Mal's travels - A story about my journeys by Mal J Robinson: Day 108 - Paris

Firstly I suppose I should start with the journey home on Friday but it was just that, a journey home. There were no interesting things to talk about and I got home around 2:00 p.m. shattered but at least home after the drive from Dunkirk.

Today was a little different. Firstly I have to say that my award of the worst airport which I gave to Terminal 2 of Manchester airport has come under serious threat. But before that I must start with my journey for the day. I set off at 5.30 a.m. and headed south toward Heathrow. I was not due to be flying until almost 4.00 p.m. but I had a number of calls to do and wanted to do them from the car whilst parked and not doing them as I was travelling on the motorway. I have a hands free kit but when you are listening intently to the call, then it is easy to be distracted. So I stopped at a couple of service stations to make those calls. I finally arrived at the parking place at 12:30 and got to Terminal 4 at 1:00 p.m. This was the first annoyance of the day.

I had booked to fly with Air France and the experience is normally something akin to British Airways, good quality and impressive service. However it seems Air France have gone the route of the low cost airlines and decided that you now have to pay to put your baggage into the plane's hold. Not knowing this meant I had to pay for this additional service at the counter and to the tune of £26.00. It was £25.00 if it was booked through the self check in machine that wasn’t working, or £12.00 if you knew before and booked on the internet but as I didnt know the full price of £26.00 it was. The annoyance came as this is not mentioned on any of my paperwork for the flight. This does give me a feeling of being ripped off. This also means that when you do get onto the flight most people have carried their luggage on and the plane is soon full of suitcases crammed into every available space and people who have smaller bags are left to wedge them into the gaps under the seats. The service on board was normal but by now the feeling of let down was too apparent.

I also noticed that there were very few business men on board and I think this maybe due to the new policy of acting as a low cost airline has maybe taken some of the business types away.

But all that paled into insignificance as we arrived at Paris Airport. It took a long time to get through security as a number of planes had landed at the same time and yet only one border official was on for European travellers and one for other world travellers. This meant we stood in line for well over 30 minutes. By the time we got our suitcases from the luggage carousal and got to the car hire place we had been in the airport for over an hour and a half.

We got the car, which was a Cougar, sort of 4 X 4 van, very similar to the QashQuo which was stood next to it in the hire place. The job of actually leaving the airport was to be done next and that was no simple feat in itself. The roads out of the airport are unbelievable confusing, with very few signs simply saying exit. After several laps of the roads around the place we found the motorway and traveled to Saint Denis and arrived at the hotel not too long later.

The surprise was that the hotel was next door to the Stad De France which is a very impressive sports stadium. The other surprise was being told not to park on the street as it was highly likely the car would be damaged as the norm in the area for was for people to break the car windows looking for anything left inside. We soon chose to park the car in the safety of the underground car park.

After checking in my Nottingham colleague and I arranged a meet up with our Belgian colleague as soon as possible and some moments later we were having a brief walk around the hotel area before settling at a little restaurant for a bite to eat.

The food was very good and we enjoyed the chance to catch up over a very pleasant meal.

One of the conversations was around the little Twizz car that was parked on the pavement outside the hotel and the expressions of wishing we could have a go were being given in the same way small children speak about Christmas. As we entered the hotel on the way back to our rooms we, half jokingly, asked if we could have a go and they said it was for the guests and yes we could. This was amazing, they gave us the key and with a little help to open the doors my Nottingham colleague was twizzing his way down the street. He returned a short time later and it was my go. It was awesome, the car is very nippy and soon got up to speeds of over 30 KPH which was fast enough in the small streets outside the hotel. The car is brilliant to drive, it has a switch for forward and reverse, a switch for lights and indicators and a hand break. A small display shows the speed and amount of charge the car has left and that is about it. I have a picture below showing the car.

That has to be the absolute highlight of the day, week and probably month, it was that much fun. Even our Belgian colleague who wasn’t that keen on having a go at first and made comment that it was toys for boys, was soon speeding up and down the street.

There is really more to say but it is getting late so I will save the description of my hotel room for tomorrow night and as our plan is to go into the centre of Paris then hopefully a few words about that shall also be included.

For now it’s

Good Night All