I nominate Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris as the most confusing and poorly laid out airport that I have ever been in.
Our flight was leaving from Terminal 3. The trouble stated when our hotel shuttle bus dropped us at a common reception area on the fifth floor of Terminal 2. There was a sign that explicitly stated that terminal shuttle buses stopped here. After waiting for twenty minutes, I asked one of the hotel shuttle bus drivers about the terminal shuttle service and he told me that you had to go to the fourth floor and catch a tram to Terminal 3. We waited on the elevators and watched them go from the first floor to the fourth floor and back down again, never reaching us on the fifth floor. So we ended up toting these two fifty pound bags down a flight of stairs to the tram station.
After we got off the tram in what was supposed to be Terminal 3, it turned out to be a lobby for a couple of airport hotels and a pick up / drop off area for taxis. The terminal itself was a ten minute walk outside, across a busy roadway. I’m assuming that this allows the motor scooter drivers one last chance to hit you.
In spite of the French air traffic controllers strike, we made it home this evening. Our flight out of Paris was delayed by two hours because the plane had been held up in Toronto on Monday evening due to a medical emergency.
It was an eight hour flight and we got home about 9:00pm, which is 3:00am tomorrow or at least that what my brain is telling me. Coming into Toronto it was a bit bumpy. We found out later that we had passed through a storm system north of Toronto that had spawned a tornado.
It appears that some type of security scare is taking place. Our passports were checked multiple times in Paris before boarding the plane. In Toronto as soon as we left the plane and before we actually got into the terminal concourse our passports were checked again. Of course customs did a final check with their new automated system.
As much as I like to joke about European drivers, I didn't see an accident while we were there. On leaving Pearson airport we saw three accidents in the first ten kilometers and the radio was telling people to stay off the 407 highway north of the airport because of a twenty car pileup.
Our flight was leaving from Terminal 3. The trouble stated when our hotel shuttle bus dropped us at a common reception area on the fifth floor of Terminal 2. There was a sign that explicitly stated that terminal shuttle buses stopped here. After waiting for twenty minutes, I asked one of the hotel shuttle bus drivers about the terminal shuttle service and he told me that you had to go to the fourth floor and catch a tram to Terminal 3. We waited on the elevators and watched them go from the first floor to the fourth floor and back down again, never reaching us on the fifth floor. So we ended up toting these two fifty pound bags down a flight of stairs to the tram station.
After we got off the tram in what was supposed to be Terminal 3, it turned out to be a lobby for a couple of airport hotels and a pick up / drop off area for taxis. The terminal itself was a ten minute walk outside, across a busy roadway. I’m assuming that this allows the motor scooter drivers one last chance to hit you.
In spite of the French air traffic controllers strike, we made it home this evening. Our flight out of Paris was delayed by two hours because the plane had been held up in Toronto on Monday evening due to a medical emergency.
It was an eight hour flight and we got home about 9:00pm, which is 3:00am tomorrow or at least that what my brain is telling me. Coming into Toronto it was a bit bumpy. We found out later that we had passed through a storm system north of Toronto that had spawned a tornado.
It appears that some type of security scare is taking place. Our passports were checked multiple times in Paris before boarding the plane. In Toronto as soon as we left the plane and before we actually got into the terminal concourse our passports were checked again. Of course customs did a final check with their new automated system.
As much as I like to joke about European drivers, I didn't see an accident while we were there. On leaving Pearson airport we saw three accidents in the first ten kilometers and the radio was telling people to stay off the 407 highway north of the airport because of a twenty car pileup.
I'm thinking it was good that the vacation has ended. All the little things were starting to annoy me. That's a sure sign that it was time for a change.
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