Are we there yet?

The morning of our flight to Charles de Gaulle, I woke up to my mother asking when I was leaving.

"This morning, mother."

"Oh. Weren't you supposed to leave on the 11th?"

"Obviously not."

I have been living out of the house for over a year and our conversations have hardly changed. I packed last minute items, slapped on a motion sickness patch, lost and re-discovered my money belt, then climbed into the car for a ride to Matt's.

At Matt's house, life was just beginning to stir. His mother put on a pot of coffee and I read the paper, staring at a large, 5 foot baby about to be put into the Alberta Art Gallery. Matt finished printing off reservations while I called my credit card companies to let them know that I would be making purchases in three different countries over the next two weeks. Matt called his debit company to inform them that he would be making purchases overseas as well, only to learn that his multi-digit PIN would not work overseas. Hopefully, he wouldn't have to use it since the banks didn't open until after we would be checked in at the airport.

One quick stop at TD Bank for a last minute withdrawal of Canadian cash and were were off ... to pick up Sable. Luckily, Sable is about 1000 times faster than a bank, so we were off to the airport in no time. At baggage check. my bag was 4.5kg. So much room for so much stuff!

My liquids were properly bagged this time around, so I breezed right through customs. On the other side of the metal detectors, I saw Sable getting randomly searched and Matt was surrounded by police. Sable finished and we left Matt to deal with whatever illicit drugs he may be harbouring to find crosswords and universal adaptors. When we had purchased our wares, Matt still wasn't finished. Apparently, the placement of his electronic devices and softcover book looked a lot like a bomb from the view of the X-ray machine. He promptly put his headphones away elsewhere. I was having problems of my own while Matt was being questioned, since I had dropped my change down my pants instead of down into my money belt. Sable cracked up while I shook the leg of my pants, dropping coins all over the floor. Change is cold.

The flight to Montreal was smooth and problem free. I watched random movie clips without real attention and fidgeted until we landed. We had a dinner at a lounge where the waiter shooed us out of the restaurant while he cleaned our table. A family who arrived after us simply jumped on a table, so we did the same and he reluctantly served us. There didn't seem to be any boarding calls being made over the PA system, so we were worried we might miss our boarding call. We ate quickly and ran to our gate only to find that we were just on time. The thunderstorm over Montreal didn't stop us from leaving.

The ride to Paris was amazing smooth. We experienced little to no turbulence that I remember. I watched a number of crappy movies, including Bride Wars and The Reader. I can appreciate Kate Winslet's niche, but I am tired of seeing her naked or half naked. Yay for good body image, boo for movies with poor plots. We received two meals on the plane, which made me sorely regret eating at the airport. If you are flying in the near future, be sure to list yourself as a "lacto-ovo vegetarian" so that you get the stellar special meals. My first meal was a chana masala on rice, with a dairy-free egg-free bun and a salad with water and fruit for dessert. My breakfast was a small banana muffin, a cup of fruit, and a small can of V8 juice. Good stuff people, good stuff.

In only a few short hours (11.5 or so), we had arrived in Paris. Bienvenue a France, mes amis!