A long travel day and observations

Monday, May 08, 2017
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Got our taxi to the airport about 6:50 AM. Since it is a bank holiday the traffic was
light. The old and new president of France are laying a wreath at the Arc de Triumph this morning to commemorate Germany’s defeat in World War II.   There was a huge French flag hanging down the entire length of the opening of the monument.  There were a lot of TV trucks waiting for the event. We got to the airport about 7:30, spent about 15 minutes getting our seats changed (the customer service rep had to get the supervisor to honor our request). 
It took some time but it was worth it. Started to board at 10 AM but they discovered a water leak in the two mid-cabin sinks, so we had to wait about 20 minutes to board. The fix was tape across the sinks and piles of hand wipes in the bowls. The service was excellent on the 10+ hour flight with 3 different meal services of reasonably good food and snacks including ice cream. Kudos to Delta. Customs at Salt Lake City Airport was a breeze and we had no problem making our 1.5 hour connection even changing terminals. Got home about 5 PM after a very long day (thanks Michael and Susan). It was nice waking up to sunshine after 12 hours of needed sleep.
 
A few observations that I have forgotten to previously include.

1.      Some of our walks would have been shorter if we didn’t always have to walk around
traffic circles.

2.      The Louvre charges 1.50 euros to go to the bathroom and the toilet paper isn’t even gold embossed (rip off city – pun intended).

3.      In spite of people trying to stay away from politics, it would come up periodically. Some of it had to do with the French election held on Sunday, May 7.   There
were a few heated discussions. The DT side was definitely in the minority.

4.      The French people we came in contact with on this trip seemed to be friendlier than our trip to Paris in the 90’s. I think we came in contact with a younger group of people who seem to have fewer prejudices.

5.      Although we had problems with our seats on some of our Delta flights which did get fixed, I must say Delta service and food have been excellent compared to some other airlines we have flown the last few years.

6.    The older we get the longer the flights seem, but that isn’t stopping us from thinking about our next adventure.

7.      The food on this trip was probably the finest of any of the Odysseys tours. The only real downsides were the late starts to the dinners thus causing us to go to bed on a full stomach and the long travel days, but that is done to avoid one night stands.

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Comments

lyndak
2017-05-09

Welcome Home!!

Michael Rodin
2017-05-09

Enjoyed reading & seeing pixs of your trip - glad to have you back home

Bob
2017-05-10

Admittedly, Didn't you give up one night stands many trips ago?

Welcome home to many continued nights!!!!

2025-02-11

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