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Everything ran to time .... No late flights and thanks to Clare we got to the Hobart Airport in plenty of time (in fact enough time for a cup of coffee, a toasted sandwich and 2 toilet stops). Jane's grandmother who was known for a cautious approach to travelling by plane or train would have been proud of us.
The flight to Abu Dhabi while uneventful is a marathon of close to 13 hours. Not pleasant in cattle class where you are cramped and only fatigue ensures you get a few broken hours sleep...... And what awaits you at the other end is 38 degree heat (if you could venture outside), and sand as far as the eye could see with Abu Dhabi rising out of the dunes.
Jane bought me a pair of those long elastic flight socks to avoid DVT. There is something strange about wearing something that comes up to your knees, particularly when there are thoughts running through your mind like "some suspenders just might stop these darn things from slipping down". There was this nagging thought that if we had an accident what would the medical staff think of a 55 year old man wearing what amounted to stockings.
The flight from Abu Dhabi to Paris left on time... Another 8 hours of flight time arriving Paris CDG at 2.30pm local time..... although my sleep deprived body thinking it was 11.30 at night. To make things worse I was bloated from the continual feeding on the aircraft. I think that is another reason why they call it cattle class. There was a feeling of being in a cattle lot being fattened up... Even the tray table resembled a trough! Being someone that likes to ensure value for money I gratefully received all offerings regardless whether I felt hungry or not. This is one of the main reasons Jane refuses to allow me to go to those "all you can eat" restaurants.
We got through immigration in 10 minutes and the airline didn't lose our bags. We obviously didn't look threatening as we just walked straight through customs. Just as I was thinking we will be ahead of time getting to our accommodation... when we were all evacuated from the section of our building due to a suspected gas leak. Luckily it was only a half hour delay. BIENVENUE À PARIS BRUCE ET JANE.
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