Trip back to Alberta... alone

This was written on the 23rd but I didn't get around to posting it till today... =)

Lome... I got through everything no problem, but go figure, just as I get into the airport I have to go to the bathroom. =P And totally forgot what my Dad said about having to pay. I go down and there's a guy standing in the doorway (in a uniform) holding the toilet paper. I think I was only supposed to take as much as I needed, but I wasn't really thinking and took that whole roll from him. It was while i was in the bathroom that i heard another lady come in and he's going "Madame! Papier! Madame!" lol. I stuck it under the door and he was happy. Then I was just going to leave and he's like "Don't you have anything for me?" =P I couldn't remember where I'd put my wallet so I spent like 3 minutes digging through my backpack trying to find it. Finally did and gave him $2, I think. Didn't really look. After that I went through security and into the boarding lounge. There were four gates, and I was at gate 3, the only one that had a "wall" around it. And by wall I mean there was some plywood nailed to boards to make a bit of a barrier. The people there were very helpful. One man asked me if I was flying Air France and told me where to go. There were like three stages that I had to go through before I could go sit down. One guy checked my passport and boarding pass, then I moved on and another guy went through my backpack. They put my backpack on a table behind them and told me to go around. A guy at the next table had one of those wand things and checked me, I guess to see if I managed to get anything through the initial security check. Then I went and sat down. The flight to Paris was uneventful. The steward was quite cute. ;) He was quite persistent in offering me wine... lol. He spoke really good English, and as I was leaving the plane he asked me if I was staying in Paris. I told him no, that I was going on to Toronto. He just wished me a good trip. =)

Paris... That airport is HUGE!!! It was a good thing that I wasn't pressed for time, cause it took me almost 2 hours to get to my gate! From the time that I left the plane, approximately. Hold on, let me check my journal... Good thing I wrote this all down, cause it's awfully foggy right now. Ok, I got off the plane and followed the signs for terminal 2E. I got on a shuttle and had to ride it pretty much all the way around the circuit because 2E had been the stop just before the one where I got on, and they only go in one direction. So I finally got off at 2E and saw that you could either go up for gates 50-79 (or something like that) and down for gates 80-96. Only thing was I didn't know which gate I was at. Luckily there was a lady right inside the doors asking people if they knew which gate they were at. I was at gate 85, which meant that I had to go down the stairs and get on the train. It was pretty sweet. =) Got off at the first stop and followed the signs. Came to security, which I got through no problem. Following the signs, following the signs... Yes, one for bathrooms! =) Still following the signs. Finally came to what I thought was the gate (and still no bathrooms) cause I had to show my boarding pass again. The lady says "OK, gate 85. Get on that bus." I'm going, ANOTHER bus?! So I get on that and we waited there for about 10 minutes for other passengers, then started to drive. I have no clue where all we went... Across runways, over highways, through the pouring rain. Finally got to the building, and my gate was the first one inside the doors. Man, that's a NICE terminal! Nice bathrooms too. ;) There were all sorts of shops that I just browsed through to kill time and be on my feet. I only had about 2 hours in the terminal before boarding, so that was nice. The flight to Toronto was long (8 hours), and I think I managed to sleep about 3 or so. Had my eyes closed for longer than that though. I watched Shrek 3 (and Spiderman 3 on the Lome to Paris flight). =) It was a long flight...

Toronto... This is getting extremely long. It took me about an hour to get through all the security stuff, but I didn't have any problems whatsoever. I got to the carousel where my bags were and almost had a panic attack. One bag was already waiting there (the one that Mom packed), but the other wasn't. I was paranoid because at the Lome airport the guy had sent my bag through while I was putting books into the other one and I never saw if he actually put the tag on it or not. I'd kinda been worrying and praying about it the whole trip, and then I got there and only the one was there. I waited and waited... Finally, after about 20 minutes or half an hour the other one came through. Was I ever relieved!!! Went out and found Oma and Aunt Rosy. So good to see them! We took the bags over to a not so busy corner and I repacked them, cause I was leaving one bag with Aunt Rosy and some of my stuff was in it. Aunt Rosy had already checked me in on-line for my next flight, so I had my boarding pass and all I had to do was check in my bags. We went upstairs, checked them in, and went out for lunch. We went to Kelsey's for lunch (it was great!) and had a good time visiting and stuff. I feel so blessed that they came to see me. =) They brought me back to the aiport at about 4, and I went through security with, again, no problems. By that point I was starting to fade. Fast. I had found my alarm clock in the bag that Mom packed, so I had that in my backpack. I set it for 10 minutes before boarding and promptly fell asleep on my backpack. I just couldn't stay awake! I dozed off and on, walked around for a bit, and slept some more. There were two flights going to Calgary before mine from that gate. I wanted to get on! lol. I bought a couple of purses at the airport too. There was a sale, $15 for one bag or two for $25. Oma and Opa gave me some money, so I bought a couple. Super cute! =) We finally started boarding at about 6:40 and I, once again, was at the very back of the plane. (Lome to Paris I was at the very back too). However, the flight wasn't full, so after we took off I moved over to the row across from me that only had two seats, curled up and immediately fell asleep. I woke up a couple of times, but I was completely and totally disoriented and I don't think capable of staying awake at that point, so I went back to sleep. I woke up and stayed awake about 20 minutes before we landed. Uncle Al picked me up, got my bags, and we went home. I visited with them for about an hour and then crashed. It was a long trip. Almost as long as this post.....