delays and we boarded the plane. Arrived in Paris at around 5:45pm. We were both pessimistic about getting Anna’s bag at the baggage claim. With all the flight delays, changes and reroutes, there was probably little chance we would get the bag. Luckily, we had mine and my backpack with all the medicines, etc…

Grabbed a taxi and finally got to the Saint James Albany Hotel a little after 7pm. Both of us were totally exhausted, but we were both looking forward to heading out and at least getting something on our bellies. Follets was the choice, as recommended by our concierge. It was a restaurant a couple of blocks down from our hotel. The food was pretty good. Not amazing, but better than expected.

Done for, we headed up to bed and after some showers, we finally closed our eyes.