Saturday morning, we piled in the car and drove to Chicago, as our first flight goes from Chicago, Midway to Detroit Metro Airport. Wait... What?!? Yes, folks, starting our trip directly from Detroit cost more, so we opted to start out of Midway (leaving the car at a Park-n-Ride) and flying back to Detroit. The good news, when we get home, we're about 35 minutes closer at Midway than we are at DTW.
After an uneventful drive, we loaded up at Midway and hopped our flight back to Detroit. We had a three-hour layover, so there was plenty of time to kill. After a quick walk, we stopped and had P.F. Chang's for lunch, then proceeded to walk even more through the terminal. The nice thing about taking smaller, regional flights to DTW, is that you walk through the underground tunnel to reach the gates:
It didn't take long until we were waiting by the gate when our plane arrived. We filed in and soon were whisked off to Paris, courtesy of Charles DeGaulle Airport.
I was really surprised at our inability to find a nice "Welcome to Paris" sign to snap a picture of. Very strange... We killed a bit more time in the airport walking to the new set of gates. I think someone must like U of M, thanks to the coloring of the entrance:
Our flight to Capetown boarded early, yet orderly. We were flying Joon Air, from AirFrance, apparently a budget carrier targeting millennials. It was a basic, AirBus A330 in the 2-4-2 configuration in the main cabin, and Ramona and I took a pair of seats on the right. The seats were a bit narrow and lacked much recline, but it was sufficient enough for the 12hr 30min flight ahead of us.
The fed us reasonably well, with a nice, warm chicken-and-vegetable dish to start us off. There was sufficient juice and water to get us satisfied, so we were off to a good start. What can I say about being on a plane for half a day? It's pretty surreal. We each tried watching movies on the in-flight entertainment system, all the while dozing off and waking up, dodging the drink cart... it's enough to make the time go by. I did fill my time, inventing things with no purpose. You've heard of the banana hammock? I give you the apple sling!
Ahem. I might have just been way too bored, so I digress. Once we got near to landing, we were awarded a spectacular nighttime view of the city, lit by the moon. The reflection from the windows prevented any good pictures, so this will have to suffice.
Upon landing, we swiftly deplaned and entered the queue for Customs. Fortunately, the line wasn't bad, so we were finished in just a few minutes. After scoring some cash from the ATM, we were ready to hop a cab to our accommodations, an Air BnB Ramona and her colleague, Dr. Eric, were able to find. We met our Air BnB host and he gave us the short tour. Our luxurious accommodations featured a kitchen and living room downstairs, with spacious bedrooms upstairs. Best of all, there's a spiffy balcony on each level!
With our belongings stowed, we turned in for the night and got ready to start our Monday in Capetown!
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