Day 29 and 30 - Going Home

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We were booked to fly out at 3pm. I wanted to go in to Cite and find a Cafe for breakfast or a Coffee and finish the Frenchie experience. Tanya and the kids were buggered and after breakfast they just wanted to watch cartoons in french, that they had already seen before.

Check out was by noon and we just made it. I had spent the morning packing, making sure I had the car keys handy for when we got back, on my computer, and checking we had not lost anything.

There was a shop at Nord which sold beret's which Aimee wanted one from. Every time we went past, it was late and closed. Today is Sunday and the shops are open, but we can't find it, as normally we walk past it on our way home !

We got on the RER for Charles De Gaule and were joined by some large blokes wearing Springbok jumpers. They were going to the rugby that started at 2pm and they were on the express to CDG ! I spent a couple of minutes urging them to get off and catch the next train. Just as the doors started to close, they realised I was right and bolted through the doors.

Our tickets showed us leaving from Terminal C. The train stopped at the terminal 1 and 3 station, or the Terminal 2 station. All the people speaking french on the train got off at 1 and 3, but we debated whether C was the same as 3 ??? We stayed on though and all the english speakers got off at 2. Once in Terminal 2, we noted that it was made up of 2A, 2B, 2C, 2D, and 2E, so we headed off to 2C. Once there, the screens showed us which check-in counter to find and we were there just under 2 hours before. If we hadn't stopped to use a set of scales in the hall, to weigh our luggage, which the sign suggested you should do before checking in, we would have been on time. We hit the queue and Tanya cursed me for making us late. I spotted a separate queu for Silver Class and on-line check ins. I had checked us in on line at midnight the night before, so we headed around to that queue of zero people, and we now had almost 2 hours to check out duty free and the lounge. Boring. As we drove out to the plane on buses, I reached in to my pocket to double check I still had the car keys handy. None. I checked my back pack. None. Had the fallen out when I layed down for 5 minutes before leaving the hotel ? I rang mum, and told her where the spare set were in case. Once on the plane I completely unpacked my back pack and found them. Phew.

We flew out of Paris a little late. Dubai was in no hurry for us. The pilot did his best to take his time and 50 miles out of Dubai we started to circle the airport. We did 2 full revolutions and spent an extra 45 minutes in the air. We were going to be late, and only had two and a half hours before our next flight. Never mind because we weren't leaving Dubai in a hurry either. We tried to walk in to the terminal. It was 1.30am in the morning and it was absolutely packed. As usual the kids new were we must be going and bolted off well ahead of us !!! 5 minutes later we had lost Jordan a little and there was absolutely no sign of Aimee. I went on ahead and climbed the huge flight of stairs so I could scan the lounges, while Tanya went the other way. She was eventually located distraught, but with a free box of very nice Chocolates, in one of the stores. The ladies had given her the chocolates to try and calm her down !!

We got away from Dubai out 90 minutes late and is usually the case, the pilot flogged the plane all the way home and we arrived in Perth about 30 minutes late. Great flight, even if we were in the middle of the plane this time. It didn't really matter this time.

We got held up in Customs because we had been near livestock in England and I was too stubborn to lie on the forms that you have to fill out. We also had a few lollies that we had not declared and the "white ones" that Brad had given us at Versailles. The lady asked if we had anything that "someone else had given us in our luggage", as I calmly tossed the Mints in the bin.

WE are HOME !!!(actually we have been home for 2 months and the next time I get a chance, will finish uploading more photos)

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