The travel started again.... Stuck in Paris now

So the wardroom had a hail and farewell Saturday night and that was a good evening. The day had been hot and humid with rain and it was a busy day and right after the wardroom function was over I went straight to the Air Terminal and headed to the Djibouti International Airport,,, what a treat that was. If you've never been to a fourth world International Airport, let me tell you about it.... When you pull up a frenzy of local individuals swarm wanting to help you with your bags so you can pay them. DON'T LET THEM TOUCH YOUR BAGS!

Then you go inside to the HOT HUMID place with no A/C and go through some semblance of security and I'm being generous when I say that. While waiting in the terminal for the flight there was some horrible looking black cat with injuries that was crying and meowing in that place.... This is the fourth world so animals all over the place is common I suppose..... That stupid cat was screaming I swear it was and I just wanted it to get out of there. It was almost creepy like pet cemetery or something out of a horror movie.

Please bear in mind that while it's necessary to hydrate in this climate,,, you must also process the hydration which means you'll be visiting the restroom....... Not a good idea. I think I would have rather used a Port-o-John. The urinals were covered with garbage bags so that was a no-go,,,,, on to the stalls,,,,,, water standing on the floor ( I hope), no seats on the toilets which is pretty typical, no toilet paper but a handy hose for those unfortunates who needed to use the full facilities. Not an ideal setup and a good reason to always keep that spare roll of emergency tp in the backpack just in case of such an emergency.

After that it was back to the waiting area which was like a sauna. Between the sauna like atmosphere and the habit of the locals to not use deodorant you can formulate a picture. Finally we were able to board the aircraft and I have to say Air France does a nice job. As soon as the aircraft was loaded a flight attendant went up and down the aisle dispensing aerosol fragrances making the cabin much more pleasant. The flight crew was surprisingly attractive, well groomed and looked very nice in their uniforms and provided great service in an incredibly clean aircraft. And then two meals were served and dinner was paired with wine if you wanted it. I was able to take in a couple of new movies during the flight and didn't get any sleep on the way to Europe.

So the flight had quite a bit of turbulence and by the time we get to Paris it's pretty rough. I swear when we landed we were only on half of the landing gear and I thought the plane was going to flip over. We sat on the runway forever with the plane shaking in the wind because it was not safe to deplane. Off to the terminal we went to get our connections and of course some croissants..... The croissants were excellent but not so much for the connections. We spend the entire day in the airport going back and forth, claiming bags then rechecking, getting new boarding passes then cancelled flights again. Between the weather and the suspected pilot strike we did not leave Paris.

So I'm thinking,,, I have a three day class and now I'll miss a day or at least half of a day.... but on the positive side I'm stuck in Paris. I know,,, Boo hoo for being stuck in Paris. It could be alot worse. Hopefully we'll get to Naples tomorrow by noon and get a half day of classes in.