Made It Finally!!!

Well here I am - Besancon at last! I arrived on Saturday the 30 August - Been a long journey - Where do I begin.........

Tuesday 26 August:
Well – the day finally arrived that I depart – felt like a long time coming – had known for over a year that this would happen! But – on the day didn’t realise how sad it would be to leave – possibly the night before was the worst. Well over to Queenstown and lunch at the Pig and Whistle – my last supper! Off to the airport at 2:00 for my 3:15pm Air New Zealand flight. The lump in my throat saying goodbye was awful – one of the most emotional parts was being on board and seeing 2 little girls and a hubbie waving at the plane – I could see them but they couldn’t see me! Flight was good and landed as scheduled in Auckland.
At the baggage carousel I met Marty Rendell from Alex (who was off to Vanuatu to work for 6 weeks) and got yakking –off to same Hotel – managed to get a lift there (as AFS didn’t provide transport) as Marty bumped into another work colleague who then very kindly dropped us off at the Grand Chancellor Airport Hotel!

After checking in and ringing home went to the bar and had a few Speight’s (last taste for a while) before having a buffet dinner with Marty as company.
Back to the room and more phone calls home –-Then luggage repacked and swapped around in case of emergency! I got to bed and amazingly enough got some sleep with a few trips to the toilet in between!



Wednesday 27 August:

Having set the alarm the night before and scared that I hadn’t set it correctly ordered a wake up call for 7:15. Up I got and took deep breaths checked the luggage, shuffled things around again and decided not to carry woollen jacket but place in the suitcase so less to carry - but this raised the weight. Eekk!!! Down to lobby – no breakfast –not included – and to wait for the shuttle bus to take to the airport – as I arrived and went inside at 8:45 Alison Kroon –(1 Year - Poitiers) and Shirley Stananought (1 month) were already there, along with their companions to say goodbye. Slowly we all gathered - Carmella, Anna Thoreson (1 Year, Angers) Stephanie Horsbach, Wendy Barker (Nelson, month and going to Besancon!) Having checked my luggage weight at the self service I panicked a bit about being overweight – luggage that is!
Meanwhile huge commotion at the airport – our Olympic athletes have arrived back from Beijing! – Tried to get some photos but not very successful. Had fantastic chance to get Valerie but in the excitement the camera went off to side and only got her just at side – buggar!
First in line at the counter for Singapore Airlines paid off - not worried about being 4 kg over – wahoo! What a relief to get all checked in – off upstairs we went to wait and wait…. Meanwhile who should we meet but “That Guy” from TV – Leigh Hart – so never one to miss a photo op – got in quick!
Off through the other side – all the sprays, gels etc all in plastic bag being checked through with hand luggage and passport control. Believe it or not but they don’t stamp your passport anymore. Bummer as no way now of having nice record in your book – mainly all electronic!

NO duty free bought –couldn’t bear thought of carrying it – backpack 7 kg and handbag probably 3 kg and suitcase to drag around later.
Finally boarding time – on to the plane – seated at rear of plane, second last row– aisle seat - just in front of Alison, Shirley and Wendy all in close proximity.

12:25 Take off for a journey of 10 hours 45 minutes.

Amazingly had a spare seat next to me – what a difference! Man what a great airline – in house entertainment system in seat back infront of you – Movies – Tv – radio – Games (like playstation) learn a language - enough to keep you entertained for hours – and it did! 4 New Releases – Thrillers – Deception and ? and ? – Comedy - Maid of Honour (McDreamy)
Service was faultless – courteous, continuous and efficient! Heaps of water and drinks rounds – not that I had more than 2 wines all trip as dehydrates you and is potent at altitude! Seat arrangement 3 -4 -3.
Choice for lunch – Chicken Stirfry or Fish Pie – no telling what I chose! Tea – Lamb or curried fish – needless to say lamb – BUT it ran out so had vegetarian – very nice too!

What a great way to fly!!!
Arrival in Singapore at 7:10 pm Singapore time. With a 4 hour wait before next flight- what to do? Well find the next check in counter which is in a whole other terminal! You go there by little sky trains that whip you around. Walk for ages past heaps of shops and straight to Lufthansa desk to get seat numbers – check in! Then wait – use free internet – what a god send – these are all over the airport. Look but don’t buy – find a chair – (if you can) – wait! Go through passport control and wait!

11:05 pm Lufthansa – Flight time 12 hours 20 minutes!

EEEkkkk!!!! What a horrible plane – really in cattle class – so close knees touching seat backs – flight full – squeezed between people – I had a really big Spanish guy next to me and he just took all the armrests. Seat were 3 then 4 then 3. We had to wait on runway for 1 hour before finally taking off – kept getting bumped off the queue. NO in seat entertainment – in fact basically no entertainment at all – It was night flight so lights off ! The service was basic – hardly came around with water or anything else for that matter! Flight attendants were male and terse.
Couldn’t really sleep even though incredibly tired – about 2am the meal arrived! – Most people asleep, had roast chickeny thing, I think. Then nothing for ages, time seemed so slow… on the monitor in the aisle they kept putting on the flight path – this made it slower as the plane just didn’t seem to move. After dozing I finally started to watch a movie – got quite engrossed in it – helps to make time go by – then they switched it off half way through and served breakfast. This consisted of some disgusting white looking german sausage thing, egg which looked and felt like rubber ( apparently it was an omelette!) yoghurt and a drink. Yuk!!!!! The movie never came back on for the next 2 hours again we watched the plane inch along to Frankfurt! Definitely don’t fly Lufthansa if you have choice!



Thursday 28 August:
Arrival in Frankfurt 5:25 am, again find our way to the next departure gate – another whole terminal to go to – went by train – very simple to find your way around these airports – it is all very clear and well marked.
3 hours 15 min to wait! Went to the main hub of the terminal, found a seat, waited! We did have quick look around but not buying! Go through passport control and baggage check – wait!

Flight to Paris on Lufthansa – 8:45am Flight time 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Yahoo! A window seat – Best to have on a short flight – aisle on long flights! Hoping to catch my first glimpse of France but the weather had other ideas! Cloudy! This Lufthansa plane much nicer and roomier. Smaller newer plane!

9:55 am Paris – How exciting! Following the exit (sortie) signs we find ourselves going through escalators in tunnels that cross over each other as we ascend to another level to retrieve our luggage! What a performance – you need to read the board to find out which luggage carousel your flights luggage will arrive then find it! You have to squeeze past all the people waiting at the other carousels only to find NO luggage trolleys! Then you wait and wait hoping to see your luggage – finally after about 40 minutes it appears and remarkably everyone else has theirs too.
Off to the exit – and there is Clara an AFS volunteer to meet us. What! Wait! No customs or passport control to see who is in France – can’t be right – but sure enough nothing, nada, zilch – walk straight on out! Nothing in our passports to say we have even come here!

Clara then proceeds to get us all to the minivan – up a few flights to a parking building then along to gate 14 – we wait again for a while for it to arrive – pack us all in and we are off to Paris!

Going through the suburbs waiting for a glimpse of old buildings etc then we turn off into small winding streets, a picture on every corner, unique and quaint buildings with such awe inspiring architecture. Weaving our way to the AFS head office – we arrive and empty our luggage into their old home / offices. Beautiful building with large grounds – we are instructed that just wait for about 30 minutes then we will go for lunch and then come back for a presentation! Wait a minute we have lust flown for about 36 hours or more and you want us to do what!!! We are all complaining about the sticky, smelly bodies who just want a shower and rest!
Isla – AFS France – Philip (directeur), Clara and Brian (another volunteer) take us to lunch, we walk up to an Italian Pizzeria – my first French meal!
It is very common here to have the “menu” – this is not the thing we call a menu, that is a “carte” but a set menu and it comprises of 2 or more courses often with a choice for a set price. So for 11 Euros ($23) I had crudités – vegetables, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber and beetroot and something else – all in little raw piles.
Then Lasagne – just like at home but much better – then fromage – cheese!
A few peculiarities to note – you keep your cutlery between courses – weird!
Bread comes with every meal and it keeps getting replaced – endless –
Wine comes cheaper in “pichers” little ceramic jugs – maybe 3 Euros for one. You sit on your wine and the meal took about 1and a half hours. Very slow – but it is 2 or 3 courses. Conversation is important and will be about important stuff like politics –
Not knowing what to do - but if you are invited out in France then they typically pay – I think. Will get back to you on that one.

AFS – Still struggling to stay awake we go through a powerpoint of how the education system is organised –
A few insights here – NO school uniforms anywhere in France – even in private/ integrated schools, and NO single sex schools!
Marks are everything – if you don’t pass you don’t move on – you could have 14 /15 year olds in year 7/8. Education is very serious. Children start at maternelle (kindy) at 2! It is not like our kindy’s but sit down learn kindy’s!

Then we are given an envelope with a map of our hotel – 3 metro tickets, TGV ticket, 3 meal tickets 6 Euros each.
At this point Wendy asks – “Do you know where I am going yet?” She still hadn’t been told anything other than the town – how scary not knowing! It turns out that she is coming to Besancon with me and we are both staying in the school apartment!

4:30pm – Isla instructs us to get our bags and follow her to the metro – How amazing! We are all in shock! – We have to walk with all our luggage and heavy luggage to the metro and use it for the first time and get on / off at right place then walk to hotel – if we can find it with all our gear and no sleep – we are like zombies!

As we rattle our luggage along the roads we discover to our horror that we have to cart the luggage (suitcases 25 kg plus back packs, laptop bags, handbags and coats) down flights of stairs then end up going back up stairs again – some very angry travellers! Also the trains have very quick stops so hard to get on, find a space all within time.
Also very concerned about safety too – as we all had money, passports, valuables – obviously and our hands full of luggage.
By the time we had got on train – rush hour – fantastic!
Amazingly we got off and had same palava changing trains – upstairs downstairs fast hop on……Finally last stop –
Then upstairs – to street – busy bustling centre of Paris – no one could look up – no energy left – We must have been a sight, tired hot and bothered tourists trailing suitcases all behind one another following the leader like sheep. It seemed forever going through quaint passages and tiny streets until we came upon the hotel Ibis in Opera near Montmartre.

5:30 Check in – Off to the room – adequate – twin share. Price 105 Euro for the week and 83 in the weekends. Yay!! Shower and freshen – before meeting downstairs.

6:30 Decide to go to Sacre Coeur, Montmartre, not too much of a walk – city is amazing can’t describe it – Streets are tiny, rich, people buzzing, scooters, bikes, cafes, aromas, buildings gorgeous – everything people say is true! Up the hill to the sacred church – highest point of Paris – overlooking the city, the size of the building is impressive, everywhere people lolling around on the grass, relaxing, sucking it in. (Apparently not even that busy as a lot of people away for summer) Strolling through the artists who will paint you at the top, cafes that serve everything. Make our way back down and have tea at a little place - crepe for 3-5 euros. 9:00 Hotel – sleep!

Photos - Top left Sacre Coeur then across to hectic traffic and the Arc de Triomphe then me under Eiffel tower - can you see me? Get your magnifying glass - Spot Wally! Last photo is of the school /college where I am staying.