Flying to Paris

Well, it has been quite an adventure flying to Paris. This is me, on the plane, ready to depart for Paris. I have had an interesting afternoon, and I thought that was all behind me, but no….

Kate and I left our home in Harvard MA on July 3rd and headed to Copley Place in Boston for two nights. The daughter of one of our bridesmaids got married on July 4 at the Boston Public Library. It was a fabulous wedding and a fantastic start to my trip. Following the brunch on July 5, we headed over to Arlington where we had left my bags for France at Kate’s parents’ home. Kate then drove me to Logan Airport Terminal E, the international terminal. My flight was not until 9:30pm, but I was happy to get there crazy early so Kate could get back home. (Foreshadowing, this will be important later…) After grabbing my bike box and my duffel bag, I gave Kate a kiss and headed into the terminal.

As I got to the Air France check in line, I realized that I did not have my daypack. I had left it on the floor in front of the passenger seat. I quickly called Kate. Fortunately, I reached her before she entered the tunnel back to Boston. She was able to get off, swing around, then meet me back where she had dropped me off 20 minutes earlier. After another quick goodbye, I returned to the Air France line to check in.

When I gave the attendant my passport, she asked to see my reservation since she did not find me in the system. Pulling up my flight information, I realized that I was flying on Jet Blue not Air France. Jet Blue flies out of Terminal C even for its international flights. Feeling embarrassed but happy for the cart carrying my bike box and my duffel, I started the 10 minute walk to terminal C.

When I tried to check in at the Jet Blue desk, I was told that Jet Blue does not allow bicycles in cardboard boxes for international flights! So here I am with my bike packed in a cardboard box that cannot be checked. Fortunately, I still had almost 7 hours before my flight. I called up Kate who was still driving home and asked her to get one of my bike bags from the attic then drive back to Logan so I could repack my bike for the flight. Kate, being the amazing woman that she is, had my back. After driving an hour to Harvard, she grabbed my bike bag and immediately drove another hour back to Logan.

Here is a photo of my bike as I started packing it into my bike bag. The reason I had packed my bike in a cardboard box is that the tour company has very limited baggage space and will not transport bicycle bags. I am also flying Jet Blue back from Istanbul meaning that I will need a bike bag for the return trip. The box that the tour company will provide will not work. I am guessing that I will need to throw this bag away when I get to Troyes France, then buy a new bag in Istanbul. I will figure if there is any better option when I get to France.

Since there was nowhere for me to dispose of the empty bike box, Kate parked the car and came back to the terminal to get it and bring it back to Harvard. Here is a picture of her being an incredibly great sport about all of this. My bike is now neatly packed in my bike bag. Finally, I headed into the terminal, checked my duffel and bike bag, and went through security. I was looking forward to relaxing in the Jet Blue lounge since I still had over 4 hours until my flight. That was when I discovered that the Jet Blue lounge has not yet been completed. Sigh.

This is me sitting in the terminal after being deplaned from our flight. Most of the way through the boarding process, after I took the first photo of this blog, we were told that there was a problem with the airport’s central fueling system. Apparently, air got into the system which prevented them from filling the tanker trucks safely. The plane was not fully fueled, and there were no more full tanker trucks. We all had to return to the terminal. The gate staff did their best to keep us informed. They told us that international flights would be prioritized for fuel. After about an hour, we were told that fuel was coming for the plane, and 20 minutes later we started boarding again.

Around 11:30pm, we finally took off. I thought that given the late hour, I would be able to easily fall asleep. Unfortunately, that just has not happened, so here I am blogging at 3:00am EST. Hopefully, after sending this post, I will finally be able to sleep. I am keeping my fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly for the rest of my journey. I just want to land in Paris, get my bike and duffel, get an Uber to Troyes, and join the trip. I’m keeping my fingers crossed.