Final Day

This is the last  entry of this series to you all.  The last album is very short, just a couple of photos I took while we were waiting for our transfer and then two more on the way to the airport.  One has a red circle on it showing our room balcony from where we could see the Eiffel Tower.

We highly recommend that you know your baggage policy of the airline you fly with.  We misunderstood the policy and it cost us dearly, it was almost cheaper to upgrade to business class.  Customer service was also fairly poor at the airport in France, what you think should be a fairly simple process of gouging the tourists for scam money because your baggage is over the limit took far too long.  First they turn you away at the check in so you can pay the excess somewhere else, then you go back to check in to get the boarding passes.  Assuming everyone does their job properly it should be smooth.  When they don't you can easily waste an hour.

If you buy water to drink in an airport, thinking you have bought it in a secure area so you should be able to take it on-board, not always the case.  Ask first at the airline counter.  We were fairly lucky only having a small amount left that was confiscated after I drank most of the contents.  In most cases you could carry on secured water, at Dubai coming home the rules were changed with no notice.  The number of pissed off people who had to drink their water they paid for was large.  What was most ridiculous was that you could empty the bottle, take it through, then refill it.  And we went through 3 security checks in the space of 50 metres just to get to that waiting area for the boarding of the flight.

Luckily we had good seats on every flight thanks to JM our then travel agent (funny story, she graduated from Uni last year and I work in the same firm she does, small world).  Our final leg seats being right at the front of economy with so much leg room we couldn't touch the wall even in the reclined position.  First class and business was upstairs, so leaving the plane was a breeze, basically in the first 20 people off.  It needed to be it was a 13+ hour flight plus 90 minutes after boarding the plane waiting.  Apparently the control tower computers were on the fritz and everything was being done manually.  We sat in that plane for a very long time.  In between naps I managed to watch Star Wars episodes 1~4, including re-watches of the bits I slept though.

Until we see everyone over the coming days/weeks/months we've had fun bringing these updates to you all, we hope you have enjoyed them.  We're happy to be home finally and by the time I send this I hope my 3rd load of washing is done before I start my final one.

Sean and Lorraine

Daily Links
2016-07-27 Final Day
2016-07-26 Paris by Scooter (Day 2) Stuff and Things
2016-07-25 Paris by Scooter (Day 1) Montmartre
2016-07-24 TdF Final Day
2016-07-23 River Tour and Walking
2016-07-22 Versailles
2016-07-21 Notre Dame, Bastille, Eiffel Redux
2016-07-20 Louvre Walking Tour
2016-07-19 Au Revoir Geneve, Arrivee Paris
2016-07-18 Geneve
2016-07-17 Train Rome to Geneva
2016-07-16 Shopping Day Redux
2016-07-15 Shopping Day
2016-07-14 Vatican Day
2016-07-13 Vespa Day
2016-07-12.2 Walking Tour
2016-07-12.1 AM Morning Ramble and Lunch
2016-07-11.1 - Ramblings
2016-07-10 BNE-DXB-ITA

Others
2016-07.1 Euro Holiday (entire collection, includes Lorraine's iPhone photos I have previously missed)
2016-07.2 Euro Holiday (new album as previous one full)
Google Compositions