We had arranged to have a cab pick us up at the hotel at 9:00am. Our flight out of CDG does not leave until 12:25 pm. Stephen requested that the cab swing by the Arch de Triumph so he could jump out in Monday morning traffic to take a photo? What could go wrong? We allowed for a one hour drive to the airport. It took 30 minutes to get to the Arch, but we did and Stephen jumped out out and got his photo. I was satisfied to just take a couple of shots as we navigated the round about.
We arrived at CDG in good time, quickly checked our luggage, passed through passport control and found the Star Lounge. We were there for only enough time for a couple of drinks as we still needed to go through security. Being in First Class meant we avoided the longest of the lines! We arrived at our gate about 20 minutes before boarding began.
We are on a 777-200. I’m in seat 1L and Stephen is in 2L, window seats on starboard side. Despite the poor showing on my last flight, I decided to try their WiFi again. It work not too well, but better.
The flight is just over 8 hours in duration. At the half way mark (4 hours or 2000 miles), I pulled up the flight status display and noticed that we were just passing the southern tip of Greenland.
I opened to the window shade, much to the chagrin of my fellow travelers, and sure enough, there was Greenland!
We arrived at IAD on time. This was Stephen's final destination while I still had to get to STL. We bid each other farewell and went our separate ways. Stephen got to use his Global Entry for the first time and he said it was great!
Our transatlantic flight was on United. My flights to STL was on Delta. I went to collect my luggage, expecting to retrieving the bag, going through customs and checking it again at the Delta desk. I had 2.5 hours between my flights so there was plenty of time. I waited for my bag to arrive for 45 minutes. When bags stopped coming out completely, I asked and was told that all the bags from the Paris flight had arrived! Ooops!
I was directed to the lost baggage counter where I was told that, for some reason, my bag was sent somewhere else. Why? I never got an explanation. Anyway, they filled out some forms and made some calls. I was told my bag would show up in about 30 minutes. In fact, it did show up in 30 minutes. The United agent put a different tag on it and told me to just drop it off at the United recheck point just outside of Customs. I was a bit leery, but did what I was told. I also had to take the train from Terminal C to Terminal B. I finally got to my gate with about 20 minutes to spare.
The next leg on Delta was to Atlanta where I had another 2 hour layover. There I visited TGIF and had a Cobb salad and a REAL Moscow Mule in a copper mug.
The last leg was a 90 minute from ATL to STL, as yes, my bag showed up in STL!! Lastly, the 45 minute cab to the house. I walked in at 10:30 pm and was asleep before 11:00 pm. A 23 hour day, but, overall, it went well.
So ends my trip.
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