Goodbye Europe

With a heavy heart, I took an early morning train from Brussels to Paris, to catch my flight back home.  I made it into Gare d'Austerlitz with no problems, and from there got a ticket for another train, to L'Aeroport Charles De Gaulle.  I arrived and checked in, made it through security and got to my gate.  After I had waited a bit, the lady at the desk said my name, and so I went to see what was going on.  She said the flight I was taking to Washington DC was overbooked (I had to go to DC, and then to Chicago from there), and she was wondering if I wanted to switch to a direct flight to Chicago that left later but arrived sooner.  Without a second thought, I said that I would.  She tore up my old ticket, and printed out a new one for me - it was business class!

The hard part was contacting everyone at home to let them know I would be arriving at a different time.  I had no access to email, but the lady at the desk said she would send one for me.  I tried numerous home and work numbers from the airport, but no one answered.  It wasn't a big deal, I wouldn't be waiting long in Chicago even if they didn't get my messages, but we all know I hate waiting!  I boarded the plane not really knowing if my family would be there when I arrived or not, but oh well.  I sat in business class next to a young Frenchman who had received the same free upgrade as me, for the same reason.  It was his first trip to the US.  He and I talked the whole way home, using some form of French and English, as there were French words I did not know and English words he did not know.  We made it work!

Business class was great!  It was my first and only time flying there so far.  I had like 4 meals on the way home, and they really took care of us.  It was a great way to end the trip, although I was sad to leave.  At the same time, it was nice to return home and see everyone again.  I'll admit though, the day after I got home I was ready to leave again!