It hardly counts as a day because we’ll spend most of it at the airport before our homeward bound flight to Toronto gets into the air.
We had packed as much as we could the previous evening so it was just a matter of the last minute stuff, weighing the bags and making sure they remained within the weight restrictions imposed by the airline, then checking out.
After the mess with the company we had hired to pick us up at the airport the day we arrived, we ate the cost of the shuttle back to the airport and hired a company that the hotel recommended. Turns out the original guy did show at the appointed time and waited for about 20 minutes. Oh well, sucks to be him.
So bags packed, room checked from top to bottom and back again to make sure we’d left nothing behind, we headed to the elevator – out of order. ACK! Me with a cane, our room on the 6th floor and it was a spiral staircase! It wasn’t going to be pretty.
Hubby grabbed one of our heavy suitcases, the laptop backpack, and his c-pap machine and took to the stairs while I waited. After a while, puffing, he appeared again and took the other suitcase down. When I descended the stairs, I couldn’t use the railing because it was on the inside where the stair treads were the narrowest and I needed to be next to the wall where I had a full step to put my feet and cane on.
Eventually, I made it to the lobby and began the check-out process. We had taken advantage of the breakfasts every day but the day we arrived and yesterday. The poor guy at the desk had a miserable time trying to count up the number of meals. Every time he did, he arrived at a different number. The one number that came up most for him was seven. We agreed with that. I knew that I owed for our last night because I had booked it well after I made the original reservations but the desk clerk insisted it was already paid and didn’t charge us for it. I knew otherwise and if it wasn’t looked after at then, it would end up on my credit card anyway.
Our driver arrived and took us to the airport. Early on a Sunday morning (between 7:30 and 8:00) there isn’t a lot of traffic so we made good time getting to Terminal 3. Note to self – use this guy again.
When we checked in at the Air Transat counter, the gal checking us in put “priority” tags on both of our suitcases and then asked me if I needed a wheelchair. Anyway, we got checked in, went through passport control and took up seats in the departure lounge.
There were two Air Transat flights to Canada leaving – one to Montreal and ours to Toronto and at adjacent gates. We hoped our checked luggage got onto the right plane.
When the light went on over the gate exit to the shuttle bus (yes, a bus takes you from the terminal to your plane), everyone flocked there even though they were only looking for Option Plus, Club Class and people travelling with children.
Hubby scanned his boarding pass and it was rejected. He tried again with the same result. The message was “rejected – seat not available”. The girl at that counter took his pass from him and went to her computer. She returned a few minutes later and his original seat/row were crossed out and new information written below it. Since we were travelling together, I didn’t even try to scan mine just handed it to her. We were now in row 2 rather than row 25 and in seats H and K.
We couldn’t be lucky enough to receive a complimentary upgrade to Club Class on both flights could we? And were we together? With a letter missing, it made us wonder. We needn’t have worried because our seats were together on the right hand side of the plane in the last row of Club Class! Another flight of pampering.
This plane was one of the fleet that had been re-fitted – touch screens in the seat backs in front of us, even wider seats than in the Club Class section going over. Heaven!
So once again, we ate like Kings, drank like Kings (in moderation this flight since we had to drive home), and travelled like Kings!
Our trip to Paris was wonderful. The city every bit as beautiful as I remembered and we’d both like to go back again and see the sights and the people.
Very nice explanation of the entire trip and awesome pics Melanie !! Thanks alot or sharing it with us. Seems like we know Paris more than ever before !! Welcome back !! :):)