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Published: December 11th 2012
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Charles De Gaulle
you sexy sexy airport you July 29th
Oh well, the Brits either relented, left, or else I was tired enough to ignore them. Whatever the case; I had a good, full sleep of at least 8 hours… good thing too, as I have 11 hours of flying, an 8 (?) hour stopover in Seoul, another 12 hours flying, not to mention the Auckland to Dunedin part, and for some reason I can never sleep this way; NZ-Europe, fine! Europe-NZ… not a chance!
Anyhoo, repacked the bag to make (hopefully) the best use of space and set off for Gare Du Nord. There was less urine smell and not nearly as many beggars today; it was quite a nice day, sun shining but still quite cool and I found myself wondering if the travel bug wasn’t growing again already…. It was cured somewhat by Charles De Gaulle, but more on that later…
Got a coke and a train ticket out to the airport… €9 which isn’t too bad compared to the €18 shuttle the hostel offered (which would mean having to deal with Paris traffic too).
Wow! Charles De Gaulle is huge… no that’s not some sexual admiration for a guy
The long mile
...at Seoul airport called Chuck, this airport is MASSIVE!! There are 3 terminals, each divided into sort of “sub-terminals” I’m in terminal ‘2E’ and, by itself, 2E is bigger than most of the airports I’ve been too! You have to check in at one place, take your bags to another and then get on a train to go your departure lounge which was made it feel like a bit of a circus.
The baggage check-in involved a long slow line, but after that it was smooth sailing. Passport control and customs were a breeze, even so; the prospect of not having to see another airport (after I’m back in Dunedin) for the foreseeable future fills me with gratitude.
I’ve been sampling a last bit of Frenchy cuisine… even though doing this at an airport is obviously not the cheapest option. I will miss the food over here… I’ll miss lots of things…
Everybody is queuing before the gate is even open… what’s the rush?! Whether you board first or last, you’ll still be sitting in the same seat! Now if they are window seat passengers boarding early for the convenience of their fellow passengers then good for them, but I
Air Pepsi
Korean Air with their familiar looking logo don’t think that’s the reason.
Charles De Gaulle is a beautiful airport, but they seem to have an obsession with those zigzagging barriers that you have to make your way around every time you queue… not a fan.
~11 hours laterer~
Well that was one of the more interesting flights I’ve been on. It was Korean Air, but it was partnered with Air France… who, as it turns out, have really good food! I mean that’s the first airline meal that I’d be willing to pay money for if I was served it outside the context of an airplane.
Passed the flight pleasantly enough by watching; an episode of “30 Rock”, “Groundhog Day”, a documentary about mini-skirts (most educational) listening to some French music & some jazz and then finally a newish movie called “Chronicle”; at first I wasn’t impressed with it since it was one of those ones where it’s filmed on handheld cameras, like “oh no, this isn’t a movie, it’s just a compilation of found footage” plus it was 3 teenaged American guys sitting around using the word ‘dude’ excessively (much like some dumb kiwis spout the word ‘bro’ as every second word). As it turned out, the film was pretty good. Towards the end it was that annoying thing where you’re trying to get your program finished before (a) you land or (b) they take your headphones away, but they constantly pause your program to make an endless bunch of seemingly pointless announcements. I was getting more and more annoyed with it… until we hit the turbulence (and the turbulence hit back). Now I’ve experienced plenty of bumpy, turbulent flights, but this was something else! This was “throw you up in the air like Godzilla’s just punched the bottom of the plane, before plummeting 100s of metres, then bucking and dropping further!” People were crying out in alarm and personally I’m usually as cool as a proverbial cucumber when it comes to turbulence but my heart was racing and it was that feeling of “is this how I’m going to die? I knew I should have taken that left turn at Albuquerque… or at least not taken this plane”
Anyhoo, we got through the turbulence intact, alive and not stuck on some mysterious island on a primetime TV show, and after that I was very attentive and listened carefully to EVERY announcement made, no matter how pointless it seemed.
At Seoul airport and on another inter-terminal subway (never realised just how small NZ airports are by comparison). In a way it wasn’t English language friendly; you’d get an announcement in Korean and then by the time the doors were halfway shut you’d heard “doors closing, please stand clear” ditto with “train about to leave, hold on” you’d most likely absorb this information from your position sprawled out on the floor!
Found some comfy seats, it’s 9 hours till my Auckland flight, might as well snooze.
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