this is a story from my return trip to the US from my final destination in Paris; it is also the explanation of why, no matter what Bethany says, i don't like the French...it started with me and bethany getting up at 5:30 to lug my 3 metric tons of luggage through public transportation to a shuttle i was taking to the airport; it was there we bid farewell *sadness* ; i arrived at the airport with all of my luggage, this is an important fact as it is the same exact luggage that i have had on all SEVEN (7) previous flights on this journey; as i step up to the ticketing counter i quickly am told that my flight has been moved up an hour without me knowing and that i am now running late; (this is my connector flight from paris to london where i will catch a flight to the US); they weigh my large bags and they are fine and then without even weighing it they say that my carry on rolling bag is too big and that i will need to quickly pay the 110 Euro 'extra-baggage-fee' so that they will check the bag; i kindly and patiently respond that i have taken said bag on SEVEN (7) flights including the first half of this round trip that i am currently trying to board; after arguing about this fact for a few minutes with the ticket lady and her boss the best he comes up with is that 'they must not follow the rules at those airports, here in paris we follow the rules'; i am quite discouraged by this point and they comfort me with 'sorry, we wish we could but if you get to the other airports with it they will fine us for not following rules' ...yea right... ok, so maybe discouraged was misleading, i was angry; for one i hadn't slept the night before, not at all, so i was already irritable, and these people were most definitely not on my side; so after about 5 more minutes of making my case we are getting no where; i tell him that i don't even have 110 Euro, he tells me i can leave the bag in the airport or give it to a homeless person; it is about this point i decide that enough is enough and enact a maneuver that will surely leave me the victor; ... ... ; i throw down all
of my bags in the middle of the check in line and begin to rearrange and cram things from my carry on into them; then i take my hiking backpack and fill it with clothes and then strap it on backwards (so that it's in front) then i put on a sweater, a sweatshirt, my light coat, and my heavy coat (meanwhile the entire staff is watching my and angrily rolling their eyes); all told i ended up with all of my bags being of the 'approved' size and weight and was wearing five layers of clothes. the supervisor, we'll call him Pierre, said' fine...but you aren't through..you won't make it past security or through the next airport.' and that was it; i went through security with no problem except that i had to fill up three of those bins that you have to put your stuff in; in fact they thought the pictures of melanie and i that i was carrying in my backpack were some sort of weapon so i got to bust them out and explain to them where we were and what we were doing in every picture; i'll end with this, when i finally got on the plane there were several, i repeat, several people who had large bags or multiple carry on items...oh well, it wouldn't have been so much fun if they had just let me go... (before and after pictures included)
this is a story from my return trip to the US from my final destination in Paris; it is also the explanation of why, no matter what Bethany says, i don't like the French...it started with me and bethany getting up at 5:30 to lug my 3 metric tons of luggage through public transportation to a shuttle i was taking to the airport; it was there we bid farewell *sadness* ; i arrived at the airport with all of my luggage, this is an important fact as it is the same exact luggage that i have had on all SEVEN (7) previous flights on this journey; as i step up to the ticketing counter i quickly am told that my flight has been moved up an hour without me knowing and that i am now running late; (this is my connector flight from paris to london where i will catch a flight to the US); they weigh my large bags and they are fine and then without even weighing it they say that my carry on rolling bag is too big and that i will need to quickly pay the 110 Euro 'extra-baggage-fee' so that they will check the bag; i kindly and patiently respond that i have taken said bag on SEVEN (7) flights including the first half of this round trip that i am currently trying to board; after arguing about this fact for a few minutes with the ticket lady and her boss the best he comes up with is that 'they must not follow the rules at those airports, here in paris we follow the rules'; i am quite discouraged by this point and they comfort me with 'sorry, we wish we could but if you get to the other airports with it they will fine us for not following rules' ...yea right... ok, so maybe discouraged was misleading, i was angry; for one i hadn't slept the night before, not at all, so i was already irritable, and these people were most definitely not on my side; so after about 5 more minutes of making my case we are getting no where; i tell him that i don't even have 110 Euro, he tells me i can leave the bag in the airport or give it to a homeless person; it is about this point i decide that enough is enough and enact a maneuver that will surely leave me the victor; ... ... ; i throw down all 
of my bags in the middle of the check in line and begin to rearrange and cram things from my carry on into them; then i take my hiking backpack and fill it with clothes and then strap it on backwards (so that it's in front) then i put on a sweater, a sweatshirt, my light coat, and my heavy coat (meanwhile the entire staff is watching my and angrily rolling their eyes); all told i ended up with all of my bags being of the 'approved' size and weight and was wearing five layers of clothes. the supervisor, we'll call him Pierre, said' fine...but you aren't through..you won't make it past security or through the next airport.' and that was it; i went through security with no problem except that i had to fill up three of those bins that you have to put your stuff in; in fact they thought the pictures of melanie and i that i was carrying in my backpack were some sort of weapon so i got to bust them out and explain to them where we were and what we were doing in every picture; i'll end with this, when i finally got on the plane there were several, i repeat, several people who had large bags or multiple carry on items...oh well, it wouldn't have been so much fun if they had just let me go... (before and after pictures included)
