Flight from Paris

On our last morning in France we went on a hunt for pastries and came up empty handed. It was not a good way to start the day but I was so glad to be going home to Chicago that it didn't dampen my mood.

We decided to take a taxi to the shuttle stop in order to get to Charles de Gaulle, which was the opposite of how we got to our hostel. Everything would have worked out perfectly if getting a cab didn't turn out to be the hassle it was.

We had the front desk call a cab for us like they said they would but then they told us they thought there was a cabbie strike. Then they told us the taxi was on its way. Then they told us that sometimes the cab doesn't come. Um, that would be a problem. And it never did come. Luckily for us a cab was driving by as Grace and I finally gave up on waiting for the cab and began to walk to the metro. We piled our suitcases into the cab and were on our way to the shuttle stop. Of course, while in the taxi we drove past a taxi line, which was about one block away. I wish the front desk had told us that but it all worked out and I was just happy to be on my way back to the US after months abroad.

At the airport we spent all our remaining euros on trashy US tabloids and waited for the boarding to begin. Did I mention I was excited to be going home?

Once we got on our American Airlines flight back to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago I got extremely excited. Even the fact that my bag didn't fit in the overhead bins didn't get me down (the flight attendant was very nice and put it in first class for me). On the flight it was also exciting to hear all the American dialects and I sat next to another woman who had been in France for about four months and was heading back to the US. I also listened to Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA" to get even more pumped (and yet it also made me miss Laura because we used to sing it together while cooking).

When I got back on American soil it was a great feeling. We had to walk through the stained glass windows and many posters of Chicago and it was like O'Hare was welcoming me back to my home. And then we saw the our family, the people who were really welcoming us home. They even brought American flags and were the envy of every other family who didn't think to bring American flags.

And that's the end.