An American in Provence

Guess I should come out of my hole and say that we made it back to France, and into 2011.
We had a great time in Thailand, for which I shall dedicate several posts.

First off, I am going to start with the flights, there and back.
Let me preface this by the past two times we have gone to see my family (in Colorado, 2006, 2008) the trips have been hellacious.
Christmas 2006
Christmas 2008
After these above two trips Alain sternly informed me "Never again are we going to your parents' in Colorado for Christmas. Unpredictable weather plus overbooked flights plus two or more connections is a no-can do." He commented that we had a 100% Christmas travel problem rate, which was not looking good. I argued that it was only a 50% rate, as the return trips for those two trips went well, but he said it was the overall trip that counts. I disagreed.

After much arguing, begging, and pleading, I got him to agree to go to Thailand this year, as it will be our last opportunity to go, as my sister and her family are leaving this year. He is not the best of travelers. He was worried that the plane would crash, that he would catch some horrible tropical disease, that he wouldn't be able to get his work done on time, etc.

Anyway, we were scheduled to leave from Marseille on Friday afternoon December 17th, to Munich, then to Bangkok.
When we tried to check in, we were informed that the flights to/from Germany were experiencing delays due to bad weather in Germany. They weren't sure when our flight would leave. We were scheduled for a three-hour layover in Munich, so we had a little leeway, but not too much. There was some confusion as well, because there were two flights Marseille-Munich scheduled about 2 hours apart, and almost the same numbers 2556 and 2558. We decided to wait until we found out whether there was actually going to BE a flight that day before surrendering our luggage. However, due to the similarities of the flight numbers, we almost missed the last check-in for our flight. We were forced to check-in, without being sure we would get out on Friday. I guess if you have to be stuck somewhere, it is better to be stuck at home, but when you have a squirrely traveling companion, it is best to get them en route so that they no longer have a choice of whether they will go or not. At least if we were stuck in Munich we would be almost forced to go on, but if we were stuck in Marseille for a day or two, I would have had that much more trouble to get him on the plane.

We checked in, went through security (next to the noisy Russian on his cellphone for 30 minutes), and got in the puddle-jumper, leaving about 2 hours later than scheduled. It was not the most reassuring plane for bad weather. They tried to stuff the passengers from both flights onto the one plane. I think they succeeded for the most part.

We got to Munich and went through passport control. They saw in my passport that I had been out of the US for awhile, so asked what I was doing here (in Europe). Don't arrest me, it's his fault. I showed him my carte de sejour (luckily I brought it with me), which I guess was acceptable. Alain went through next and was told "I guess you don't need a carte de sejour."
It turns out that our flight to Bangkok was delayed as well. I was hoping we would have some seats around us empty, but no such luck. We were seated in the middle 4-wide row of the huge plane. I was next to some German women who wouldn't shut up. After the meal I asked if they could please lower their voices as it was 1 a.m. and most everyone around was sleeping. They got all huffy and did not.

We arrived on Saturday, around 3 in the afternoon. It was quite a thermal shock, going from the blizzards of Germany to the heat of Bangkok. We got off and followed the hordes to customs. While filling out the customs form I saw the indication "Visa Number". Oh drat. Honey, um, I hope we don't actually need a visa.... Was a bit nervous that we would be sent back to France (for which Alain would never forgive me and I am sure we would never be going anywhere for Christmas again, or maybe just ever.) I guess tourists don't have a problem though because we were waved through without any problems. My sister was there waiting for us, and our luggage even came through!

Our return flight was on New Year's Eve. As I generally despise New Year's, missing this did not bother me.

We were scheduled to leave for the airport at around 9 p.m. for our flight at 11:50 pm. A little before we left, my brother-in-law Larry got a phone call from a buddy (Orlando) of his (whose wife works with my sister Leah). She is American and he is from the Dominican Republic. Her parents, brother and sister-in-law were in town for the holidays, and I guess he needed to get out of the house. In response to the question of what we were going for New Year's Larry told him that an airport run was scheduled and jokingly said he could come along if he had nothing better to do. Orlando accepted (I guess he REALLY needed to get away from his in-laws), so a little after 9, Alain, Larry, Mom, Dad, Orlando, and I piled into Larry's van, and we drove to the airport. It was a bit weird saying goodbye to family with a complete stranger there, but he moved away a bit to give us some privacy.

After our goodbyes, we went through passport control again (on a tourist visa must leave the country within 30 days or else there is a fine), then security, then went to the gate. The plane left a little before midnight, and was still in the ascent at midnight. They didn't make an announcement, or pass around champagne, or anything. No chatty Germans this time, for which I was thankful. I took two sleeping pills, put on my sleep mask and ear plugs, and managed to sleep a bit. On planes, I prefer to put my head forward, either on the tray or else against the back of the seat in front. However, as the person in front put their seat back (and we were in Economy) I couldn't lie straight, so had to lie in a neck-twisting position. Got off the plane (in Frankfurt this time) at 5 a.m. with a stiff neck.

Again through passport control and security, but no customs. I was worried that we should have picked up our luggage then re-checked it, but it made it to Marseille, so I guess not.

We were wandering around the Frankfurt airport, waiting for a damn coffee shop to open, when Alain ran into a former PhD student (Ivan) of his. Ivan is French-American and finished his thesis in October, then moved to Chicago for a post-doc position. He went to Budapest to see his girlfriend for the holidays, and was on his way back to Chicago. Very strange. Ivan didn't have much time before his flight, so they didn't chat long.

We got our flight to Marseille at around 8:30, getting back to Marseille at 10. We got our suitcase and were about to exit the secure area when a controller stopped us. He asked whether we were coming from Bangkok. We looked at each other and said yes. He asked if we had anything to declare. Um, no? He let us go. Alain was terrified that when leaving Bangkok we would get arrested for drugs that someone slipped in our suitcase and that we would be throw into Thai jail for 20 years. When we were stopped, the thought briefly crossed my mind. Noooo!! I'm an American!!! My sister works for the Embassy!!!

We weren't as exhausted coming back from Thailand as we were going. New Year's dinner was moved to the 2nd, at our request. I thought we would be too tired the day we arrived, but it turns out that we were somewhat awake. It always seems easier to adjust going from east to west than west to east (unless you cross the international date line). I wonder why that is?

Anyway, it was our best Christmas travel experience yet.