.travels.
I left Ft.Lauderdale Friday at noon for Newark, NJ. We were late leaving, had to circle four or so times before we were cleared for landing, had to wait in line for a gate to open, and when we finally got to the gate we had to wait for a gate operator to arrive before we could get off the plane. It was like one long, ridiculous, never ending joke. It was snowing in Newark and ten minutes before my flight to Paris was scheduled to depart, it was announced that all departures were canceled. All chaos broke loose. Continental kept announcing a phone number to call to reschedule the flights, but 4 times out of 5, the line would say "your call cannot be accepted at this time" and hang up. I finally got through to an agent and she scheduled me on a flight at 10pm the next day to Manchester, from where I'd connect to a flight to Paris. It was about 27 or so hours from my initial flight time and I'd have to sleep in the airport.
I got on my computer and learned that a relatively short train ride would bring me to New York, so I got in touch with a friend and headed into the city. Unfortunately, it was snowing and I only had what I was wearing and an extra jacket in my carry-on. To retrieve your luggage from the airport would take at least an estimated six hours.
I met up with Damian and hung out for a while. Thankfully I got a nice warm place to sleep that night. I had the entire next day to spend in the city so we walked around and found Marc by Marc Jacobs and some record stores and had lunch at Red Bamboo. :)
After a nap I headed back to the airport. I tried to check in and was told that I was not booked for that flight to Manchester. Luckily, however, there was a flight departing directly to Paris at 10:30PM and I had a good chance to get on with a standby ticket. So I ran to the gate on my ticket only to find the gate had been moved... ran back to the other gate and it was a gate for a flight to Frankfurt. The gate had been double-booked and the Frankfurt flight was delayed to wait for us to get out of their way. Continental was seriously so next-level fucked up and disorganized. To top it all off I couldn't get my vegetarian meal on the flight. Sadness. The lady next to me wasn't eating so I had her salad in addition to mine. They had video games on the plane and I played hangman for a while.
So I made it to Paris this morning around 11AM. I had to find my way to the train with my luggage (luckily my luggage found its way to Paris somehow, but it got here long before me) and then walk to Aisha's apartment. There's a lot of good graffiti on the trains and roadways in the suburban areas.
At Aisha's I was finally able to shower for the first time since Thursday. Friday was the last time I'd brushed my teeth. A couple of other friends who were supposed to leave today ended up missing their flight so they're stuck here until Tuesday. Now it's a fucking spring break party here.
Since it's Sunday, many things are closed, but we went to the church on the hill... the base of which is from that scene in Amelie with the merry-go-round and the bird-seed arrows. There are these crazy tourist trap dudes who grab you and tie colorful string on you like a bracelet, but they make it so tight that you're practically obligated to buy it. They are really ruthless. One guy grabbed my wrist as I was taking a photograph and wouldn't let go. I kept telling him no and he just squeezed tighter as I was trying to pull away. He was seriously hurting me and my friend had to come in between us to get the guy off of me. It was pretty fucked up that these dudes are allowed to make their living literally harassing tourists like that. For all I know he could have been trying to kidnap me or something. I wish I would have kicked the shit out of him with my boots, but he would have probably strangled me with that stupid string.
We walked through that über-sexed up area where Moulin Rouge is and then went back to the apartment, but not before picking up some food. Been hanging out since. It's about midnight here now.
Aisha's apartment is near the golden dome on the right side of this picture.
I got on my computer and learned that a relatively short train ride would bring me to New York, so I got in touch with a friend and headed into the city. Unfortunately, it was snowing and I only had what I was wearing and an extra jacket in my carry-on. To retrieve your luggage from the airport would take at least an estimated six hours.
I met up with Damian and hung out for a while. Thankfully I got a nice warm place to sleep that night. I had the entire next day to spend in the city so we walked around and found Marc by Marc Jacobs and some record stores and had lunch at Red Bamboo. :)
After a nap I headed back to the airport. I tried to check in and was told that I was not booked for that flight to Manchester. Luckily, however, there was a flight departing directly to Paris at 10:30PM and I had a good chance to get on with a standby ticket. So I ran to the gate on my ticket only to find the gate had been moved... ran back to the other gate and it was a gate for a flight to Frankfurt. The gate had been double-booked and the Frankfurt flight was delayed to wait for us to get out of their way. Continental was seriously so next-level fucked up and disorganized. To top it all off I couldn't get my vegetarian meal on the flight. Sadness. The lady next to me wasn't eating so I had her salad in addition to mine. They had video games on the plane and I played hangman for a while.
So I made it to Paris this morning around 11AM. I had to find my way to the train with my luggage (luckily my luggage found its way to Paris somehow, but it got here long before me) and then walk to Aisha's apartment. There's a lot of good graffiti on the trains and roadways in the suburban areas.
At Aisha's I was finally able to shower for the first time since Thursday. Friday was the last time I'd brushed my teeth. A couple of other friends who were supposed to leave today ended up missing their flight so they're stuck here until Tuesday. Now it's a fucking spring break party here.
Since it's Sunday, many things are closed, but we went to the church on the hill... the base of which is from that scene in Amelie with the merry-go-round and the bird-seed arrows. There are these crazy tourist trap dudes who grab you and tie colorful string on you like a bracelet, but they make it so tight that you're practically obligated to buy it. They are really ruthless. One guy grabbed my wrist as I was taking a photograph and wouldn't let go. I kept telling him no and he just squeezed tighter as I was trying to pull away. He was seriously hurting me and my friend had to come in between us to get the guy off of me. It was pretty fucked up that these dudes are allowed to make their living literally harassing tourists like that. For all I know he could have been trying to kidnap me or something. I wish I would have kicked the shit out of him with my boots, but he would have probably strangled me with that stupid string.
We walked through that über-sexed up area where Moulin Rouge is and then went back to the apartment, but not before picking up some food. Been hanging out since. It's about midnight here now.
Aisha's apartment is near the golden dome on the right side of this picture.