ORD to Charles de Gaulle

A travelogue of my flight from Chicago to Paris.
(the real post sits tight in my lappy's crashed hard-drive, never to get retrieved :()

From last minute travel plans to the last minute rush to reach the railway/train station or airport in time, I can be awarded a PhD. (Since this blog is all about myself, I know you guys don't mind this self obsession). Anyways, as me and a friend (he was kind enough to accompany me to the airport mainly to help me carry those humongous bags foren returned people carry) made way through the check in counter, I knew I had done it again. I was checking in at 4, for a flight supposed to take off at 5.15. phew...

The best part in all this was, I had a window seat. I have a fascination for windows which can be explored at a later point. So after some customary calls, I was all set for my longest journey in an year.

And oh yeah line from the book/movie the Namesake,
'The greatest journeys are the ones that bring you home' also did ring in my ear :P

On board waiting for moi was a surprise!! An 8th grader, Kayi who was flying for the first time to visit family in Paris, was going to be my neighbor. She was also the only non-french-speaking member of her family. So quite obvious, with crores spent on hospitality management to kill the competition, we were the hot favorites of the entire crew. I wonder even the flight captain knew about Kayi!! So quite promptly, the responsibility of Kayi's well being was thrusted on me. I was to be the primary source of solutions for her every woe from motion sickness to emergency exit. (And don't be surprised) but I was damn thrilled. Only to realize later that, being an American kid, Kayi preferred 'He's just not that into you' over talking to a stranger (I did take care that I don't sound creepy by asking questions like 'So how many boyfriends you have?', etc etc) :|

So I was left with my window and staring into thin air act. It was pretty good. I saw an entire world made up of clouds from up there. Cities, castles, palaces, roads, cars, animals!! My idea of another world also has pretty much the same stuff! Sheesh ...

I watched the remaining part of Babel, Bride wars (gave it a shot for the new found respect for Ann Hathaway). Simply hogged on the food. Plus dad had given my preferences for food as Indian, so I was getting my food before everyone, with different contents and it tasted delicious too!

Since I did not have much time to plan this trip, I made a list of things I was looking forward and not looking forward to during my stay.

So stuff which would make the stay pleasant:

1. loads and loads and loads of home-made food.
2. catching up with mom-dad.
3. meeting friends
4. spending my brother's earnings on some fruitful shopping!!
5. sleep, sleep and sleep and not go out much, just relax, eat, watch TV, and not follow a routine.
6. visiting my granny

This is all I could think of.

And the non-pleasant stuff includes:

1. ending up in a quarantine.
2. falling sick and proven a weakling!!
3. being treated as a foren returned. I simply hate special treatment!!
4. laptop crashes (this has already happened and I am over it now :()
5. Indian summer (OK call me a typical amreeka returned, but I was finding 30 degree Celsius quite unbearable in the US :-/)

So we reached Paris in 8.5 hours, without any delays. I was damn excited about locating the Eiffel from up there and to my amusement I could locate 6 Eiffels :D
Seriously, I wanted to see the Eiffel from the flight. Some of my fantasies fail me :-/

As I stepped on the land known for the louvre, cycling, and a phonetically strange language, the entire crew of Air France once again thanked me! Kayi (if you have already forgotten, shame on you!!) was into safer custody to be united with her family and I was left to explore CDG :)

From CDG to Chatrapati Shivaji terminal, coming up next!

~nightflier

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