Flight from JFK to Paris
The flight was horrendous. We thought we would be able to sleep on this overnight flight, but our 747 was crowded and uncomfortable. The leg room was paltry, the chairs stiff, and the headrests like concrete. Charles De Gaulle Airport was smokey, crowded, narrow, utterly lacking in beauty or comfort, and had far too few seats in the waiting area. And yet, even in the midst of horror and despair....
"A funny thing happened on our way over here from France (the worst airport we have ever been to I might add.) I met this young lady in the bathroom who was flying to Cairo to visit her fiancé and she informed me that she is originally from Egypt but 8 years ago she and her family went to the U.S. And where do you think they went? Sioux Falls! Her father is a doctor and he practiced in Sioux Falls for a year and then they moved to Indiana and eventually to Virginia where her parents now reside. Isn't that funny. So Lee and I talked to her and another young Egyptian man for a long time before we all flew to Egypt."
—Faith
The young lady’s name was Ranya and the young man’s Meena. Ranya is getting her Phd in Cellular Biology, while Meena is just finishing his degree in Architecture. Both were very smart, humorous, friendly people. They absolutely saved us from Charles De Gaulle, where we were condemned to spend five hours.
A NOTE on long-distance air travel: you expect to be excited to go out and see the world, but then exhaustion dims the senses, blunts the passions (except, of course, anger), and shrinks the world into a zone as cramped and claustrophobic as your aching legs. Instead of breathing the crisp, new air of other lands, you’re sitting in a cramped metal chair in France surrounded by smoking French stewards and stewardesses who seem at least mildly annoyed. Our world changed, but not for the better. But we still need to get to Cairo....
"A funny thing happened on our way over here from France (the worst airport we have ever been to I might add.) I met this young lady in the bathroom who was flying to Cairo to visit her fiancé and she informed me that she is originally from Egypt but 8 years ago she and her family went to the U.S. And where do you think they went? Sioux Falls! Her father is a doctor and he practiced in Sioux Falls for a year and then they moved to Indiana and eventually to Virginia where her parents now reside. Isn't that funny. So Lee and I talked to her and another young Egyptian man for a long time before we all flew to Egypt."
—Faith
The young lady’s name was Ranya and the young man’s Meena. Ranya is getting her Phd in Cellular Biology, while Meena is just finishing his degree in Architecture. Both were very smart, humorous, friendly people. They absolutely saved us from Charles De Gaulle, where we were condemned to spend five hours.
A NOTE on long-distance air travel: you expect to be excited to go out and see the world, but then exhaustion dims the senses, blunts the passions (except, of course, anger), and shrinks the world into a zone as cramped and claustrophobic as your aching legs. Instead of breathing the crisp, new air of other lands, you’re sitting in a cramped metal chair in France surrounded by smoking French stewards and stewardesses who seem at least mildly annoyed. Our world changed, but not for the better. But we still need to get to Cairo....
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