Getting to France 2017

The two hour drive from Nac to the Houston airport was smooth.  I have never found a good alternative to leaving my car in airport parking, so that is where it will sit until early August.  I do have some parking credits, so that will ease the pain of the bill when I return.  Checking in went well and there  was no line at security, and it only cost me $100 for the bicycle.  So things are going pretty well, right?  My 3:45 PM flight is now leaving at 4:25 PM.

The first rule for dealing with the Charles de Gaulle Paris airport is to allow a minimum of at least 3 hours if you plan to make a connecting flight.  We did make up time and were only about 5 minutes late, but there was no jetway available.  They parked the plane a mile or two away from the airport, and we had to take a bus to the terminal.  This accounted for at least 30 minutes of the two hours that I had for making my connection.  Then I had to walk to the next terminal, go through security, and wait in passport control.  It took me three tries to get through the metal detector.  I was almost to the point where I thought they would start asking me to remove items of clothing.

It was at 30–40 minutes in passport control.  They only had two customs officers checking passports. Now, it is 9:40 and my flight is starting to board.  While I wasn't running through Terminal E, I was walking faster than usual.  When I finally got to the gate, I discovered that we had to take another bus to our plane, although this was a shorter ride.  Then we had to wait 30 minutes for missing passengers.

My luggage, including the bicycle, arrived safely in Lyon.  I am leasing a car for the summer, and I called Renault Eurodrive so that they could send a shuttle. After four phone calls and some help from tourist information, I finally found the correct parking lot and met the shuttle.  I wasn't at my most pleasant either since it was hot, I was lugging a suitcase and a bicycle, and I was operating on 2–3 hours of sleep.  However, picking up the car was easy.

The cars are brand new and only come with about 40 kilometers worth of fuel.  It took me three tries to find a gas station that would accept cash.  Most of the gas stations in France are self-serve and only accept a chip-and-pin credit card.  We have chip-and-signature cards in the U.S.  But I did get to explore much of Lyon.

On the way to La Chapelle-en-Vercors, I made a couple of other stops to pick up some bicycle stuff.  And I bought a cheap yoga mat.  I finally made the hotel in La Chapelle-en-Vercors around 6 PM, where I packed the car, had a wonderful meal, and slept for 10 hours.

This morning I will put the bicycle together and go for a ride.  Let the adventure begin.