Sampling culture and patience
Paris was incredible. In.Cred.Ible. I mean, what a gorgeous city. The mix of the modern and classic...just breathtakingly gorgeous.
So, let's see. We visited the Eiffel Tower (of course), Sacre Coeur at Montmartre, a couple of Christmas Markets, Printemps, an artist's square, Musee d'Orsay, Champs Elysee for New Year's, Pere Lachaise, Moulin Rouge, and Notre Dame. We window shopped, had lots of AMAZING food and wine, shopped (though not enough), had some good conversations, and laughed a lot. One of the nights out at dinner, there was a "gentleman" sitting at a table near us who was old enough to be *at least* my father, possibly my grandfather. And he was definitely a gross, creepy old man. He started talking to us and told me how pretty I am. He said he would have been happy to marry me the next day. Uhh...I did not take him up on that offer.
And that was the extent of my torrid affair in Paris. It did get a little lonely; Paris is a perfect place to explore with someone you care about.
This is a good time to break for an update on Lindbergh. I think it's really coming up to decision time. He's a little uneasy since I kind of bailed the last time we hung out...and it's completely understandable. But what I have to figure out is if I'm ready to get back into a relationship yet, with the label and everything. I'm not entirely sure.
Also, Soldier was at church this Sunday. I haven't seen him in months; it was kind of a shock. A really sad shock.
Back to Paris. My sister and brother in law are awesome people, and they're so in love. He takes such good care of her, and she deserves it. I was a little bit apprehensive, thinking it might be kind of weird being the 3rd wheel for a week...but it wasn't at all. It was just fun and great, and they really seemed like their focus was for me to have a good time.
I really didn't want to leave.
Aaaand...it turns out I shouldn't have, because that's when the problems started.
The flight from Paris to Newark, NJ was great. The plane was comfier, the food was better, I sat next to 2 nice people around my age, and there was an abundance of free wine available. I was all ready when we got back into the states with my passport and customs form and everything, but of course there was a long line. That was to be expected, I suppose. What wasn't to be expected was the fire alarm. The shrill, awful fire alarm. SO SHRILL. SO AWFUL. For 15 minutes. 15 SHRILL AND AWFUL MINUTES. On the plus side, we didn't have to run screaming out into the cold. The alarm went off and there was a collective, audible sigh of relief. Until it promptly started again. Then it stopped again. Then it started again. Then it was done for realsies. I got through passport control easy peasy, then picked up my luggage to go through customs. This was also a breeze. Having already gotten a text from my mum that my next flight was cancelled, I (intelligently) didn't recheck my luggage.
Well, I found out that I needed to be in a different terminal to rebook my flight. Apparently the tram had just decided to stop working, so there was a bus you could take. I was already stressed and frustrated, so I wasn't about to deal with a million other people trying to get on a bus with my 45 pound suitcase that I could barely lift. So I asked around and found out that I could walk to the next terminal, which I did. EFFING FREEZING. Every winter I say I'm going to move south, I have no idea why I haven't. I waited to see a ticket agent for about an hour and a half. I always try to be nice, because they're dealing with a lot of frustrated people, but they're like freaking robots. So she clickity-clacks away at her computer and tells me that she can get me a flight with two layovers on Sunday. It was currently Friday early evening. I was less than pleased.
I asked her to book me for that and I would check out my options. So my next idea was to rent a car and drive the 12 hours home. After trying 3 different rental car agencies, I realized that was also a no-go. So, just like any logical, mature adult would do...I sat on a bench and called my mom and sobbed.
I ended up staying in New Jersey that night. I'm so grateful to the staff at the Newark Liberty International Airport Marriott...they were rockstars. They didn't do anything crazy, but they all had fantastic customer service and it meant so much to me when I was feeling helpless and lost.
The next morning I woke up at like 5 and figured I'd call the airline to see if I could get out earlier. Well, the heavens opened up and the angels sang and I was able to get a flight for that afternoon, and everything seemed to be going well.
Then I got to Chicago. I had a few hours and found a chic little bar to grab a drink. Then my flight got delayed and I got panicky. It kept getting delayed; they were waiting for the captain to get in from another flight. It kept getting delayed. We were supposed to have taken off at 1750 and ended up boarding at around 1930. Then we sat on the tarmac for another hour and a half doing I don't know what. Finally we left Chicago around 2100.
I couldn't have been happier to be home! Oh wait, yes I could. You see, somehow, 5 hours of me waiting around in O'Hare wasn't enough time to get my luggage onto the plane. And not just me, there were 6 or 7 other people who also did not get their luggage. Three days later, I'm still sitting around waiting for them to locate it.
Congratulations, American Airlines, on your Richard Cranium Award. This debacle has overshadowed what was an awesome trip and possibly the most adventure I'll ever have.
You are douchebags, and I have no idea how the company has been in business for this long.
This was the short version of the story, of course it seemed much worse at the time. And it still does seem worse not having all the stuff I bought in Paris. I'm trying to be patient and not worry about all the material goods, but it's really hard. And when you spend $1200 on a plane ticket, you expect your stuff to be there with you. I'm saddened that this is making me not want to fly anywhere in the near future, as I really like flying and traveling.
I also don't care about getting reimbursement or some sort of consolation from all this...I just really want my stuff back!
No comments:
Post a Comment