Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Mmmm...Airplane food. It was good except for the yellow stuff
under the chicken...that was supposed to be there right?

My trip to France has come and gone. In a way I feel like I was there forever, but then again, I am suddenly back in my "normal" life as though I never left. Time is strange like that.
I was going to write blogs during my trip (and maybe I should have?) but I wanted to wait because I wanted to post photos along with them that I took with my super awesome new camera I got for Christmas. So I decided to wait until I got home. So here is the first of several posts chronicling my trip.

Unlike the general philosophy that says "life is a journey, not a destination", when going on vacation that is not necessarily true. And in my specific case, for this specific trip that most certainly was not true. Even my  excitement about heading off to Europe instead of to the office couldn't erase the slightly ill feeling sloshing around in my stomach. I get motion sickness you see and it can really curb my enthusiasm about anything, especially when I have to take almost every form of transportation except rocket ship and bicycle to get to my destination.
My itinerary was as follows:
4.5 hour flight to Minneapolis
4 hour layover in Minneapolis
9 hour flight to Paris
3 moving walkways, 1 elevator ride with stinky European person
1 hour and a half bus ride through stop and go rush hour traffic in Paris holding my breath every time the driver hit the breaks to keep myself from barfing.
2 hour train ride facing the wrong way to my final destination
1 final 15 minute bus ride to top it all off.
Now I realize that I won't die from being train/plane/car sick, even though my skin turns a greenish white color, and I have to keep my mouth closed because I'm not sure what in addition to words might escape my lips at any moment. But it still feels like I'm going to die, especially when I'm tired and stressed out. And I know I get all weepy and annoying, but this time I feel fully justified in whining about it. It was one of the longest days of my life!
By the time I got to Aunt Pepette's house I was exhausted. When I sat down in a dining chair at her kitchen table and I felt like I was in a rocking chair facing the wrong way on a sailboat heading into rough seas. BUT I made it! Wheew! Journey over, destination here, and thank goodness too!

Gare de l'Est, Paris, France