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Paris was warmer than expected. And sunny. A very welcoming change from the endless yellow warnings of blizzards that have made the first two weeks of January feel like two months. My AirBnB host said he wouldn't be home until around 5PM, so I decided to head downtown, walk around. I didn't have any plans though and considered where to get off. Once I got onboard the RER though and reminded of its stops, it didn't take me very long to decide; Notre Dame. Not just one of, but probably my favourite building in the world; I fell in love with it watching Hunchback of Notre Dame as a kid, and I am somehow still always as excited to point out to myself that 'that's where Quasimodo is singing that song!' except...now the tower is obviously gone, and the whole church was closed off
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I went through some areas of town I'm pretty sure I haven't visited before - and probably not many tourists have in general. Something that seemed very much like a Muslim neighbourhood, later on a China town kind of area and last but not least Indian. It was fascinating to see all the pictures of Indian food in the restaurant windows and it made me even more excited about the trip ahead. It's probably also the reason I ended up looking for cooking classes on the internet when I got to the airbnb in the evening. There were also Indian clothing shops with these amazing saris. Can't wait to see what I'll look like in one.
I found a place near one of the main stations to eat before heading towards my accommodation. They totally overcharged for water but I being in France, I really wanted a crêpe, and since I had walked through so many foreign neighbourhoods, there hadn't been any such place. So this was my "only" option. After all, I had walked for 3-4 hours with all my luggage. Just because it's only hand luggage, doesn't mean it's light to carry it all day. And the crêpe was totally worth it so…I will plan my crêpe better next time.
I pretty much crashed when I got to my accommodation. Everything was spinning. I took a shower, made some phone calls, messaged the girls for a while as they had spammed my phone with status updates and questions all day about when we were meeting, where we would be staying, clothing plans for the wedding… I fell asleep before 10 (which is still later than I had planned and thought, considering how early I got there) and woke up half an hour before my alarm went off. By that time, I had slept like a rock for 11 solid hours. I can't remember the last time I did that. Doing that is usually quite dangerous, because then I can't fall asleep the next night. But now, it was perfect because I would spent the next night on a plane and land in New Delhi at 6AM in the morning, get a few hours of rest but then head straight out for sightseeing. So I wasn't just catching up on my four hours of sleep from the night before, I was also "collecting" sleep for the next night. Wonderful.
I meant to do some walking in the morning, since I knew I'd be stuck on a plane for the rest of the day, but there were still some messages to deal with and charging everything for the long trip, so I ended up staying inside until 10 ish. When I finally got out, I contemplated walking to a bakery I had seen on Google maps that looked good but was further away, but upon giving it a second thought, I decided it'd be better to head straight to the airport. I didn't know how long it would take to get there; transport never completely stops, even during strikes. It's not the first time I'm in Paris during transport strikes, so I know. But that's also why I was smart enough to stay in a place that was on a direct line to the airport. Plus I was flying inter-continental so then you usually need to arrive earlier, Charles de Gaulle is a goddamn nightmare and with all its internal trains and stuff, and I just wanted to get to the airport. I was absolutely starving though (quite unusual for me in the morning hours), so I stopped by a bakery close to the train station and got a pastry of some kind.
It was quite brilliant when I got to the airport; I had checked in online but it wouldn't give me any boarding pass. But when I got to the check-in counters, most of the counters said 'check-in', one said 'business class' and then, which I've never seen before, one said 'web check-in'. There was a long queue to the normal check-in, but nobody at the web one, but it was closed off - guarded by a woman. So I went to her and told her that I had checked in online. She asked for my passport, and then went through a printout she had to check my name. Once she found me, she let me through so I could get my boarding pass at the counter without queuing at all. Pure genius.
Even more genius was the fact that I had nobody in the seat next to me. And since there were only two seats by the window, I didn't have to be respectful about 'sharing' the free seat with any person sitting by the aisle. So despite my eleven hours of sleep, I somehow managed to doze off for another two after having got served 'dinner'; we had a choice between two main courses, and there was a salad/starter, and dessert. And bread. And tea or coffee, after which they switched off the cabin lights and told everyone to close all the shutters. I don't really know why they would do that during the day, especially considering it wasn't even night at the destination (Kuwait) either. So it wouldn't exactly be helping against jet lag or anything. Instead, it was actually dark outside when I woke up.
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They told us it was 16 degrees out when we got to Kuwait. We had to go outside and get into buses, so I got to breathe some of that air so…I can kinda say I've been to Kuwait, right? A woman checking the boarding passes of all transferring passengers told me that the plane to New Delhi was delayed. It wouldn't fly until 3 AM but they provided snacks in the lounge for us. All the happier to have slept for eleven hours…
Being in such a different country like Kuwait is what I love about travelling. Everything is so new even though you know it's like that. For example, the book shop is full of books read in the opposite direction! Or what I might call 'left-handed friendly books'. They had an amazing shop with just nuts and trail mixes and dried fruits, and the duty free store had those fancy boxes of dates filled with pistachio or walnuts or just plain dates; three or four different kinds. I only knew medjool! Definitely getting some on my way back. Women covered from top to toe so you can only see their eyes. Men with turbans. In dresses. Praying rooms.
It's 1.27 now, and though I'm pretty energetic still, I can't guarantee that will be the case once I get to Delhi. It means my 'rest' time at the hotel is being spent here, and even if I could, I just don't think I want to waste a day, not to mention wasting my friend's day, sleeping. So out we'll go!
P.s. I've almost amazed myself with two "short" entries in a row. From now on though, you will only get entire novels. That I can guarantee.