What the heck am I doing again in the USA ? Well, I moved to france and I am once more in the USA. In Atlanta to be precise. It was already planned a while ago, but the schedule has changed a few times and I had to change also from Poughkeepsie to Atlanta. It is not easy for me to get away from my family because I already spend a long time without them due to the move to Montpellier, but we are used to it and it is only 3 weeks this time.
I had a easy trip from Montpellier to Paris. I was happy to have a E-Ticket, because Air France only had one person for about 70 guests with normal tickets but 3 for E-Tickets.
Anyway. Paris is always a pain in the …. Yes one of the worst Airports you can think about. Huge and not guestfriendly. So I had to go from Terminal 2D to 2E. Sounds easy, but E is still under construction and a BUS transfer needs to be used. In the Terminal itself you have to go through the painful security checks. At least I had enough time. At the Gate E67 itself it was easy. This part of the Airport is a new Terminal. I was surprised to see that my flight was in a Airbus A340-300. The past years I always had a Boeing 767,747 or 777, some other Airplanes also. 777 is the best Boeing, quiet and huge. But the Airbus was a pleasure, quiet too, inseat Entertainment, roomy seat (compared to 747 or 767). The food was also very good this time, I was very pleased.
In the 10 hours flight I was able to watch 3 1/2 movies. Enchanted, Juno, Beowulf and only half of We own the night (with Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, Eva Mendez…). That movie was the best, but the entertainment System was reset about 2 hours prior landing and the film stopped and never started again. Well. We landed on time in Atlanta and I used the lazyness of most Guests to get in front of the crowd. Everybody was using the Escalators, I was the only one using the „normal“ stairs. Voila, I was at the immigration line and … there was almost no line. in 5 minutes I made it out of the plane and through immigration. It was easy and the staff was very friendly. In the next 5 minutes I picked up my luggage and went trhough customs. Also a record for me. Another 5 minutes to get through the strange security check at Atlanta Airport. I haven’t had that in New York, Minneapolis or so. Here you must go through Security again when you already did all other checks. You even have to transfer your luggage again to the South Terminal Baggage Claim.
In this case it took me 15 minutes to get out of the plane, get trough immigration, customs and security check and then it took another 30 minutes to get my luggage back. It is so rediculous. But thats Atlanta.
After this experience I went through the rain to the Hertz bus. Heavy rain. Thunder, Lightning. Even the bus had a leak and rain dropped onto a seat inside the bus. The seat of course I tried first, eaahhhh, wet jeans.
At Hertz I pciked up my Ford Focus and drove to the Hotel in about 25 minutes. Was easy. Hotel is ok and room is nice. After I brought my luggage in my room I went Shopping. I needed some water, toothpaste and so on. I found a Wal Mart. But that was a bad choice. The store is under renovation and they have not much available. At least it had the right stuff I needed. I was totally wet while going from car to the store. Whatever. I went to the Applebees restaurant to get some Dinner. Riblets with fries. It was close to the Hotel, so not a long drive. I could have wlaked, but not in the rain.
So I am here now and come back in 3 weeks. A biento