Day 18

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Day 18

This would be the most uneventful day of the trip.

We left the Carentan in the Normandy area of France and drove back to Paris. Toll way most of the way, just like on our drive out to Normandy. We discovered that the rental car did NOT have a toll pass for the toll roads we were going to be on, just the toll roads around Paris. So, we learned how to pay tolls.

There are no signs as you approach the toll booth on how uch the toll will be. I guess everyone should already know this. We learned on our way out to Normandy, that they take credit/debit cards. No indication on how much, but they took plastic. No drive through at 110km/hr and get dinged, just pull up stop, put in plastic, and drive off. No booths for change and such, just machines. But, they do have it down to not hold up traffic. You put in the card, and 1 second later the light goes green and the gate opens, and your off again. You had no way to guess either at how much it was going to be. €2.80, €3.70, €5.60 and it wasn’t based on distance travelled. We just paid and drove.

On the way up to Normandy, we learned about that because when we approached the first toll gate, we gathered all our loose change to feed the machine when we drove up. We didn’t know how much it would need, but we had enough coins to match the toll, and decided if it took plastic, we would try that at the next booth. Once we saw how quick that was, we paid toll with plastic every time.

We arrived at CDG airport, and knew we were going to terminal 2, and they had a Hertz return there. But, there is a Terminal 2A through E so you have a great chance to be in the wrong place. After we returned the car, we gathered our luggage and took the terminal train to the right place.

We were early enough we didn’t have to run to the gate. We went through security, passport control, in preparation on our return to Ireland. We were to arrive in Ireland spend the night and leave early in the morning.

Now our return trip was on Lufthansa which meant we had to go to Frankfurt then to Houston. Boarding started at 5:25AM, so we had to leave the hotel in enough time that we could make it through security and get to the gate. One would think the airport at 4:30AM is dead. Not so much, it wasn’t like noon, but there were more people than I thought we would find, but security was easier and less crowded.

After getting to Frankfurt, we were bused from the tarmac to the terminal, then had to go through security there again. We landed 25 minutes early, and went through 2 security checkpoints, one potty stop, and still didn’t get to the gate before they called boarding. On the big Airbus380 there are lots of passengers, and they had already lined up to board. When I say lined up, I mean a line from gate Z66, then curved around and passed by Gate Z67, Z68, and Z69, before it made a U turn back towards gate Z66. We were “early” enough to be in the part in front of Z68.

We boarded the flight, and had a wonderful flight, got some naps in, got some reading in, got some blogging written. I didn’t spring for the WiFi option, but we were able to read, and enjoy our down time.

Thus ends out trip to Ireland for family research, and spending some time with my brother and Gail. We had a great time, and I count it a success because we didn’t get on each other’s nerves at any point along the way. If we did, they were very gracious and didn’t let it show.

We enjoyed traveling with them and look forward to doing it again.

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