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Introduction
Hello readers, this is part two of my first solo trip! Really Part 1 since the first part was the intro. I don’t want to dig into it too much but long story short, my first solo trip was to France! Read about it by clicking the swagitty ass button below!
The story goes on…
The Plane ride itself was much less of a crime against humanity as you might expect from my opening salvo. It was about ten hours or so, direct from San Francisco International Airport to Paris Charles de Gaulle. It was my first solo airplane trip though so I felt a lot more uneasy than usual. At the time, the length of time was like a foreign language, let’s say French, for me. I mean it carried no weight. So what if I’m on the plane for ten hours I’ve been alive for (wait while i open a tab to do some calculations)… for 166,440 plus hours and still look sexy so you know, i didn’t sweat it.
That was until I got up from the floor sweating. But that was the standout moment of a fairly standard flight. I talked a bit to the guy next to me but spent most of the flight drawing. I’m into anime as you will find out and my drawing style is kinda based on that. Furthermore, upon my brother’s recommendation I had downloaded about 10 of the first episodes of FullMetal Alchemist Brotherhood to watch, being the first anime I’d seen in probably five years or so (I guess that kinda contradicts the anime fan statement but whatever. I do what I want!)
everyone has a story
My stomach churning and vision turning aside, the flight was fine. When I got off in CDG, it felt as if I was floating. I couldn’t take anything in. I just joined the line going out and towards Customs like I was being automated to do so. It was surreal, the sight of French words suddenly popping up sur les panneaux (on the signs) still didn’t stir much of a reaction in me. For that reason, the actual going through customs was a blur I can’t recall. I just passed like a spirit onto the baggage claim to retrieve my big, bulky fading green backpack, coupled with the greener computer bag I brought with me to carry my Ar15, no to carry my computer! Duh! It’s a testament to my travel stupidity to bring not one huge bag but one huge bag with a side of a smaller bag containing my most valuable devices.
Not actually Paris, just Vegas haha I didn’t take enough photos
Nevertheless, I navigated my way out to the area where the buses were, pulling my back’s angst with me as i shuffled through the airport with this cumbersome bag. Now you might think this proves my intrepid nature and inner explorer just attempting to blossom out of its shell early but no I had printed a map of the airport before and just memorized the path I had to take. My bus was like an airport shuttle that would take folks straight from the airport to the Eiffel Tower and to me it was perfect as I had a few hours to kill.
It was about 2 or 3pm when i arrived and I scheduled to meet the Airbnb guy around 5pm so I figured what a better way to start this trip off than to immediately see the Eiffel Tower. In that bus, I got my first glimpses of Paris and all in all it didn’t stand out much. You know the airports are always built quite away from the big cities and so what I saw of Paris screamed out big city with little else to say. As we drove it never really got to me where I was. Suddenly we entered the central area and the bus came around to the Arc de Triomphe. Realizing we were stopping, I decided to change plans and in a strangely bold move for me at the time, I got off the bus early, getting out at this little park area right by L’Arc de Triomphe.
Yours is just as valuable as anyone else’s
This begins the real surrealness. Hitting that grassy floor and arranging my bags, getting ready to take pictures, I felt a cold wave rush over me. The bus had left. There was no airport, no family, no drive to occupy my time. I was alone now, feeling as tiny as I ever had just yards away from the booming facade of the enormous Arc de Triomphe. It towered over everything in sight, forming an arch over the main thoroughfare of traffic. I took a deep breath and forced myself to move. Compared to the US, Europe is not as skyscraper heavy in general and this area was no different so the buildings were low enough that L’Arc de Triomphe really did tower over and speaking of towers, I could see the tip of the Eiffel Tower at a distance so I decided I would just follow it’s glimmering signal and walk accordingly.
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