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Farewell Bazz and Cazz!
Thanks for looking after our place while we are gallivanting around France! The rumble of planes taking off close by, the whirr of the air conditioner and the rattle of the bar fridge all remind me that we really have left home and are at the airport motel ready for departure in the morning. I am tired after the effort of packing up, cleaning and gardening and this in-between stay is like an airlock between our two worlds of home and holiday. Our lovely neighbours drove us out - thanks Bazz and Cazz - and we had a farewell coffee with them. Then we were on our own and it was time to review what we had packed in our new spinner suitcases and hand luggage and organise it carefully for the long trek.
There were so many decisions to make, and now we live with them for eight weeks. Do we carry an umbrella (now we see that rain is forecast for the first week - got that one right). How warm will it be in Provence and how cold will it be in Scotland (where it is currently still snowy). At some point we will have just the right clothes I guess. Shall we carry some of our favourite coffee?
The new Dreamliner
The roomiest long haul flight we have ever been on We ended up with 500gm of our best combo and will enjoy it, especially when we take our thermos out on trips. On it went, but no more decisions now and the relief of commitment to the road ahead is palpable!
Then there were multiple goodbyes to the fifteen family members we will miss for 8 weeks. There will be a major operation, completion of house extension, a variety of sporting achievements (two grandchildren running for their school today), basketball matches, swimming - we have very talented grandchildren), and probably all sorts of unplanned events. Our last farewell was from Levi, our youngest grandchild, who is finally walking and proudly lurched along the deck and in the door to see us yesterday! He will literally take strides in two months. Technology will keep us in touch. Ten year old Aubrey made sure we have her email address so that we send her photos, and Skype and whatsapp will run hot. All so much easier than our first trip twenty years ago when we had to phone home in public phone boxes for any contact.
So we are a few hours in the air now as I write and
Ho Chi Minh Airport
Six hours to explore the delights of this long concourse have already had drinks, snack and lunch. Peter has kicked back to watch Loving Vincent on his screen and I am relaxed and grateful for the decision we made to snap up sale price premium economy tickets with Vietnam Airlines. Sooo much room and the extra luggage allowance means a lot. No claustrophobia this trip! There was a news item last night about a VA plane that was somehow landed on the wrong runway, resulting in the crew being suspended - hope ours know where they are going. That was followed by an item about the riots in Paris, our destination, with hundreds of arrests. Fortunately May Day will be over when we get there. Life is a series of risks and we just have to decide which ones we will take!
The first leg was extremely cruisy and we arrived in Ho Chi Minh to disembark in 32 degrees down steep steps and into the terminal bus. Transit was completely bewildering, even for these two seasoned travellers but we were comforted by the fact that we had six hours to find our way. After asking four people we found that the small door labelled departures was indeed our
Souvenir stalls at the airport
These colourful stalls are an interesting change from the big brand shops we usually find in airports route, and that we were about to go through security screening once again. So, water bottles guzzled empty and gels and liquids rearranged, we headed through the hole in the wall and discovered the joys of the international terminal.
It is immensely long, lined with the usual airport shops plus dozens of little market type stalls with colourful souvenirs. By the time we scouted both directions, looking for showers, massage and anything other recovery therapy we could find, I was in a huge sweat. We considered paying a door fee at one of the lounges, but opted to spend the money on massages instead - looking on it as a well-being investment for the next 13 hour leg. Emerging lightheadedly from the experience, we found the over-priced Saigon Cafe and sat for a very long time with a very small snack and drink. We watched the air traffic through the window - unbelievably busy with plane after plane arriving and action everywhere. This is the new hub of cheap flights to Europe and we are part of the traffic!
A wash and change in the amenities and we started the long hike to the other end, as our
Paris at last!
Enjoying the fresh air again with CitizenM Hotel in sight at last. This is what we look like after 30 hours of travelling! departure gate was the very furthest one. There were announcements all the time, but it was hard to tell what was Vietnamese, French or English. We were, fortunately, early, but as we sat we began to wonder why there was a Jetstar screen at our gate. We also looked around and sort of felt that the people sitting there didn’t look as if they were going to Paris! So, more asking, and we found there had been a change of gate. Suddenly we were pressured after whiling away the hours for so long. I noticed later that our flight, VN11 was being called as ‘one one’, which may be why we didn’t hear it, although the French announcements called it ‘onze’ (Eleven) and we did hear that!! After another little drama with our boarding pass, we were finally on.
The airbus is nowhere near as comfortable as the Dreamliner and we have less room but still very appreciative of the slight upgrade. We are in the middle, but have four seats, so can spread out. So the night has gone by and I have probably had about four hours broken sleep, watched half of the Christopher Robin movie, done some French and listened to an audio book. Peter has done amazingly, getting a good eight hours with his CPAP machine powered by the new battery. I woke up over Azerbaijan and we are now 40,000 feet over Belarus - I am relieved to see that we are giving Ukraine a wide berth! Just under three hours to go and I am trying to imagine hitting the Paris streets looking like I do right now! Even long haul flights end eventually so bring on the airline breakfast and it is time to be firm with our body about what the time is.
The sun rose and then the plane hovered over Paris as we came into land and I thought about our first heady visit to this beautiful city in 1998, our romantic return for Christmas in 2011, and the apartment in Le Marais in 2015. This time it is only a day and a night in this beautiful city but the sky is blue and everything is shining. Charles de Gaulle Airport is massive - a small city - and we walked kilometres and then caught a shuttle train just to get to the baggage! And that was all within Terminal 2. Another long walk, this time with all our luggage, then the shuttle train again to a Terminal 3. It is easy to know when you are in Paris - stylish clothes, handsome people of African origin in suits and sunnies, lots of tight fitting puffy jackets, and a lot of kissing! My aching feet knew then that there was one more walk to the airport hotel as we emerged into fresh, cold air and brilliant sunshine and drew a deep breath. The last walk was through a park, so we sat down on a bench in the middle of it and had morning tea with our pastries and berry juice. That tired, scratchy and slightly hysterical feeling at the end of a long haul flight: 30 hours in transit, over two days since we left home, nearly 17,000km flying, bodies protesting about the confusion of day and night - but we did it and the sun is shining on us and our first little picnic. It is very hard work for Aussies to get to Europe! Strengthened by a flaky pastry pain chocolat we headed for CitizenM Hotel, counting the steps to a shower and a BED!
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