Well, this day was not the day I wanted to experience. Even though last night was a drag, I still didn’t want to leave. However, Josh and I were able to do some shopping and I got to see my Muslim friend Napil who owns a shop in the market area. He got me some great deals on scarf’s and also hooked me up with a shofar. After that we went to my favorite restaurant, Italiano (formerly Bolognese). Isaac wasn’t there but I still got to eat my favorite dinner there for lunch. From there we went back to our hotel, checked out, and made our way to the airport. Security wasn’t too bad and everything seemed to go smoothly for our trip to Paris.
We got to Paris not really knowing what to expect. Our Rome trip wasn’t very appealing but we hoped for the best in the French territory. As we made our way from the flight to the baggage claim we found out that our bags would automatically transfer over to our next flight, which we were glad about. However, we wanted to tour Paris in the 14 hour layover we had so we rushed to find a place to leave our carry-ons. After walking around for almost an hour in Charles-DeGaules, we found that this place was closed and then we found out the trains had been closed. We were not too happy.
After walking around a couple different times and stopping and relaxing, we finally slept in the train station for the night. We woke up about every hour to check the train status and finally around 6am we decided to explore a little bit. We got absolutely no where. We decided to find a taxi to take us and just bite the bullet. When we asked the taxi driver for how much it would cost, he said 55 Euros (about $70) one way. We declined and left disappointed.
After walking around for another half and hour we decided to go ahead and check in. We ended up having to wait for about 30 minutes and were the first people in a line of about 300 by the time we finally got to go through. We were very hungry because all of the food places closed during the night into the morning and all that was left was vending machines. Moreover, we only had so many euros leftover from Rome and all the currency exchanges were closed, we were not on the right path. So we figured if we went to the airside there would be more food there.
After we went through security we were told we couldn’t take Josh’s carry-on because it was too big. So we waited about 5 minutes and tried to go through again noticing that it was a different person this time. So we walked through and out of nowhere this guy shows up and tells us to go back. So we walked back to wait in the long line, upset and frustrated we tried to remain calm. We went through the line and they expedited us through since we had already been there. They took us to a lady who strapped two carry-on tags on our bags so that they security guard couldn’t say anything. Needless to say, he wasn’t too happy. (This is the short version of what happened. Trust me, it was frustrating, funny, and ridiculous all at the same time).
As we crossed over to the airside, we realized we were grossly mistaken. There were all sorts of makeup stores, designer clothes stores open, and only one little food place available that was more expensive than the Cheesecake factory. We bought a drink for ourselves and some Pringles, the cheapest thing they had.
To top everything off, Josh and I were sitting around wondering where all the people were since it was 10:30am and time to board our flight. After standing up to stretch around 10:40am, I looked at the board only to see that they changed our gate and didn’t bother to make an announcement about it. It was a rough 36 hours for Josh and I.
To conclude our trip, I kid you not, someone decided to light up a cigarette on our flight home to Pittsburgh.
Enough said.
Summary of our Trip
Josh and I learned a lot about international traveling on this trip. I almost planned to do this trip by myself, but I am so glad my brother was able to go with me. While Rome had its rough parts, I’m sure if I go again I might enjoy it. Israel was absolutely incredible again. I know the Lord has called me to do ministry there at some point in my life. Moreover, I have been learning Hebrew for a year and a half and it was so great to be immersed in the culture and to be able to have little conversations with people. This trip re-affirmed my calling to Israel and I’m so excited to see what the plans of the Lord are concerning my future there. This will be a trip I will never forget and I’m so glad I was able to help Dr. Davis in a plethora of ways in the planning and execution of this trip. It was a great experience for me to learn how to plan out these trips and also to learn about the Holy Land from Dr. Davis who has so much knowledge in that land. I am excited to see what happens next year.
