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Monday: flying home

I woke up early and took the metro to the RER to Charles de Gaulle. I forgot to get the right kind of ticket, so had to pay a fine to exit the RER at Charles de Gaulle. Oh well, live and learn--25 Euros was more than I wanted to pay, but not a disaster.

I hadn't taped up the box I intended to check, so had to ask for help at checkin. Their tape was not very sticky or strong, so I had to use up some significant portion of a roll before the person at the counter was satisfied.

My flights both did appear to be running as normal despite some sort of ongoing labor dispute, but they didn't have any catering at all, so they gave me a food voucher and I had a fairly nice ham sandwich before boarding.

I was hoping to do the same at Heathrow, but the flight there arrived a little late, and the airport was full of British Airways passengers trying to buy sandwiches. Fortunately there were people at the gate handing out bags of snacks for us to carry on. I took a couple. That got me some fruit, a couple bags of chips, a candy bar or two, and some cookies--not what I'd hoped for, but enough to keep the hunger pangs away for the 8-hour flight back to Detroit.

On the flight back I read some more and watched "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" (which I was kind of disappointed by--there just didn't seem to be much to it), and parts of a couple other movies.

I arrived tired but happy to be home. I like Paris a lot, but it's always a little stressful being in a foreign country when you don't know anyone, and it was nice to be back in my own apartment and to see Sara again.

I also like the being-in-a-different-place part of travelling a lot more than the actual travelling part. I think my ideal way of travelling would be just to move someplace different every now and then.