Misadventures with Kelley in France and Spain (Part I)

Well, I'm back from a two week hiatus, and boy has a lot happened in that time period. Since I strongly do not believe in announcing vacations on the Internet, I could not write about the other major event that I have been planning along with graduation and the party. Every year we take a trip to Europe, and this year was no exception. We left the Thursday after graduation, so needless to say, it was a very busy week. I plan on uploading pictures soon, but I will give a brief run down in this post.

Our destination this year was France and Spain. Unfortunately, an uninvited guest decided to tag along this year. "Who?" you ask...well, it was someone we all know, yet NEVER want to get too close to. It was our good friend Murphy (as in Murphy's Law)...


Sigh...it was a great trip, and I loved being with my family, but there were several instances of Murphy's Law getting in the way. Let me explain:

1. Our plane was supposed to leave from RDU at 6:50 pm on July 16th. We were supposed to fly to Washington/Dulles and then fly to Paris at 9:50 pm. In my heart I knew that this was not enough time, but I figured that all would go well. Well, that was my FIRST mistake...our flight was cancelled due to bad weather and we missed our connector...ugghh...as a result, we had to get a hotel, fly to Dulles the next morning, and sit at the airport all day waiting for a flight to France....

2. I was excited to find out that our flight to France would be on an Air France Airbus 380..one of the largest planes in the world! It's a double decker plane that holds over 540 people. All afternoon I watched as they loaded and unloaded this monster aircraft. I though for sure that it would be an amazing experience....Unfortunately, I was wrong. Yes, the plane was huge, but the seats were crammed tight and it was one of the most uncomfortable flights I have ever taken.



This is how I felt on the flight...cramped and miserable...




3. Our flight to France was set to leave at 5:00 pm on Saturday afternoon. Anyone who flies internationally to Europe knows that this is too early in the evening. The reason most flights are late at night is so that people can sleep (if you want to call what you do on a plane sleep!) and wake up in a zombie state refreshed at your destination. By flying earlier, it is harder to fall asleep because most people are nit in bed at that time, and that is exactly what happened to me. I was wide awake and spent the entire time watching in-flight movies (which, by the way, weren't half bad!). When we arrived in France, it was 12:30 am US time (just the time I would be hitting the sack at home), but 6:30 am French time (just in time to start the day..sigh). Needless to say, we were exhausted by the end of the day.

4. Thankfully we arrived to Paris safe and sound...When we left North Carolina it was 95 degrees...when we landed in Paris, it was 55 degrees and raining...somehow I missed this on the Weather Channel (who would imagine anywhere to be this cold at the end of June!) and had only packed summer clothes....brrrr.....

More to follow tomorrow....and yes, all did turn out well despite our unwelcome guest!