Ubuntu Developer Summit Paris, Day 0
Charles-de-Gaulle
Originally uploaded by sfllaw.
18 June 2006
I was ever so excited to go on this trip. Yes, I know it was for business, but it was going to be my first trip to Europe! Having only ever gone to conferences in North America, I was finally going to see the Old Western World. I packed my luggage, thew in everything I thought I'd possibly need, and then some. Then I grabbed my passport and hailed a cab.
At the aeroport, we went through some preliminary security and then I was inside. I met bbollenbach ad we chatted about life for a brief while before we were called upon to board. I have to thank Brad, actually, for he was the one who told me that our flight was at 22:30, not 10:30 as I had believed. Curse people and their use of twelve-hour time! It was thanks to him that I actually got any sleep that night.
Well, I was still tired so I slept through most of the flight. I was awakened to have two meals, both of which were bad signs. Air France, I'm afraid, likes to serve stale baguette. I had not yet learnt to be assertive with the French service, but this is a lesson I would be taught during my trip.
I arrived at Charles-de-Gaulle where it was bright and sunny and hot. We crowded on to a bus and found ourselves deposited at the terminal. Brad and I picked up our luggage and found our way to the shuttle bus that got us to the hotel. We were trying to check in, with exceptional difficulty, when Claire Newman whisked in and convinced the hotel that we were actually staying there. I dropped off my luggage in the room, flopped on a bed, and sighed in relief. Paris, at last!