You know they used to say Sacramento was such a great place to live cuz it was only 90 minutes to the Bay Area? I guess it comes down to the definition of "Bay Area". I used think they meant San Francisco. Maybe they now mean Hercules? Or maybe Pinole? San Francisco is 2 hours on a good day.
I got out plenty early--I was at Aunt Helen's by about 10:45, left there at 11. Nothing happened at the airport. I expected them to give me grief somewhere along the line about my bags being too heavy. I held my breath when they put the bike box on the scale. It was 50 lbs 7 oz--7 oz over. Didn't matter, she didn't give it a second look--or even a first look. She didn't look at the scale at all. All that hand wringing I did over the extra 10 lbs I had in there was for nought. She did give my suitcase a second look. It as a little heavier than I intended it to be because I had to move 10 lbs from my bike box to the suitcase (9 lbs 9 oz as it turns out). So I ended up checking the suitcase, too. Which was kind of a relief, actually. There was nothing but clothes in it, and some food I moved from the bike box). I thought they charged $80 for the 2nd bag, which is why I wanted to carry it on. Nope--just had to pay of the bike, and I knew that was coming.
It was relaxing at SFO--plenty of time. The only complaint about SFO is the lack of decent food--no good choices in the terminal.
Seat 22D. 22E was empty--that was where Linda was supposed to sit :-(
The seat in front of me was empty, too. And the aisle was to my left. It was still economy seating, but at least I could stretch my legs out full length under the seat in front of me without worrying about a person sitting in it and crushing my kneecaps when they reclined the seat.
I tried out one of those neck donuts--like those little butt donuts when you have hemorrhoids, but for your neck. I bought an inflatable version--saves space and all the cool travelers use them. I can't say that it helped all that much. I suppose it was better than the usual paper towel-filled sack they usually give you. Maybe I was wearing it upside down, or something.
British Airways has superior food to Air France. It seems the BA people were always bringing something out. Dinner was some chicken chunks in some kind of cream sauce, some rice. It was edible. This was breakfast:
It was about 3/8 of an inch thick. I think it had ham. And a little cheese.
The movie selections were not all that great. Watched Moonlight--edited to remove a certain epithet for a gay person, used twice--which needed to be left in because of the context in which it was being used--but left in 2 dozen "mother-f*%cker"s. Not sure what else it was edited for. I didn't realize Mahershala Ali's role was so small--he needed more screen time. No reviews here, you can find those anywhere. The there was a goofy Jack Reacher movie and The Big Lebowski. By the end of TBL, there were only 3 hours to Paris so I tried to sleep. I can never sleep on planes or trains.
Once at Charles de Gaulle, everything was fine. It seemed to take forever to the through the visa check. Turns out from the time I left the plane to the time I checked in at citizenM (the hotel) was only about 2 hours.
Once I had the bike and the bags on the cart and started to check out how far it was to citizenM I was getting worried. I thought I'd just be able to walk over to it with the cart. It turned out to be much further than I expected requiring a ride on a train/shuttle and, more importantly, I wouldn't be able to take the cart with me. At the point where I would have had to ditch the cart, I would have had to manhandle the bike box, the big bag and my backpack down two flights of stairs (not much better if I'd used an elevator), get on the shuttle, get off the shuttle and go up a flight of stairs and then about a half mile to the hotel. If I'd had the wheel kit from Crate Works to use with the bike box, it would have been manageable. Without the wheels, and without a cart, lugging the three pieces all that way would have been miserable.
Fortunately, there was a place to store baggage and, for 34 euros, I left the bike box. I knew that the airport had a service like this, but when I'd looked on-line, it was much more expensive than what this company charged. Worked like a charm. Baggages du Monde, right across from the Sheraton in terminal 2E. I'm going to use it again on 9/11 on my way back through CDG on the way home. The only possible superior alternative would be to stay at the Sheraton--literally in the middle of terminal 2--nothing's more convenient. It's over 200 euros/night, as compared to less than 100 at citizenM. Some trade-offs, all costs considered, maybe it's not such a bad deal for the convenience.
Charles de Gaulle suffers from a worse case of lousy food than SFO. Brioche Doree is a little fast-food style eatery all over the place--dry baguettes with minimal "stuff" on it, though they always seem to include some hard boiled egg.
I was exhausted and wanted to lie down and sleep so badly. I had to stay up til at least 9pm to get on a regular sleeping schedule. I couldn't stay in the room because I would have had to lie on the bed to watch TV--sleep. I could have gone to the lounge and played around on the computer--sleep. I had to get out and walk around. I wanted to go to Paris city center, which is only 20 euros round trip by train and less than an hour away. But I decided to wait because, again, I was exhausted. I wouldn't have been able to enjoy it much. Instead, I walked around near the hotel until the sidewalks ended (it wasn't that far). Then I took the shuttle back to the terminals to walk around. I covered every inch of the Terminal 2--from A to F. There is a whole lot of airport there.
citizenM Hotel was interesting, pretty cool. Totally function over form, but the form wasn't all that bad, either. The rooms are very small--a place to sleep and a place to shower--there is one chair. The TV is oriented over the foot of the bed on the wall and the only way to watch it is from the bed.
That's the entire room, right there. I don't know if they have larger rooms, like for families--this is perfectly fine for up to two people. The bed's huge.
I was on the 3rd floor (2nd cuz they call the ground floor 0), right about the right knee of the woman to the far left.
The toilet and shower were contained in this little glass enclosure. The sink was across from it to the left.
The room I had was exceptionally quiet. Maybe it was because of where it was situated, right in the corner at the end of a hallway, no room across from it. Even the doors close quietly--they don't slam, the latch is quiet. I didn't hear anyone above or next door. Being at an airport you'd think there'd be a bunch of aircraft noise. Nope. It was a great room. I wished they'd allowed for climate control--it was a little stuffy and needed some air. Beyond that, it was a great room. The staff was friendly and helpful--I wonder what they say to each other about us goof ball travelers amongst themselves. . . .
The rooms, or at least my room, while very small, was very comfortable for sleeping and cleaning up. The hotel gives plenty of room for stretching out and hanging around in their huge lobby. They have computers set up (about 8-10 iMacs) , electrical outlets (the three major types--the US, UK and European versions) and USB ports all over the place, a bar, some food, etc. You hang out in the lobby, sleep in the room. If you're traveling
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