Let me first say that we had a lovely time in Paris. I was extremely glad that we had made it for my grandmother’s birthday dinner. I was going to spend some time with my family and I have to admit that at 35 I’m still a mommy’s-girl. Plus, I was ecstatic to spend some quality alone and uninterrupted time with Tyler. Our time in Paris was great. Now that I’ve said that the travel to and from France was a disaster. Out of 4 flights only 1 went well, sort of. Apparently, travel horror stories must be frequent with Delta because when I googled “Cancelled Flight” so that I could include a photo with this post, this is one of the first results I got:
I was looking for a picture of a departure board with a cancelled flight on it. A picture like what we saw in Salt Lake but I couldn’t take a picture of because my camera was in my suitcase and Delta wouldn’t get our luggage for us. But I’m getting ahead of myself here. Let’s start at the beginning.
Flight #1: Reno-SLC. We got there on time. We’d checked in online the day before and were under the impression that we would only have to drop off the suitcases at the counter, but no, we had to redo it all. Security wasn’t bad so we got to our gate and started to wait. When our flight time came and went, we were informed that our airplane was still in Salt Lake. Mechanical problems they said, we would have to wait. We were supposed to have a 5 ½ hours layover in Salt Lake so we didn’t stress out, but still, no one likes to wait for an airplane more than they thought they had too. We end up leaving Reno 3 hours late.
Flight #2: SLC-Paris. Yes, it does sound nice not to have to stop anywhere and go straight from Salt Lake to Paris but it is a long flight, 10 ½ hours. They let us on the plane after another 2 ½ hour mechanical delay. When the problems, whatever they were, are fixed, the plane has to be de-iced. It takes 2 more hours. I’m starting to think that we are stuck in an evil de-icing cycle; is it taking so long because by the time they finish de-icing the plane, the part they started with has iced over again? Plus, we’re still stuck on the plane and the 10 ½ hours haven’t even started yet! We finally leave and the plane is half empty. Tyler and I have a row of three for the two of us. Nice. After we take off, I go to the restroom and realize the two rows in front of the restrooms are empty. I ask if I can lay down on one of them. They say yes. Awesome. I’m exhausted. I sleep for the next 10 hours. I would have slept more but Tyler wakes me up to tell me we’re almost there. I have to admit that it was a nice flight, being able to lie down and sleep all the way, but this is a negative post and I will spare none of the negative. We were late leaving and we are late getting to Paris, which means that by the time we reach my parents’ house, everybody is waiting for us and it’s time to sit down for New Year’s dinner. There’s no time to shower or even change and I feel disgusting, but at least, we’re there.
Flight #3: Paris-SLC. This flight did leave on time. We were excited because the flight was supposed to be as full as the one going to Paris. Tyler and I were supposed to have an empty seat by us and we were very surprised to see not only the seat next to us but every single seat in the plane filled. We find out that there is a big storm in Atlanta and that Delta decided to put all the passengers on the flight to Atlanta whose final destination wasn’t Atlanta on our flight. Yep, our plane was bursting at the seams. The guy sitting next to Tyler was supposed to fly from Paris to Atlanta and then on to New Orleans but he landed in the seat next to us, aimed his cannon in our direction and proceeded to pass nasty gas the entire way. Luckily, we didn’t have any crying babies but we did have a guy trying to cough out his lungs. The guys coughed so loud and so often he would have made a TB patient proud. The flight was on time but the 13 hours on board were horrendous. I know I said it takes 10 ½ hours to go to Paris but it takes longer to go to the US. I was told it’s because of a combination of the routes that have to be taken and the air currents, I think it’s because people really want to go to France so they hurry as much as they can.
Flight #4: SLC-Reno. We go to Salt Lake on time and go sit by the gate to wait for the last leg of our trip. We sit there for a couple of hours. Tyler is watching some Football game on the TV in our area and I have a really bad migraine. When I’m so nauseous that I can’t take it anymore I go to the restrooms. On the way there, I glance at the departure board and see that our flight is cancelled. You read right. CANCELLED. I go see Tyler and we’re pretty sure we haven’t heard any announcement about our flight being cancelled. We go to the counter and the lady tells us the plane we were supposed to take has mechanical problems. WHAT? AGAIN?!!! She then tells us that all the other flights are booked, we’ll have to fly the next morning but they’ll gladly put us up in a hotel. At this point some lady trying to be positive is really annoying and my migraine is getting worse, I keep getting sick and I have vertigo. I’m starting to get mean. Poor Tyler tries to find a way to get me home. He’s the only one trying to be helpful. We figure out that ALL the other flights are booked or gone already. ALL, meaning every airline except Southwest. They were willing to put us on any other airline but Southwest. They tell us that we can go on the Southwest flight if we want but we’ll have to pay for it ourselves. We ask if they’ll refund our SLC-Reno tickets and they tell us that our refund would be prorated from the total miles of our trip. Our refund would be $36 each. Well, a SLC-Reno ticket bought at the airport minutes before the flight is $287 (each), and we would have ended up paying $500 out of our own pocket. No, thank you very much. Even though we were willing to do anything (alright, except paying $500 more) to go home that night, even fly to Sacramento, rent a car and drive the 3 hours to our house, we were forced to wait for the next morning flight. They’re willing to get us a hotel but they can’t get our luggage. They say it’s for our own good, because Monday mornings are the busiest at the airport and we would have to get there way early to recheck our bags, but the real reason is that they were to lazy to even think about where our suitcases were right then. They don’t really care that my head is about to explode and all my medicine is in my bag because here, have this little overnight kit. The tooth brush only has 10 bristles and good luck brushing your teeth, twice, with so little toothpaste but you should still be grateful so spare us the attitude. I’m thinking it can’t get any worse. You’re thinking I’m making it up. WRONG. On both cases. Armed with our little overnight kits and our carry-ons we go outside to wait for the hotel shuttle. After a few minutes, A Delta worker comes and tells us that she’s very sorry but our hotel doesn’t have a shuttle service on the weekend. At this point I don’t even care anymore so we head over to the shuttle we were told would take us to our hotel. But we get to the shuttle counter and they tell us they (Express Shuttle) never go to our hotel since it has its own shuttle service. We tell them they don’t on the weekend, they tell us too bad and we trek back over to the Delta counter. I should say that the shuttles are on one side of the terminal and the Delta counter is on the other side, we could have been to the hotel by now except you can’t leave the airport on foot. Delta tells us our only option is to take a taxi but we’ll have to pay for it ourselves. I lose it. I’ll spare you the disturbing scene that followed, it suffices to say that Delta paid for the taxi and that we finally get to the hotel. We get to the hotel only to find out that they do have a shuttle service on the weekend. AGHHH!!!
Lobster and pear salad. My favorite dish this trip.
Scallop souffle with a champagne sauce. Tyler's favorite dish this trip.
John Dory (a fish) filet with topinambur ravioli and sauce. Topinambur is the tuber of the sunflower used as a root vegetable.
Chicken breast with a turnip gratin and a truffle sauce.
Goat cheese salad. Simple. Beautiful. Delicious.
Duck confit.
Cheese platter. Now this I truly miss.
Coconut Bavarois with roasted pineapple and homemade Madagascar vanilla ice-cream.
After a meal, the french usually enjoy a cup of coffee or herbal tea which is often accompanied by some mignardises (tiny, bite-sized desserts).
I couldn't explain it better than these photos but as I said.... French food..... hmmmm.... heaven!
