Day 1- My Trip Over

Day 1 (Monday, May 11): Departure

Apparently I have a knack for turning off the alarm in my sleep, so Abe and I woke up HORRIFIED!! Needless to say it was a stressful morning and I am merely glad to have survived it and made it to the airport. Whew!

After that, it was off to the races. I was originally going to work on my paper during my SLC layover, but there was no free wi-fi available, so instead I talked to Abe the whole time.

One thing that was really interesting was that in SLC I saw a bunch of young Mormons going on their Missions Trip (about 12). It was so fascinating. You could tell they were all so young, so new to the world. Most were guys, but there were a few girls. All dressed conservatively, and with their little name tags. It was so funny to observe them as they all busted about from SLC to Paris, and then they were off to Budapest.

The flight to Paris was uneventful. I enjoyed the luxury(?) of having 2 seats to myself so I could “stretch out” and “sleep”. Ha!

Either way, I made it to Paris, and the airport was so neat- and huge. It must be miles and miles long. It stretched out so far I couldn't see the end and it took at least 15 minutes at a fast clip to get to my new gate. I ran through most of it because I only had an hour layover and I didn't want to miss my plane. I went through customs and added another stamp to my passport. After passing through, in the middle of the airport, there is a giant glass cut out. Everything is modern style “raw”. There is a large concrete platform suspended by exposed cables. There were a few benches and people just hanging out. Below this platform was a train station. I thought it was so neat that you could get so easily from the airport to the city. I made a mental note to return to Paris. Mariah???? When do you want to go?

PS- for my mother: I brought ONLY a back-pack. And it was NOT completely filled. :)