Back in the U.S.A . . .

I'm back home in the USA and by the skin of my nose. Wow, what a flight! When I woke up to snow yesterday morning I was a bit worried about the conditions leaving Tegel airport in Berlin. I even thought about researching a couple of hotels near the airport on the Internet before I left the apartment just in case?

We made it out of Berlin okay, but with the de-icing of both the plane and clearing of the runways, my flight was delayed just over an hour. So now my cushion of 1:50 hour layover at the Paris CDG airport shrunk to probably 30 minutes if that.   It was a full flight but I was amazed at how fast everyone got in and situated. The flight staff did an excellent job with helping everyone with their carry ons.

I had read of how bad the Paris CDG airport is for a layover and now I know why.  We had to exit the plane to a bus where we were driven to one terminal.  We exit that terminal, take another shuttle bus to the right terminal which I had noticed we passed on our way to this terminal.  There were signs to Terminal 2 E everywhere but that was the problem. :)  Finally hooked up with another passenger from my flight Berlin to Paris flight looking for the same terminal and we both managed to hail down the shuttle that was just about to leave to take us to our terminal.  I had to go through another passport check and security line to enter Terminal 2E.  I set off the alarm thing and had to get the once over by the detector wand. And the security person thought she saw something, so I had to open everything up. She never did find what she thought she saw. I couldn't figure it out either. Of course, I got embarrassed because I had my Berlin  Bear and Scottish sheep in there. :)  

Found my other passenger buddy and made a mad dash to a nearby store to get a replacement bottle of water for the plane ride since we had to get rid of our other bottle going through security again.  We then stood in this really long line to board a "full" plane.

Btw, I discovered that I had lost my nice aisle seat for one of those smack dab in the middle seats.  :( We were delayed again because they were waiting to load some additional luggage. Okay, I must admit that I didn't mind "that" delay as I'm sure one of those additional luggages was mine. :)

Usually with a couple of Dramamine for my motion sickness I can sleep like a baby on the plane. But for some reason I could not sleep.  And it was so warm on the plane. Maybe I got used to that cold Berlin weather a little too much. :)

Now the only saving grace on this miserable travel experience was the unbelievable hilarious guy from Belgium that was entertaining a group of us at the back of the plane near the snack tray and bar!  I think if it wasn't for the laughs we all got to while away some of those long hours my return flight home could have been one of those horrible travel moment memories. Funny how one thing can make all those other not so nice things go away!  In hindsight, I guess I would do it all over again to continue to enjoy the great experiences that I have when traveling. I just detest the "getting to" part. :)

I did the big no no last night. As soon as I got home I dropped my luggage, took a shower and went to bed. And I have to say it felt good to break that rule.

Thank you so much everyone for all of your great comments while on the road and for your welcome home!  I have today off and will be running my washer and dryer like crazy, drive my car to get groceries, pick up my mail and pay my bills, clean my house and then get ready to return to work and the real world tomorrow.

Ahhhh, it's good to be back home again.