It is a blessing and a curse to have a late-day flight. We didn’t have to depart at 4am this morning, as some of our cruise friends did, but we also had all day to wait until our flight.
Rob caught the cold that Michele caught on the ship, so we were feeling a bit ragged. We met Roy and Gwyn for our final breakfast in Paris at a leisurely 9am. Upon looking at all the food Roy chose this morning, Gwyn made a quiet observation that he’s eating as if he won’t have another meal today.
After breakfast, we did a final bag weighing using Roy and Gwyn’s luggage scale and determined Michele’s jeans and some toiletries had to go in Rob’s bag. Her suitcase weighed in at 50 pounds. It’s the big one below.
Here are pictures of the Pullman Hotel Montparnasse pulled from their website as we forgot to take pics of our room. There was an abundance of mirrors with several walls and doors as mirrors. Rob said we had our own hall of mirrors.
Viking gave us an itinerary of the day’s logistics a few days ago. They are very organized, communicate well and in advance, which we appreciate. Our bags needed to be outside our door at 11am for bag pickup, then we had to check out of the hotel at 12pm, and wait for our taxi transfer to the airport at 12:30.
At 12:30 a Viking rep took us to the lobby and walked us out to a waiting taxi van as we said goodbye to the Pullman hotel.
Traffic was heavy driving to Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport, about an hour away. At the airport, the Viking rep met us at the taxi. He assisted us in checking our bags and escorted us all the way to the first security entrance. We decided this level of service suits us well.
It was close to 2pm by this point and the airport was not busy. We marveled at the uphill moving walkways, called travelators, and stood sideways because of the incline. The big rollers under our feet felt like a foot massage.
Gwyn also discovered that the directional icon for straight ahead is a down arrow, not up like in the U.S. We had to double check our directions to get our bearings.
At our first security check, CDG has the automated Schengen border control system for non-European citizens traveling through the Schengen Zone borders. It fast-tracks through border security if you hold a biometric passport from select countries. These pics are examples from online.
There were no lines. We scanned our passport then entered an enclosed and secured area with two interlocking doors. A screen captured our image and did a body scan. Rob breezed through. Michele’s passport got a red light and “access denied” sign. An airport rep came over to help, same issue. She told him, “I’ll just have to live in Paris forever then.” The man laughed and said, “You like it here? All of us want to leave!” He tried another machine and it worked, so she could enter the enclosure.
Out on the other side we couldn’t find Roy and Gwyn. A few minutes later they came out of a gate further down. Apparently their passports didn’t work in several machines. Rob pointed out how the enclosed “man trap” keeps you in until the police arrive, should there be a problem.
Michele was hoping that process was both customs and security combined, but after more walking, we eventually got to the main security check for Terminal 1. This airport is modernized with a partially automated gray bin roller system, such as this example.
Each person picks up a bin from the shelf below, fed by the empty bins at the opposite end. All the items go in it, then when the lady nods at you, you push it to the back rollers. This method allows you to skip in front of people who take longer to fill their bins. Then we go through the regular metal detector. Should a bag need further scrutiny by a guard, it automatically shifts to a separate roller system. Michele was sure her big backpack would be selected because she was caught off guard having to quickly put her gels/liquids in a little bag and knew that she missed a few. It was selected, but not opened. The guard had just finished picking through a man’s suitcase full of chocolate and snack foods that were bursting out of his little clamshell carry-on. Gwyn’s bionic knees got a few beeps and she was pulled aside. When she joined us later, she said her pat down was personal and very thorough. “They patted everything but my crotch!”
Onward, we found ourselves in a couture mall. Cartier, Yves St. Laurent, Hermes, Dior—all of the big names.
Passing that section we found our gate and immediately noticed the decor—Parisian “art de vivre” in a modern Roaring Twenties-style, according to one online description. Historic columns and fireworks-like lighting highlight the space, with leather sofas and art deco-like details. It was a calming and beautiful space to wait in for a few hours. There were even video game stations for kids or adults to pass the time.
Our flight started to board at 4:10pm. Michele was pulled out of the line for a random check, not understanding the request in a French accent. Shoes off, bags open, and she got the warm special paper wand swiped on her hands, feet and stomach. Other ladies were pulled aside also, equally confused. By this time Roy, Rob and Gwyn were already through the gate. The rest of boarding went smoothly.
Our plane was a 767 with Polaris business class pods up front, our rows of 2-2-2 Premium Economy, then rows of 2-3-2 in economy behind us. Our flight even left a little early. The flight time was 8+ hours and we’d be landing at home at 7:10pm eastern or 1:10am Paris time.
The captain said our route would be quite northerly, catching the southern tip of Greenland about halfway through. Michele tried to see it, but the cloud cover was thick and white below us at our cruising altitude of 38,000 feet. It might look like this had we seen it.
The plane wasn’t even half full, there were big sections of empty seats in the back, allowing people to stretch out on the three middle seats to sleep. We watched multiple movies thanks to United’s extensive seat back entertainment menu. We also got two meals. Dinner was chicken and vegetables or cannelloni, with a little green salad and bread. The chicken was dramatically better tasting than on the flight out.
About an hour and a half from landing, Rob shook Michele awake from a twilight nap and said a second dinner was being offered. Beef and noodles or vegetarian something. It wasn’t as tasty as the last meal, but tolerable. Rob thought the salad was bitter and yucky. Michele gave him her chocolate dessert from the first dinner to make up for the bitter taste. She had been collecting snacks during the trip and had them all around her in the seat!
An hour from landing the captain put seatbelt signs on and told the stewards to be seated. It was light to moderately bumpy until the last 20 minutes. Luckily the bumps were not big dips or tilts, just the constant shaky kind. Landing at Dulles went fine. We got on a people mover that seemed very ghetto compared to the gleaming marble of CDG airport. Over at customs there was a line about 3-4 rows deep. A big plane from China arrived before us. Unfortunately about 25% of them mistakenly got into the US citizen line that slowed us up. Somehow Michele got left behind the rest of the family in line, but passed the time by chatting with a nice lady who was on the same flight. She went on a tour group to Paris and saw different sights than we did. She couldn’t find the Mona Lisa at the Louvre, saying it was too big with bad signage. Otherwise she enjoyed Paris. Her husband didn’t want to go to Paris so she took a tour with other women.
Luckily another customs gate opened and the line moved faster. Michele’s CBP agent was all smiles and said, “Did you bring any food? Any meat?” Michele said, “Meat?” He said, “Yes. Meat. Fruit?” Michele said no, just a bunch of airplane snacks. He stamped her passport and welcomed her back.
By this time the rest of the family already had our bags at baggage claim. Everyone compared notes on what the CBP agents asked—we all got different questions. With bags in hand, Rob texted Marcia and she was already waiting for us at the pickup door. We arrived home around 9pm DC time/3am Paris time. Off to bed!
What an amazing trip we had! Roy and Gwyn were incredibly generous to invite us to accompany them on this trip. We are now big fans of the river cruise format and especially Viking’s level of service and quality. We enjoyed favorable weather. Despite catching the ship sinus cold, we enjoyed every day and have great memories of traveling together as a foursome. Prague, Germany and Paris are very special places to us!
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