June 16 - 17 June 18 June 19 June 20 June 21 June 22 June 23 June 24 June 25 June 26 June 27 June 28 June 29 June 30 July 1 July 2	Tuesday, July 2, 2001 We got up at 5 am and finished the packing. I was ready to go home. It was a good trip, but it was time to return to normal. We joined the Levys in the lobby and our taxi soon appeared. The driver was at least trilingual - French, very good English, and an oriental language. We shared the taxi to the airport. Much easier than the Metro. It was about 100 francs each for the ride. The Levys plane was scheduled to leave a little after 10, as was Deb’s. Mine wasn’t until 10:50. I arrived at the airport almost four hours before the scheduled departure time.... The line for check-in didn’t even open until 8. Then the lines began - first the line to verify you have a ticket and are at the correct counter. Second line to verify that you packed your bags yourself. Third line to get a boarding pass and check luggage. Fourth line, typical airport security with an added bonus of verifying you have a valid boarding pass. Finally it was time to start boarding the plane. Evidently the French don’t believe in boarding by rows or any other sensible crowd management technique. They also don’t form lines. The entire crowd pushed forward to where three people were doing one final security check - passport, did anyone give you anything to carry, have your bags been in your possession the entire time. Then on to the real line where they take your boarding pass and you can get onto the plane. There was one idiot with an orange towel over his head that pushed his way obnoxiously to the front. I wound up having to follow him. And he wound up right across the aisle from me! He and his buddies drove the attendants crazy during the flight. As soon as they could start serving alcohol, this group started asking for multiple bottles. At one point, an officer suggested that they’d had enough. Loud protests - we do this all the time! Finally, the flight was close enough to the US that the attendants could tell them that the bar was closed as the plane was no longer over international waters. They were loud, obnoxious drunks! It was an upside down day as far as meals went. As soon as we took off, I reset my watch to Kingsport time. Thus, we had a nice big dinner at 7 am! And a snack, small lunch sized, at 1. Once I got home, we fixed egg sandwiches for dinner, completing the upside down day! We landed in Atlanta about 2:30. Unlike my Germany trip, customs was very uneventful. I got my bag rechecked and headed on home. Carl was there waiting for me.