We left quite early this morning in order to catch the ferry to the mainland. Of course, as we were in Italy, everything was in Italian and my parents weren't sure where we were going. Thus, another Lynch family saga began before the sun came up.
The online ferry itinerary said the first boat was scheduled to leave Lido at 4:50. We left extra early in order to make it. The dock was completely silent without a life in sight. Accompanied by nothing but the rain drops crashing against the windshield, we found ourselves to be in a difficult situation. Perhaps there is no ferry today? Could this be the wrong place? What's going on?!? We really need to catch our flight!
We drove over to the bus/vaporetto ticket booth, as it was the only populated business on the island, to ask for assistance. Through broken English and really bad Italian, we were able to communicate with the men. We learned that the ferry would leave at 5:00 and it was only 2 kilometers away. Ok, so the dock we found earlier was the right one... where are the people? How do we get a ticket?
We waited at the dock for a few minutes until deciding to go on another search for the ticket booth. Driving around the dark streets of Lido, we eventually found the proper signs and followed them to the booth. As it was quite early on a cold, weekend morning, there weren't many cars waiting to board the ferry. It left at 5:30.
The ride lasted about half an hour and we were not permitted to stay in the car. We went to sit in the lounge on the second floor. It was freezing and the coffee counter wasn't open yet, but the furniture was more comfortable than it was on the way over. So, half asleep, I relaxed in the chilly room on my way back to the mainland.
We returned to the car shortly before we docked and I fell asleep promptly after securing my seatbelt. As far as I know, we made it to the airport without getting lost. I'll never know. :)
It was a bit of a hike from the car park to the airport, but it wasn't bad. We were pretty early, so our flight hadn't been assigned a check-in desk. The gate was assigned, but we couldn't check in... weird. Eventually, after every flight listed on the screen had been assigned, our flight was assigned to desk 13. The girl behind the desk took a very long time to get everything in order, but she gave us a map of where we'd be landing and how to get around once there. It was a nice gesture and quite appreciated.
Going through airport security, a very polite security agent asked if he could inspect my purse. He was not rude or pushy like the TSA people at home tend to be. I said, "Of course, I have nothing to hide." He looked through the bag, found nothing out of the ordinary, and tried to close it. Well, of course, the zipper decided to act up and he was a bit embarrassed, but I just smiled and said not to worry. The zipper gets stuck when opened fully.
Our gate was pretty easy to find and I took a short nap before the flight, using my backpack as a pillow. When it was time to board the plane, we hopped on a shuttle and waited about 10 minutes or so for everyone to get on. The shuttle went about 30 yards, stopped, and we were at our plane. It would have been so much faster if we could have just walked over to our tiny plane. Oh well, that's airport security for you.
The flight was pleasant. At one point, the puffy white clouds we were flying over were broken up by the peaks of a mountain range. That mountain was huge, climbing higher than the clouds. Interesting, beautiful, and slightly terrifying... nothing should be that big! :)
As we were en route to Paris for our connection to Toulosue, I was curious to see if the demonstrations and strikes had made their way into CDG. Gladly, it wasn't and we were able to pass through relatively smoothly. Hindered only by the ridiculous practice of having to exit the secure area to pass through carry-on security yet again to reach our connecting flight, everything went smoothly. I doubt I will ever fully understand the reasoning behind leaving a secure area only to pass through screening again before a connecting flight.
There's a bit of advice for all you happy travelers out there, if you'll be flying internationally and have connecting flights, make sure you leave plenty of time to go through security again.
We arrived back in Ambialet and it was another beautiful evening at the priory. :)
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