FranceBlog in English

The 11 days in Atlanta are over now. After a night at the Outback Steakhouse with some drinks, Steaks, Bloomin Onion and some final beers at Hooters we ended the stay in Atlanta.

On Wednesday Gerald, Jacques and I drove to the airport and dropped of the Rentals. It was relaxing. We had no pressure. We checked in and went to the Bar in Terminal E. Our flight was supposed to take off at 3:35pm. Due to some mechanical problems we finally took off at 5pm. So it was obvious that Gerald and I will probably not be able to catch our connection flight to Montpellier. We had just 1:10h time between the flights. So we landed at 7:20am in Paris instead of 6:20am. Even with tailwinds of up to 100MPH we had no chance. So we saw that the flight was gone and we went to the connection counter and got new tickets for the 11:25 flight to Monpellier. At the Bordercontroll in Paris we waited. We waited pretty long, because nobody was checked. They were NOT on strike. Officially they said, two pieces of luggage were found to be dangerous and they need to take care. We had to wait 45 minutes. Nobody did anything. No Message, no information. We just waited in line and the policemen were smiling and doing nothing. I saw many things at the airports but nothing like that.

So even in the case of a flight arriving on time we would have been stranded here at the passport control. Hundreds of people were waiting. It was rediculous. Anyway. Finally they opened the doors and were could go on. Gerald and I walked slowly to Terminal 2D while Jacques picked up his luggage and ended his trip here in Paris. Since we had now more than 2 1/2 hours time it was more relaxing that having just a few minutes between the flights.We went to the one restaurant/bar in 2D and had a coffee and some Pain au Chocolat.

So the rest of the trip was ok. We were very tired. But even with a little delay we finally arrived in the sunny Montpellier area. Nice warm temperatures. 

I am back in France… A bientot

That was a busy month…May was full with visits from friends from germany. It was vacation season and Julius, Hannah, Birgit, Thomas came and Torben, Finn, Helen, Anja and Jochen came. We should not forget Micha, Tanja, Melina and Lilli. We had lots of fun and did some stuff together.

On May 29th was a free concert in Montpellier. A live concert sponsered by RICARD the Pastic company. Main Acts were Martin Solveig, a french DJ and Maroon 5 from LA.According to the newspaper there were 20000 people at the Esplanade de L’Europe. We had lots of luck, because the days before we had rain, rain, rain, rain. But on thursday the weather was just great. Clouds ok, but warm and dry. So it was the perfect Open Air weather. Together with Christian and Daniel, Dagmar and I went to the concert. We had a babysitter for the kids. Our friends Holger&Ute took care. It was a nice concert…and it was FREE

Ute also had to take care of our new pet. The kids found a little bird, that fell out of the nest at a storm a few days before. With a lot of patience and hand feeding we are trying to help this little guy to survive. So far it looks good. The bird eats a lot and seems to grow each day.His name is Piepsi

This saturday I had to go to Atlanta again. Once more this year. Leaving from Montpellier I had to go through Paris Charles de Gaulle. One of the 5 worst Airports in the world. Just selected earlier this year from a US Magazine. Only Badgad and some Airports from Africa and Russia were worse. At least this time it was not too busy and I spent not much time in waiting lines. So from Terminal D to Terminal E was not a big deal this time. I waited for my AF388 flight. Airbus A340-300, 272 seats. One seat for me. Not at a emergency exit seat. No chance. Was already given to someone else. I tried it as usual. No luck for me.

Right after the take-off I found out that my flight will not be as comfortable as it should have been. A very stubborn, narrow minded old fart was sitting in the seat 26D in front of me. After a short time he put his seat the rear position. Definitely comfortable for him, but the Airbus has a very limited leg room. Less than the Boeing 777 from Delta or Air France. It hurt and I asked him politely if he can put his seat in the upright position.  He asked why. Well I told him, that I am 6feet5 (1.96m) and I have NO legroom available when he has the seat in the back position. The passengers around me saw my painful situation and told him that I have my knees almost inside his seat.

He was not happy, but he put the seat straight again. After a short time a Flight Attendant came and he asked her, if he is allowed to put the seat in the back position. She said of course. Then I and the others said, that I have no legroom and nobody was able to give me a Emergency Exit seat. She just said it is not her problem. So the old guy put the seat to the rear again. The cabin chef came and talked with me and she apologized that the flight is booked and of course nobody wants to change seats. She said she can’t tell the man to stop that. Of course she said, usually people have the understanding of this situation. But this guy did not really care. In all my flights I never had such a stubborn A..hole in front of me. usually the people understand when I tell them my situation. It is mostly those older people, and usually smaller people that are not very comprehensive. I don’t know why. This guy gave me a hard time. During the lunch he had to put his seat upright but he did not do it,because the guy in front of him had his seat a little litle bit in the rear position. Not that bad. The old fart was not that tall and had enough room. So he told me he can’t do it because the guy in front is not doing it. I should ask him. I was really upset. I was almost close to punch the seat with my fist, so that he will have the food on his clothes…But I closed my eyes, thought about my lovely family and calmed down. I asked the Flight Attendant if she can ask those two guys to go forward. Man I feeled like in kindergarden. This old man should have more experience with his probably 70 years.

Anyway. The rest of the flight was not pleasant. At least the final 3 hours he did not move the seat. The people next to me all gave him bad looks because he was so stubborn. That was really sweet. The one old lady left of me wanted to give me a extra pillow to protect my knees. I had to tell her, that there is no room left for a pillow either.

So we landed with a little delay in Atlanta. I had not that good luck from last time in March. Airplanes from China and Russia arrived right before us. So many chinese and russians were in line. Not too bad. But we all know that speaking english in China or Russia is even worse than in germany for example. So many times the interpretor was called to the immagration officers. That took some time. The Luggage was already there. Then something totally unusual happened. I had to wait in a 100m line to get through customs. In 14 years travelling to the US I never had that. In New York, Washington and so on are more custom officers. Here were only 4 for about 1000 passengers.

At least dropping off the luggage (I know only Atlanta doing that) and go to a final security check (JFK, Newark, Washington, Minneapolis don’t do that, after immigration and customs you can exit the terminal without dropping luggage off again and go through another Securtiy check) . The waiting line was short and I took the Airport Train to the Baggage claim. This is so stupid. You already got your luggage and drop it off again. Than you must wait at least 30-45 minutes in the first building at one of the Baggage claims that have not just your flight there, but many other flights as well. That part of the terminal is so crowded, it is bad.

Clive, my british colleague was already waiting at the Hertz Car Rental. We drive together. I got a little Nissan Versa. Today I changed it to a Mazda 6, that saves more than 100 USD because I rented it locally near the Hotel and not at the Airport.

Other colleagues were also waiting at the Hotel to have Dinner with us. Domi, TJ, Uli were coming with us.

After buying some stuff at Krogers we checked in and got nice rooms. With two 32 Inch LCD TVs. Nice….

We went to Williamsons Brothers BBQ to have some Ribs, Steaks… That was soooooo delicious.

My toiletflush was already broken and got fixed today. Weather is warm and sticky. They expect some Thunderstorms today and also the next days. C ya