There's no place like home.

Whew. What a long, strange trip it has been.

I finally made it home. About 20 hours later than planned.

As you know, I was stranded in Paris due to being bumped from an overbooked flight to Newark.

Air France was quite generous in compensating me for my inconvenience. They put me up in a nearby hotel (with free shuttle service). The room was small and smelled of smoke and the twin bed was not too comfortable, but at least I didn't have to sleep in an airport waiting lounge. They also provided three free meals (which were all very good) and offered me compensation in the form of cash or a voucher to apply toward a future flight.

I tried to collect the $600 cash at the AF office at the airport yesterday morning, but was told they didn't have that much money on hand and suggested I try one of their offices in downtown Paris or New York. I might run back up to the Cincinnati airport and try there. I have a year to collect.

The night in the hotel was pretty boring. The small television in the room got nothing but 9 French language channels. I watched it anyway, and did get to watch the English version of Shreck 2 with French subtitles. I also watched some soccer and skiing. I slept a bit Wednesday afternoon, and that evening I went to bed just before midnight. I had set the alarm for 5 a.m.

As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was wide awake. There was no way I was going to sleep, so I got back up and watched more TV. I showered, dressed, and had everything packed again before 5, when the hotel restaurant opened and I ate my free breakfast.

I watched more TV, then caught the shuttle back to the airport at 7:30 a.m. I wanted to get there early (the flight was scheduled to depart at 11:10) just in case there were any more complications. As it turns out, there were none. It was the easiest check-in I have ever had. Thus I found myself sitting at the departure gate 2 hours before the scheduled 10:15 boarding. I did manage to sleep a bit to pass the time.

This flight ended up being delayed for over an hour for reasons that were not revealed to the passengers, but finally we were in the air. This flight was a non-stop to Cincinnati, so it lasted for almost 9 hours. That is a long time to be stuffed inside a metal tube with 250 other people.

When the plane landed at 3:17 yesterday afternoon, I turned on my cell phone to call my sister Jo Ann, who was picking me up, to arrange a meeting place. The battery was dead.

It took an hour to get out of the airport. I had to clear Immigration, pick up my checked baggage, clear Customs, recheck the bag, clear security, and pick the bag up at a second baggage claim area. Yes, you read that right. We had to clear a security checkpoint to leave the airport! Cincinnati is the only airport I have ever had that happen. I don't know what is up with that, but it happened to me for the first time there in October.

Luckily, Jo Ann was waiting right outside the baggage claim area of the terminal so I didn't have to dig my cell phone charger out of my suitcase to get the phone to work.

She had me home by 5:30 yesterday afternoon. I managed to unpack and eat some dinner before I crashed at 10 p.m. I slept until 5 this morning. I've been pretty productive so far today. I've sorted the important mail from the junk, thrown out all the junk mail and accumulated newspapers, and gotten some deposits ready to take to the bank. When I get done with that, I will tackle the pile of bills that awaited me upon my return.

And I have at least one more entry to post today.

See you later.

Comments

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Did you take photos while you were waiting to board the plane?

Posted by: Alison | January 06, 2006 at 13:05

No I didn't. There were too many soldiers toting machine guns wandering around the terminal. I didn't want to make them any antsier than they already looked.

Posted by: Allan | January 06, 2006 at 13:08

Welcome home, bro. Jo Ann phoned me from the Northern Kentucky airport and had me check Delta.com to see where you were. (You had already landed at that point.) An hour delay in taking off is always a bitch but at least it wasn't because your name is on the no-fly list.

Posted by: Mike | January 06, 2006 at 14:20