Trip Home

So I'll start this by saying I made it home safe and with all my stuff intact. It was not the best/easiest trip and I had a few moments when I didn't think I'd make it but the moral of this story is if in any doubt ask someone. I woke up at 8am (my flight wasn't till 12:25), it's recommended that you arrive 3 hours early for international flights. I still needed to go to the store and pick up a bottle of wine (you can't go to France and not bring back wine). Unfortunately even the grocery store doesn't open till 8:30 so I was just going to have to wait and catch a train after 8:30. I got the wine and got it packed securely in my checked bag and headed off to the metro station by no later then 9. I started by having to carry my gigantic suitcase down the super narrow staircase in the apartment next I have to carry it down the winding steps to the door (thank god I was on the first floor). I reach the entrance down to the metro and there is yet another set of stairs to drag my bag down. So let me tell you my big suitcase is huge and unwieldy and weights like 25kilos (55lb) which is a lot but was easy enough to carry on my way too Paris but I couldn't even lift it for more then a minute at a time on the way back.This made me rather pitiful and I got help from some nice french people as I carted my bags up and down no less then 10 sets of stairs on my way to the airport. I still made it to the the airport by 10ish and got off the train terminal 3 (the only terminal with a train stop). From here you make the choice whether to go one direction to terminal 1 or the total opposite direction for terminal 2. I wasn't sure which terminal my flight would be out of so I ended up going to the wrong one and turning around. I was still arriving 2 and half hours early and felt good on time. I had looked at my flight right before leaving the apartment and knew it was a Lufthansa flight so I headed for the Lufthansa section and I find these self checkouts and waste 10-20mins finding out that I can't use them (probably because I had a bag that needed checking). So I look around and find the Lufthansa counters and see this huge line that wraps around the back of the counter. It takes me an hour and a half to get threw this line and I get to the counter only to find out that Lufthansa is a Germany only airline (I'm kinda of freaking out now) I know that my first flight was with Lufthansa and the second leg was United...turns out it was Lufthansa flight threw United (or something else equally confusing) but I need to go to the United counter so it's now 11:40 and I'm literally running to find the United counter which is fortunately completely empty. I get up to the counter and am told that check in for that flight has ended (complete panic mode) I explained my situation having waited in the wrong line and they were sympathetic and did everything they could to find a solution for me. I was going to be allowed on the flight and got a fast pass to get through security and what not. As I'm getting my tickets an alarm goes off and messages are plays in French. I was told there was a total lock down going into place over an unattended bag and no one was going to be let through until the police had swept the area and destroyed the bag. My flight is scheduled to leave in half and hour. I was completely panicking especially when it got to 12:25 and we were still in lock down. Fortunately for me all flights were being held for this same lock down and I made it to my flight though we didn't take off till 1ish. We made up the time during the almost 8hour flight where I watched 4 full length movies (Frozen, The Lego Movie, Great Gatsby, and Wolf on Wall Street all very good). They fed us twice with ok airline food (not great but very edible) and had 4 beverage services, probably because it was a day time flight vs. an overnight flight. We landed in Washington DC at around 3pm and my next flight wasn't till 5:15. So let me tell you if you are a US citizen coming into the US 2 hours is the minimum you'll want to have before your next flight and if you're a non US citizen coming into the country leave yourself like 6hours, seriously. When I got off my flight we were all being herded towards border control to have our passports stamped and the US line was very long but moved really quickly and the 'everyone else' line was pretty long and moving ridiculously slowly. Then we were herded over to pick up our checked bags and walk them down a hallway and put them on another conveyor belt (I'm sure there was a purpose for this but I can't figure it out). Then we were herded into another line for going back through security and have everything scanned and go through the metal detectors and what not. This whole process took around an hour and a half and I made it to my gate about 5mins before boarding (the plane was late and I ended up waiting for like 20mins but it was still cutting it a little close for my comfort). I got on the next flight where you had to pay for movies and there was only two drink services and no food (I think I've been spoiled by international flights). The rest of the trip went rather smoothly and I was picked up at the airport by my family by 8pm. I had fun and now I'm really glad to be back home.