Baguettes, Cheese, and Wine... Oh, What a Life!

The trip to France began early with the arrival of a stretch limo with my parents inside. I knew dad had ordered up a ride, however, I had imagined it would be one of those cramped vans that stop at each persons home and, in my mind, the trip to the airport would be hell with hundred pound suitcases landing in my lap with every turn. How wrong I was! The limo was plush with a full bar, mood lighting on the ceiling, and some jazz music playing. At this point I realized my parents wanted this to be a trip to remember for the rest of our lives. The kids, and we, were happy to ride in luxury. In fact this was the first time either Tracy or I had ever seen the inside of a limo.

Airport check-in was a breeze and thier appeared to be very few travelers traversing the airport. The only delay was when we went through the TSA security checkpoint and I thought my dad was going to be subject to the infamous "cavity search" due to his recent hip surgery. It was kind of funny as my dad joked with the TSA agent by saying "I guess the next step is a strip search". The young agent responded by saying he would "quit before that happended". While the comment was funny at the time, in hindsight it is kind of scary that the agent would rather not "do the deed" and could potentially let Bin Laden through to blow up our airplane. At least the entire family, minus my brother Chris (who lives in France), would have gone down together.

Airport check-in was a breeze and thier appeared to be very few travelers traversing the airport. The only delay was when we went through the TSA security checkpoint and I thought my dad was going to be subject to the infamous "cavity search" due to his recent hip surgery.

Once on board our flight we were offered complimentary beverages including beer, wine, and spirits. Needless to say the party for the Farrell Family began within ten minutes of boarding the plane. My mother, Bernadatte, who doesn't like to fly ordered a double. Fortunatley they were not serving top shelf products or we all would have been bombed by the time we arrived the next morning, exhausted, in Paris, after a 9.5 hour flight.

We landed in Paris at around 11 am and proceeded to the "Customs" area to have our passports examined and stamped for entry. It is very obvious that the French are not concerned with terrorist arriving from the United States as we breezed right through customs with no questions asked. We have arrived on French soil! A quick stop to pick up the luggage and rental cars and off to the Bretagne Coast, some 4.5 hours away.