2 Days of Travel Hell!

I usually enjoy the whole airport/travel experience (even the lines and waiting) just because it means I'm going somewhere cool -- sort of part of the experience -- but this trip was above and beyond and by the end I was really eyeing the first class passengers with envy ;)

The trip is normally about 6 - 8 hours including layovers! We were transferring in Paris Charles de Gaule with a short wait and then straight into Lisbon Portugal.

That was the plan anyway -- We finally made into Portugal 2 days after leaving Washington DC!

Here's what went down:

There was a big storm in Paris that delayed our flight out of DC by 4 hours (and our airport shuttle was already on the way when we found out so we couldn't postpone it and we had to spend an extra 4 hours in the airport.

Then we found out that because of the delay we were going to miss our connection in Paris by about 15 minutes! Ugh.

There was not another flight out of Paris Charles de Gaule anytime soon, so they scheduled us a flight from the other airport in Paris (Orly) -- a one hour bus ride away -- on a different airline -- and we had about 4 hours between arriving in Charles de Gaule and departing in Orly (to go through customs, catch the bus, travel through traffic, check back in with luggage and board!!)

--We did notice when we first arrived into Charles de Gaulle that our original connection had been delayed also, but only by 30 minutes, not enough time for us to stand in [a very long] line and have our tickets changed back! Bummer, onto to Orly anyway.--

Well, the bus to Orly was late because of some security issue and, of course, by the time we got to Orly we had missed the rescheduled flight also!!!! sighhhh....... Plus it was REALLY cold in Paris and we were NOT dressed for it!

So, after many long lines, lots of waiting, and trying to keep a 9 year old from losing his mind, we managed to get another flight scheduled for the following day. That meant another bus trip to a hotel, a quick overnight stay, and back to the airport first thing in the morning. (luckily Air France paid for the hotel and dinner and breakfast!)

So, we arrived in the morning for the flight, sat in line for an hour, did the whole security thing again and FINALLY got on the plane to Portugal! Whew!!!

Arrival! Yay!! I was never so glad to be rid of airports!

Anyway, I'm excited for Christmas and an awesome New Year's party. Hope all your's are fantastic!