Bonjour from Paris!
I am currently writing to you from the airport floor in Paris. I am my mothers most spontaneous child and I’m pretty sure that may be her least favorite quality of mine because it shaves years off of her life… (;
I decide yesterday morning that when I got back from my work trip last night that I was going to hop on a flight to Paris and then venture off to Rome to meet up with a friend. I normally always pack at least one cute outfit in my suitcase for my work trips, however, for some reason this time I did not. (It may or may not be because I was running late and just threw things in my suitcase… oops! Won’t be doing that again!) I had a v neck camo t shirt, ripped jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes. If you know me, you know this is probably my worst nightmare. Only kidding, but in all seriousness I’m the girl that buys an outfit for every event, every trip, and of course always have my outfits planned out ahead of time. It’s just who I am. I knew I didn’t have enough time to go home after work to repack, because I only had one hour, yes, ONE HOUR, from the time my work flight landed to the departure time of my Paris flight. It just so happened that I already had a long sit scheduled in Atlanta so I would be able to go over to the international terminals and do some shopping. Leave it to me, I can definitely find something to wear, it’s kind of my specialty.
Before I went shopping my sweet parents came to meet me at the airport to take me to lunch. They are the absolute best! I know what you’re thinking, why didn’t she have her mom bring her clothes for her trip? Well, that’s easy. I didn’t tell her where I was going yet haha.
After my shopping ventures I headed to the gate only to find out some horrible news. DELAYED. And wouldn’t you know, the weather was great all week, and then bam! While we were waiting for our inbound plane to arrive in Atlanta so we could fly to Providence, Rhode Island and back to finish the end of our three day trip weather between Atlanta and Birmingham delayed the inbound flight one whole hour. If you’re following all of this airline lingo great, if not, in normal people terms that basically means I’m not going to Paris. But as you know I ended up making it. Thank you Jesus!
We always say in the airline industry that the minute you make plans to do something after work everything goes wrong. So WHAT was I thinking..?! That’s just it, I wasn’t thinking. And contrary to what I may think my mom thinks of my spontaneity, I’ve grown to love it. I typically over think everything in my life until I decide to make a last minute decision. For instance, the night before I bought my car I told my dad, “I’m going to go buy a Mercedes tomorrow”. Without ever driving that car I knew I wanted it for years, and I worked my butt off to make it happen. Just like that decision I made, I was determined to make it to Rome to see my sweet friend and make some amazing memories. Once we got to Providence and they were cleaning the airplane and restocking all of the food and beverages for the flight I began to look at literally every way possible to get to Rome since my original plan was probably not going to happen. Amsterdam? Nope. Copenhagen? No. Milan? Not a chance. I HAD to make this Paris flight or it was not happening!
If you fly a lot you have probably caught on to the fact that flights are “blocked” at a certain time but it doesn’t take you nearly as long to get there. They aways add in extra time as a “just in case” factor. Knowing this I began to do that math and if the pilot was able to fly the flight pattern originally assigned with that flight time, I would have 30 minutes from the time we got to the gate before my next flight left. Now that’s 30 minutes to deplane an entire airplane, make it from B concourse in the Atlanta airport all the way to F concourse, ride/run up two flights of escalator stair that I knew would be turned off for the night, and make it all the way to the 2nd to last gate on the F concourse wing. The realist flight attendant version of me was like “no chance I make it” but the spontaneous passenger in me was like “I’ve got this”!
If you’re still reading this and your heart is pounding, welcome to the party I had last night, if it’s not and you are used to all of this commotion, you live your life on the edge!
Plane deplanes in 9 minutes. That’s HUGE! Everyone these days travels with their entire house it seems like so it typically takes at least 15-20, sometimes 30 minutes if wheelchairs aren’t there on time. One obstacle was checked off the list.
Fast walking to the middle of the terminal, down the escalator, hopping on therein and riding it 1. 2. 3. and 4. stops I was thanking God ALL THE WAY for blessing me with long legs. I am so dramatic, I know but for real, with out these long babies I would not have made it.
“F Concourse” I made it! Escalators are OFF… Honestly wasn’t surprised one bit. Things tend to shut down early in that concourse. Running up the escalator stairs, with a small suitcase and a tote bag, in heels, and a sweater, you better believe I counted that as my workout that day! That was so much worse than a stair stepper, because a stair stepper MOVES!
As I was making my way up the stairs I knew from working my fair share of international flights that they NEVER go out on time because someone has a passport issue or someone didn’t make the flight so they need to find their bags in cargo to take them off. Today, this was going to work for me.
I made it all the way down the concourse, to the gate, and saw the most beautiful sight I have ever seen. THE DOORS WERE STILL OPEN! Hallelujah! I was flying to Paris and still needed to get to Rome. But that was a problem for a different time zone 😉
I flew into the Charles de Gauelle Airport in Paris, France. My next flight left out of the Orly Airport still in Paris, it was just a different location. Think of it this way. In Dallas, Texas there are two airports. It is basically the same thing. I called an Uber and we drove 30 minutes to this airport where I am currently writing you from.
They just called boring for my flight. I will continue telling you all about my crazy adventure on the plane ride home to America. Au Revoir!
Part II
I MADE IT TO ROME! And oh my gosh is it breathtaking! Every single inch of this place. It is truly amazing to me to see all of the architecture that was able to be achieve all of those years ago.
After landing in Rome, I caught an Uber to go meet up with my friend close by to our hotel. We ate at the most delicious Italian restaurant. There version of Italian food is much different than ours here in American but boy oh boy is it good! After dinner, we decided to go back to the hotel to drop off luggage and change so we could go out and explore. At this point it was after 11 at night but we did not care. And to tell you the truth, no one else in Italy did either! That place never sleeps! We walked around for hours and hours and got to look at all of the main attractions. It was hotter than hot but the views certainly did take my mind off of how much we were walking, how hot it was, and quite frankly how tired I was! I didn’t sleep for almost 38 hours!! I was exhausted to say the least but my excitement to see Dani and Rome overtook that exhaustion.
The next morning I woke up and caught a flight back to Atlanta! This time going directly from Rome to Atlanta. What a blessing that was! I am so lucky that I am able to travel whenever I want to. This career was made for me.
I am home now, safe and sound with the most amazing memories from my first time to Rome. I can’t wait to go back! This time, maybe I’ll stay a little while 😉
Amanda Kay Hoke 