Getting There

Good-byes are hard … so I won’t talk about them too much … It was so nice to be sent off by my parents and my lovely daughter, Ori, even though we all had to get up ridiculously early to make the 9am flight. Out of the four of us, only Dad is a morning person so the sacrifice was real. I did manage to give myself a small heart attack when I decided I had left my laptop at the house while it was just lower in the bag than I had expected it to be. I think it wouldn’t be a normal departure for any trip if I didn’t do that to myself at least once — I do believe it’s a curse.

Flight #1

If you’re going to travel on planes during a pandemic, I highly recommend paying extra for at least a Premium ticket. Not only is it more comfortable, it feels safer too. Also, don’t fly with a Canadian airline: pandemic or not, they will pack you in like sardines, social distancing be damned. It was a good thing I got the extra-leg-room seats but I would have felt a lot better if there had been a middle seat empty on the YVR-YYZ WestJet flight as well.

Note to self: Never, ever leave your reading glasses in the bag you put in the overhead bin again, if you’re planning to read during the flight. The squinting was unbearable though, thankfully, did not give me a tremendous headache later on. Got lucky, this time.

I have to say that getting those amazing Beats headphones was the best thing ever (thank you, Ori & Aki!). One of the things I dislike greatly about flying is the constant engine noise; it makes me totally unable to relax and sleep. Noise-cancelling headphones are just the cure for that, and I did manage to catch a few winks for a change. Their case, however, was way too big for the pocket behind the seat in front, so there is that.

I was a little surprised there was no visual entertainment on this flight, so another -1 for WestJest. Fortunately, the book I was reading was exciting enough to keep me mostly awake. Also, no food at all, even to buy, except some free shitty cookie, so another point lost. All in all, I was quite happy to disembark.

Pearson International (YYZ) — Toronto

I was definitely happy to get off that crowded plane and to find my next gate, which proved easy enough. It was also time for a change of masks. Another nice thing about my itinerary, short connection times so little time wasted hanging about. I grabbed a quick sandwich and some fresh water and settled to wait at the gate. After many years of travel, I finally had my name paged … something to do with passport control. I wasn’t worried since one of the things I made damn sure I had organized was paperwork. It does confuse things to travel on two passports, however, but once I made it clear to the official I had the correct documents, and he noted the dual citizenship on some computer system or other, I was happy to continue waiting to board. Imagine my surprise having to go through the whole thing again upon actual boarding! One person saying “show me papers”, another saying “she’s clear”, and yet another, murmuring, “too many people checking too many things” … I had a chuckle and boarded.

Flight #2

From the moment I got onboard, it was like being in a totally different class of travel. The French sure know how to do things in style. Even the preflight video had a spin on it I’d never seen before — a very French spin, to be sure, tres chic!

When I first booked my flights, I was meant to fly with AirFrance directly from Vancouver to Paris. I paid for a Premium ticket because I wanted comfort, for once, especially on such a long fight. When the flight got cancelled and I was forced to fly through Toronto, I was greatly disappointed that I would not, in fact, travel in comfort all the way. But enough whinging, I was to be in comfort now!

For a fleeting moment, I did think I would have a neighbour for the flight. I would not have minded terribly since he also had a kitty (a black beauty named Winter) but he ended up moving to the other side of the plane and next to his wife who was travelling with the other kitty (a Siamese!). While I didn’t get a picture of that one, I did hear her throughout the flight. Please don’t tell Lucy, but that kitty and I had a great conversation going while everyone else slept. Every time she meowed, I replied (albeit under my breath … no need to make everyone on board think I’m a crazy cat lady). We had a lovely chat and I hope I made the flight ever so slightly less horrible for her. The kitties were going to Ireland, it seems.

I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but this is such a nice way to travel: foot rests, free pillows, blankets, and headphones, no neighbours. Leg room! Amenities! Yes, amenities … aka a bag of goodies to make the trip even more pleasant (ear plugs, eye covering, slippers, toiletries). Oh, and yes, champagne and white wine as soon as service started: it’s like the steward knew exactly what I needed; it was definitely a great start. Also dinner was very decent with a yummy chocolate mousse and meringue dessert. I know it wasn’t First Class, but it sure wasn’t Economy either.

Since it was very much middle of my day, I could not sleep. Instead, I watched two movies, The Joker and The Gemini Man, and I enjoyed both. I did try to sleep a little but it was a wasted effort. I tried closing my eyes for a bit after the movies but then the lights came on because it was sunrise in Paris and we were close enough to get a wake up call. On the plus side, I can say I saw the sun rise over Paris, even if my attempts at catching a glimpse of the city itself were thwarted by darkness and low clouds.

Paris-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) — Paris

While waiting to get off the plane in Paris (the ramp was having trouble finding the plane doors, it seems), I chatted with a lovely woman from Brampton going to Serbia (Belgrade) to visit her ailing mother. It was also because of her that I added a few hundred steps to my daily tally as I followed her to the wrong gate: mine was another 25 minutes walking the other way but meh, one needs to stretch one’s legs a bit after being seated for many hours. I did have to go through passport control here, but they barely glanced at my Polish (EU) passport and asked no questions. As I mentioned earlier, having dual citizenship has its advantages.

The airport was quite busy though is it really a surprise? Not only is CDG the second busiest airport in Europe (after Heathrow), people connect through there just to get kitties to Ireland, ffs. While I was waiting I saw flights to Copenhagen, Niece, Geneva, and Barcelona in the closest gates to where I was hanging out. And that’s just what I could see! The place is busy!

Flight #3

Getting on board of the last flight to Barcelona included the most stringent checks for corona safety: temperature checks, affidavits, you name it … The Spanish take their health precautions quite seriously. The flight itself is also not nearly as packed as the one to Toronto: most middle seats are empty (except when people are travelling together). Once again, I had the extra-room seat which also meant a little lecture about opening the emergency door; I had to chuckle at the need to remind us to not open the door during the flight. Like I would, lol, though clearly there has to be a reason this comes up at all. The flight was quick, uneventful, if a little boring.

Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat (BCN) — Barcelona

I have arrived, in one piece, a little tired … but it was only 10:26am (1:26am in Victoria) with the whole day still ahead of me. I walked off the plane, registered my QR code with some officials, found my luggage, headed towards the outside, and all of a sudden found myself in a taxi heading towards the city. It honestly felt like I was in a dream. No turning back now!