The time has come for the Europe post. It has only been three months since we got back. I finally got the photos. A quarter of a year ago, this is what I was doing:
Since I know nobody wants to read the full 60 pages I could type up about this trip, I have condensed it into funny and important tidbits. Don't get too jealous of our adventures.
It all started one night while driving to my friend Tiffany Thomas Greene's wedding reception with my parents. My dad asked me if I thought Heather Beck would go with him to Romania in a few months to help translate the language (she served her mission there). He is going to film a demo for a movie he is making entitled Burnings of the Heart, about William Tyndale. For more information, click here. I told him she definitely would and called her to make sure. She asked if I wanted to come along and I said I couldn't afford it - to which my dad piped up this response: "Actually I'd like you to come too. I'll pay for both of you." UM.... YES! Europe with my best friend and my best papa? Sign. Me. Up.
I was in charge of travel arrangements and lessening the awkward.
Day 1 - Saturday, November 28
- Met up in SLC for our non-stop flight to Paris. Giddy.
- Lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng flight.
- Continuation of long flight.
- While attempting to watch the Sound of Music on my macbook, I "pulled a Lindsey" and knocked over my cup full of water. Allllllllll over/inside the laptop and tray table. No napkins. Stewardesses were unresponsive. I finally had to put up the tray table, spilling the puddles all down my legs, and run to the back for napkins. Laptop shut off. Would not turn back on.
- Get to Paris. Four hour layover. Unresponsive macbook. Took out battery to help dry. Very very wet.
- Caught Air France plane to Bucharest. Seated next to me was the cutest Romanian boy ever - just returning from a military stint in France. We talked the whole flight and laughed at how terrible the food was. Heather was jealous. Seated next to her was an old man who hated talking.
- Poked the tomato slush on my food plate. Bogdan, the boy, said, "I think it's some sort of vegetable" when referring to the other French menu item on my plate.
- Got to the airport. No shuttle to our hotel like promised. Scrambled for over an hour. Taxi drivers tried to con us into letting them take us and paying them a fortune. Heather knows better and tells them to leave us alone.
- Finally, after Heather spoke in Romanian to an employee, she let us use her phone to call the hotel. They told us there was no shuttle and we would need to take a taxi. "Only use Fly Taxi." There is a popular Romanian scam where locals pose as taxi drivers and take all your money.
- Some annoying driver flashed us a card that said "Fly Taxi" so we trusted him. It took two cars to get us to the hotel. Once there, he tried to take money for both cabs, then the other driver told us he didn't even know the other guy. Neither were Fly Taxi for real, we don't think.
- Arrived at heaven. Starlight Suites. Stay there if you go to Buch. I want to return asap. Best thing I did as the travel agent for the trip. Killer deal, free WiFi, free breakfast, large rooms, helpful staff, and a pleasant atmosphere. The entire building is non-smoking.
- Got in the elevator and dad and TC joked around about how they have slept in the same bed on trips before. Heather said, trying to be funny, "I just have one request. No kissing." I looked at her like, "All three of these men crammed in the tiny elevator with us are married. Why would you say that?" She continued once she caught the awkwardness, "between the men." Nope. More awkward. Still laughing about this one. The men didn't laugh.
- Had the best breakfast ever... filled with croissants, chocolate pastries, chocolate muesli, fruit, cheese, eggs, and hot cocoa
- Walked around Bucharest to see the sites. Went to the People's Palace but did not have time to go inside.
- Went back to our hotel where Castel Studios had a van waiting for us.
- Were introduced to Elena, our production assistant, Dan the driver, and the VW van we would call home for the next few days. Heather and I learned to fall asleep on command once in the vehicle as a survival mechanism. Let's just say Dan is a chain smoker, the shocks were sub-par, the roads were bumpy, Romanian drivers are more like Kamikaze pilots, and we were so grateful that we were not driving and it was all free.
- Checked out the studio a bit and talked with the managers in the conference room to set up our week.
- Went back to the hotel and had dinner at an authentic Romanian restaurant across the street. They serve so much bread with the meals. It is fantastic. TC got sick and we had to eat American the rest of the trip. HA....
- Back to the hotel. Put the battery back in my laptop. It turned on!!! GLORY!
- Heather started screaming uncontrollably, tossed the TV remote across the room, and covered her eyes and ears. We had been flipping through the channels and all that seemed to be on was soccer. We were wrong.
- As a reflex, I looked to see what was causing the commotion - the TV. Saw things I did not want to see until my wedding night. Screaming ensued from both of us at this point. I ran to get the remote, trying to not listen to what's happening.
- Changed the channel!!!!! Huzzah! OH! Same sort of thing on this channel.
- Turned the TV off.
- Had a talk.
- Watched pure and wholesome Sound of Music until like 3am to try to turn our thoughts to the Von Trapp family and Edelweiss.
- Fell asleep.
- Lots of yummy breakfast. I heart Starlight Suites.
- Tried to block Monday night from our minds.
- Hopped in the DanVan for a road trip to Transylvania!
- Slept.
- Made it safely to Dracula's Castle!
- We toured the castle and local street market. Super cool and fun.
- A woman was selling these masks in the market. I made my dad put one on for a picture. He is such a good sport - especially since he took ME on the trip. Love you, dad. You could have asked me to shoplift one of these and I would have done it because I couldn't afford to pay you back. sigh. Also, I would steal a loaf of bread to feed us, Jean Valjean style! That comes into play later in the post. In the Queen's Theater. In London.
- We then drove to lunch at a nice place in the country where Dan and Elena treated us. This is where HBeck and Eric got in a fight about her fiance, and we joked around about guys being gay (Eric was in theater in high school). I then talked about how I needed a manly man and joked, "That's why I'm going to marry Dan." TC piped up, "Our driver?" We all turned to the 60-yr-old chain smoker who then averted his eyes and acted like he didn't hear it. HBeck and I lost it. I think we are still laughing right now about the awkwardness of that moment. Dan didn't laugh.
- After lunch, we slept in the van for a while until we hit Brasov, the Park City of Eastern Europe, as I like to call it. Set in the mountains, it is a quaint shopping village for the wealthy. I heart Brasov.
- There was a parade to celebrate Romania's Independence Day, so we left pretty quickly. There was a Christmas tree in the town square that rivals Rockefeller and towered above the buildings. It was gorgeous. We are gorgeous. Actually this is the only picture where I don't have 4 million chins and look like one of those people that has to be lifted out of their room by crane... so... it made it on the post.
- On the way back to Buch, I was awakened by a severe bump on the freeway. I jolted awake and heard, "Was that a dog?" "It was a head." There are stray dogs and cats EVERYWHERE in Buch. Ok, Romania. Goodnight.
- I couldn't fall back asleep - most likely due to my gag reflex. Heather woke up and then TC asked us to harmonize some hymns. It was pretty entertaining since Elena and Dan had no idea what we were singing. We actually sounded pretty good. Von Trapps!
- When we got back to town, we decided to hit up the American Hard Rock Cafe. We asked 48958398 people for directions and those who had even heard of it told us it was a five-minute walk from where we were when we asked. The hotel clerk told us it was 20 minutes. She was closer. It took us over an hour to get there. We did get to pass by the Triumphal Arch of Bucharest and took some pictures.
- After the Hard Rock, we walked back to the hotel (45-minute walk as it turns out) and went to bed.
- Went back to the studio and checked out their lots where they shot some scary films. Heather's face accurately portrays the feeling there.
- It is a really pretty lot. We walked around all day and ate lunch in their on-site cafeteria. They treated us to some awesome stuffed peppers and peasant soup. Yum!
- Heather and I entertained each other by quoting our favorite lines from The 'burbs with Tom Hanks. "Little somethin' for the sweet tooth..." "A fine Christian name!"
- There was a horse on the property and since everything there is rabid and disgusting, I didn't touch it. The horse snuck up behind my dad and nudged him with his nose. Then my dad pet the horse... after which he tried to pet my face. I freaked. The following picture resulted.
- For dinner, we walked to McDonalds (most crowded McDonalds I have ever been in) so TC could have ketchup and fries. Poor guy.
- When we got back to the hotel, Heather and I watched About a Boy on my laptop. We had my power cord plugged into the converter in the wall. I did not know you did not need a converter if your cord was universal. Ha.
- Suddenly, POP!!!! from the outlet and smoke started coming out of the converter box. We screamed and jumped up to our feet on the beds, not knowing what to do, like little girls in pigtails. I ran to the outlet, unplugged the converter, and put it out the window to cool off. Then I screamed, "The sprinklers will go off and get everything WET!!!" We started running around crazy, at which point I stubbed my toe on my suitcase and tripped onto the floor. I was just in my normal... night... wear... which did not include pants. I yelled, "They'll hear an alarm and come up here!" Heather yelled, "PUT some PANTS ON!" Amidst all this, our laughter made it impossible to get anything done.
- By the time I turned on the lights, we realized there was no smoke, no sprinklers, and not even an alarm. Safe? No. Relieving? Heck yes. Laptop ok? Yes, yet again. It's magic.
- My dad, TC, and Eric flew out to England in the morning. HBeck and I would catch a flight that night so we could have the day to see sights and people from her mission.
- Heather told me to prepare for a day of EATING, since all the members want to feed you, no matter how poor they are, or if you just ate. She was right. Dang right.
- We got directions from the missionaries over the phone and they were supposed to meet us but bailed at the last second. We got lost for about an hour. Thanks elders!
- First, we visited Sora (Sister) Gorzo, the grandmother of the mission. Keep in mind that everyone my age in Romania speaks English. It was mandated in public schools in the 80s. Everyone older than I am speaks little or no English. This day was filled with those older than I am. I have never visited so many people and said so little. I just listened and ate and enjoyed. I said, "Merci Fromage", which translates in French to "Thank you cheese". The correct usage in Romanian is "Mersi frumos" (thank you kindly) and I just couldn't get it. It was sure fun! At Sora Gorzo's, we sang hymns in Romanian -- sight-reading for real. I loved it.
- Next was Vicki, the gypsy. She is a newly baptized member of the church but is still not welcome by many members because of her heritage. She is pretty poor but has two handsome boys who go to a music school and are very gifted and hilarious. They spoke English pretty well, but again, Vicki did not. Ate more. Loved it. Their food is just so good. Gypsy food is the best.
- Next was Maria, the regional Relief Society President. We had to travel quite far to get to Maria's. She lives by the LDS church building in Buch. We stopped by the church to see if anything was going on. They were having a baptism and we met several missionaries. It was super cool. Maria fed us even more yummy food and tons of bread. She was super nice and we had a great time. No English.
- We had to get back to the hotel so we could catch a ride with Dan to the airport. Our 8:30pm flight would get us to London Gatwick at 9:30pm local time and then we would hop on a bus to get to our hotel an hour away at Heathrow. We saved like 100 bucks a piece doing it this way.
- There was a long line in front of our check-in gate. Turns out the plane had not yet left London for Bucharest, where it would turn around and go back. It's a three hour flight. We had a two hour delay. Just know that the buses leave Gatwick every 15 minutes until 11:45pm. We sat at the gate and watched my edited version of Love Actually on my laptop.
- Aer Lingus - Boo on you. I hope a leprechaun takes all your money and forces you to shut down the company.
- There was not one (1) (uno) (eins) apology for the delay.
- Then, on the plane, a male flight attendant leaned over me to take a drink order for the row behind me, putting his pelvis literally an inch from my face for about 10 uncomfortable seconds.
- They charged for any drink, including water. WATER. on a two-hour-delayed flight!
- When Heather offered her debit card, they said they don't take debit. She said it's a Visa card and is accepted wherever Visa credit is accepted. The stewardess said in a snotty tone, "I know what a debit card is. We don't take them."
- I had to pay with my credit card, then the stewardess said to me, "Would you like this in sterling?" "What?" "Would you like this in sterling?" "What's sterling?" "You don't know what sterling is?" (picture that in a snobby Irish accent and feel "me" anger creeping up) "Um no." "The British pound." "Oh, pounds." "Ugh." Thank you, Aer Lingus. May you rot in some place that is not green and beautiful like your home country of Ireland.
- We got into Gatwick at 11:30pm, raced through customs, and got to the bus at 11:46pm. The next bus was scheduled at 2am. Cool.
- I had to keep myself awake so we wouldn't miss the bus. That's really difficult in a metal chair and 35 degree weather. No, no it wasn't. Heather slept like a baby. Curse. I bought some digestives and shortbread - the only two foods I can stand in England.
- We caught the bus at 2am and got to Heathrow at 3am. Our bus driver asked us which hotel we were going to and we told him we were taking a taxi to the Holiday Inn. He offered to drive us in his little van since his shift was over. Scared of being mugged and whatever else happens to nice young foreign girls, and running on 24 hours of no sleep, we gratefully accepted. Of course. (We both were too tired to think and felt okay about it since the van had the bus line brand on it and he was 70 years old)
- He took us straight to the hotel. What a saint!!! I am so grateful for him. We saved some money and hassle.
- We went to the front desk, and the clerk was from Romania. That was pretty weird. We had to check in for my dad since he had to stay in Northern England that night and the rooms were non-refundable. The clerks exact words to me were: "You want chicken in your other room?" I was all impressed, thinking this was some British hotel service. I replied, "Chicken?" He looked at me weird. We realized he said, "check-in" but with a heavy accent. Oops.
- Went to bed after putting some of my stuff in my dad's room so the cleaning lady wouldn't think nobody was in there and to give away the room.
- The curtains drawn, a long night before, and no alarm set - we are lucky my dad called us at....
- 1:30pm and woke us up for our only full day alone in London.
- We scarfed down a few digestives and shortbread to hold us over and hopped on the Tube for downtown - about a 40-minute ride.
- Some children were already getting off school by the time we were on the train. These uniformed boys sat next to us and Heather looked over at a report card one was reading over. "Are threes good?" she asked. He looked at her and did not respond. We giggled the rest of the train ride.
- We got to Piccadilly Circus, which I remembered from my 2003 trip as having a ferris wheel and carousel in the middle, with a Häagen-Dazs across the street. Not one of those was to be found but it was a cool place nonetheless.
- Across the street was a ticket booth for musicals. We wanted to see Les Misérables in a London theater to get the full effect. They were selling tickets for the next day for about 60 pounds. This is what we expected to pay for normal seats and we gladly purchased the tickets. They get the tix the day of, so we just got vouchers and would have to pick up the real tix the next day when we saw the show.
- We then decided to walk around and see the sights - maybe hit up the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner. We started up Regent St. and it was totally decked out for Christmas - SO CUTE! For some cute pics of what it looks like, click on these - Pic 1, pic 2, pic 3
- We turned on Oxford St. and looked in shops and windows. I did not bring a coat because when we left, it was sunny. Well, it gets cold when it's dark. In December, it gets dark pretty early. It also started raining. Smart one I am. For pics of what Oxford St. looked like, click on these - pic 1, pic 2, pic 3
- I was really confused that the ferris wheel wasn't where I thought it was - so I set out looking for that next. I wasn't looking for the London Eye - I knew exactly what that was. Suddenly, I saw lights ahead! In a circular shape! The FERRIS WHEEL!!! Let us chase it!
- Wrong again. This ferris wheel was only there for Christmas, in a party in Hyde Park called "Winter Wonderland". Super, super cute carnival. We walked through for a while and got hot chocolate to help warm ourselves up a bit. We talked to some "blokes" who called us "love" and helped us with directions to the Hard Rock. They were the 23098th of 230948098 people who gave us directions.
- We saw another ferris wheel - which turned out to be a monument that didn't move at all. That one was wrong too! We entertained ourselves with Ever After quotes like, "Why did you have to be so wonderful?" and "Wooaaaaaahhhhhhh" (when he kisses her and she attractively moans and pushes him away)
- THREE HOURS later, on no food, no water, and being up all night beforehand, we were about ready to take the tube home.
- We finally walked into a hotel to warm up, use the facilities and drinking fountain, and ask the concierge where the hhheeeecccckkkkk the Hard Rock was. We had taken the tube back to piccadilly once, walked past Trafalgar Square, through the expensive parts of town, down regent again, and ended up here. We acted like we were staying there and asked the concierge directions to the Hard Rock. "Oh it's just around the corna." Oh really.... Yep.
- We walked up to the door and pushed our way past drunk ladies with 10-foot long legs and skirts that were 10 feet too short, smokers, etc, and then a large man stopped us. "Excuse me? What ah you trying to do?" "Um we just want to eat, excuse me." "This is a private pahty. The real entrance is around that corna." "oh... " and we got bounced.
- We made it to the REAHL entrance, gov'na, and asked what the wait was for a table for two. "Two owahs." Ohhh what? Nope. Glad we just walked the dark streets of London and Hyde Park, were mugged and murdered by Jack the Ripper, came back to life, and found your stupid restaurant with the "private pahty"
- We hopped the tube back to Piccadilly Circus and ate at Pizza Hut. I tell you what. Best dinner ever. The dessert pizza was pure cookie dough - not allowed here in the states. Eat that, Hard Rock.
- We then went back to the hotel since it was 10pm. Oops.
- We woke up at a decent hour and had our usual breakfast of digestives and shortbread. Caught the tube into town.
- Picked up our Les Mis tix from the booth.
- Decided to do the double-decker bus tour for the day since my dad, Eric, and TC were caught in Northern England still and we had the day to ourselves. It took us about 20 minutes to cross the street to that ticket booth because of the Pro-environment demonstration going on in the streets. Seas of blue-painted people waving signs swarmed by us. In the states, they would be green - just to give you a point of reference.
- Once we got to the tour bus ticket booth, a creeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepy man older than my father helped us out. He asked my name and repeatedly told me how beautiful I am. He grabbed my hand and stroked it a few times, saying, "Lovely Lindsey" with his 74% black teeth. Here's the real jolt of interest in this big-city-guy-hitting-on-me story. He was white.
- Yep. Read it again. White. too bad he was gross and old and gross. and old.
- He then leaned over and planted a big fat wet kiss on my cheek, as the Brits do. Lindsey don't.
- He then looked over at Heather, kissed her cheek, and said, "You're pretty too."
- I guess I won that one, eh Heather? You got married last weekend, so you win in life. I won this one. I love you. Lucky.
- We bought our tour bus tickets and he told us where to go to catch the bus. We got lost for the gazillionth time and then finally found it. We walked up to it and it wasn't a tour bus at all, but a restaurant. A tour-bus-turned-Vegan-restaurant. Oops.
- Across the street and down a block or two was the real post. No buses were running that day because of the demonstration. SCAMMED!
- I was soooooooooooooooo fuming angry that A. Creepy MacCreeperson didn't tell us there were no buses that day and let us buy the ticket and B. that I had to talk to him again.
- We walked back to him and I said, "HEY! YOU! There are no buses today. Give us our money back!!!" He said, "Oh, alrighty then" and gave us our money back
- I said, "Is this real money?"
- he was offended.
- We hit up Regent St yet again and then went to Marks & Spencer for some xmas gifts and lunch. British food is gross, in my opinion. I am always right, so if you beg to differ, you are gross. We bought some delicious shortbread for our friends and bosses and some gifts. They were sampling Christmas Pudding, which Heather has an interesting definition for (not appropriate for the blog) and I tried some just to gross her out. Yuck.
- We had so much in our bags that we were cursing ourselves for not having backpacks or something to carry them in easier. Just then, an attractive Brit walked up to us carrying an American Express tote bag and offered it to me. Hello. Yes. Thank you. He was advertising and I asked if he had more for Heather. He ran away and came back with more. He then asked us all about our holiday and darn. Cute guy.
- The Pringles mascot was wandering the streets so we got our pictures with him. Heather has yet to develop that disposable camera. (Hint, hint)
- We decided to hop on the tube and head to Harrod's for some Christmas fun. Apparently every other person living in or visiting London decided to go there at the same time. We had to wait outside in line for the subway, which goes down several stories underground. We moved about ten feet in half an hour. Finally, Heather found a spot in Harrod's where they were playing The Wizard of Oz singalong and we sat there for 45 minutes, like 5-yr-olds, watching and humming along. We were too tired to move. It was SO crazy packed in there. The restaurant section of Harrod's was so crowded but it was our exit. We were entertained by the opera-singing-pizza-pie-baker-guy on our way out.
- Back on the Tube, a couple stood about three inches from my face (yep, crowded again) and french kissed as much as they could. Even his approach was tongue-out.
- We walked to Leicester Square - where guess what!!!!!!!!!!! The ferris wheel, carousel, and Häagen-Dazs all were!!! That was the place from my memory! We found an Italian restaurant and even that was gross.
- Afterward, we grabbed some gelato for our dessert before Les Mis. Best. Ever. I got Baci flavored, which happens to be my favorite chocolate in the world. If you are a boy who is in love with me, and you are reading this, A. I apologize for being soooo weird, B. how did you find my blog, and C. if you get me a box of Baci, I am yours forever.
- We then walked to the Queen's Theater to catch our play. We were directed to the lower floor for our seats. Woot!!! Great seats!! We then kept checking our tickets and the rows to figure out just where we were to be seated. Our tickets said, "BB" - but all the rows were single letters like A, F, I, etc. I said, "Heather, I don't see double B anywhere." She replied in an almost frightened little girl voice, "Lindsey?" and pointed to the three seats on the side of the orchestra pit, up against the stage, marked "BB".... Obstructed view and everything. Here is a picture I took from my seat. Those boxes are speakers on the stage.
- The girl who sat next to us was very friendly and we asked her how much she paid for her tickets. "Um like 20 pounds." "Ohh... well we paid 60." "SIXTY POUNDS?! For THESE SEATS?!" "yes..." she laughed.
- We were pretty mad that we had been scammed yet again. Then the play started and I would not have been happier in any other seat. It was fantastic! We could see every bit of emotion! We could also see up the petticoats... which was a bit awkward....but not as awkward as...
- ... when we saw Thénardier's little gross dance right in our corner, and we both freaked out and turned away and squealed - and the lights were on us since we were basically on stage. Pretty sure everyone laughed at us.
- We cried a lot and sang along and were really just in the action. It was superb.
- Caught the tube back to the hotel to meet up with dad, TC, and Eric and then went to bed. They had a funny story for us about how they found a really cheap hotel - but when they got to their rooms, there were bunkbeds, the sheets were not clean, the beds were not made, and there were wet towels laying around. They found out it was a hostel, got their money back, and went to a real hotel. Yuck.
- Woke up and got ready for church in Slough (apparently pronounced like cow with an "sl" and not like "sloff" as I pronounced it)
- What do you do on a Fast Sunday in England after going to Sacrament Meeting? Why hit up the local pub, of course!
- I got real fish n chips and mushy peas - it was okay. For dinner, we went to a carvery and I got roast beef with horseradish and Yorkshire Pudding (my favorite dinner roll) - so that was actually awesome. Yay Britain!
- We drove to Castle Combe, the loveliest place ever, to tour around and scout filming locations. It was windy and extremely cold, but soooo adorable. The rich go there to stay for the weekend - even the hotel looked like a palace. We walked around and laughed a heck of a lot at everything and nothing. I think it was to keep us warm. Eric snapped a photo of Heather making a face, which turned out looking like Yenta from Fiddler on the Roof.
- After Castle Combe, we drove to William Tyndale's house and church. It was really beautiful and neat to see such old architecture and know of what happened there. It was even more neat to be there with my father, who has put so much effort and time into this project. Here is my adorable father in front of the church where Tyndale preached.
- After the long drive back to the hotel, we went to sleep.
- We woke up and got ready quickly to catch our flight home. We had to drop off the rental car and then catch their shuttle to the Heathrow airport. Egads... that airport is huuuge. You have to take the Tube to two of the five terminals. Our flight, Delta, flew out of terminal 4, a Tube-connected terminal.
- We dropped off the rental car and waited for the shuttle. They had some going to terminals 1,2, and 3, but we had to wait. We waited and waited and waited - well past when they said it would get there. A shuttle finally arrived, but the door was broken and we had to wait for the next one.
- Finally, we got on a shuttle to terminal 4. We got inside, made it upstairs, and looked around for our flight. There were no Delta flights anywhere. We were really confused. We asked a few people and they said Delta was terminal 5. Okay. Great.... We hopped on the Tube and had about an hour before our flight was to leave. In SLC, for international flights, that's the cutoff. We were pretty worried.
- The train just sat there. A voice came over and said, "This train will depaht in eight minutes."
- We sat and freaked out a little. My dad went over and over in his mind how he thought we were terminal 4 but Delta is terminal 5. He had me check my itinerary after we had sat there for seven minutes. I looked. Air France. Terminal 4.
- The doors shut and the train took off before we could get off. FREAK OUT.
- Once at terminal 5, we looked for the train back to terminal 4... it was the same one. We got back on. "This train will depaht in eight minutes." ASLDKFWJOEIFUWJ
- We finally got back to terminal 4 and literally ran... RAN with all our luggage up to the check-in desk. 35 minutes left until our flight to Paris is to leave. The kiosks do not accept our passports.
- We ask the clerks to help us but they say we MUST use the kiosks
- the kiosks don't work you bumbling morons!
- Finally someone helped check us in. 30 minutes left.
- We raced through to security - and right up to our gate - and literally walked onto the plane. Whew.
- The Air France food was again questionable and Heather spread plain unsweetened yogurt on her bagel, thinking it was cream cheese.
- The milk I drank was thick and tasted like death. Andrea's hubby Derek later told me that a lot of European countries use that milk and that you can keep it at room temperature because of how they process it. Yum...
- We made it to Paris and they made us go through security again. We literally walked onto our plane to SLC again.
- The flight was so dang long. We thought our luggage wouldn't make it because of our delays.
- We were almost right. We had to wait longer than anyone else but it finally came!
I am sure I missed some very choice moments so Heather, dad, etc - if you can fill me in, that would be great. It was, after all, a long time ago.
I can't wait to go back and do it all again.
Yours in blogging,
Lovely Lindsey
