My Longest Weekend

CEB – SG – CDG – BOR

This had been my longest flight and the longest weekend ever.

I’m flying to Bordeaux, France from Cebu, Philippines, with an hour layover in Singapore and a nine-hour layover in Paris. That’s 30 hours of travelling and the weekend isn’t over yet!

I have never had a connecting flight before and I definitely have never stepped foot in Europe. This is a life-changing moment for me, as I will be leaving my family and friends for about a year to explore the french culture and language. But nothing prepared me for whatever happens in between.

So imagine me at the airport, stressing about my excess luggage. It was like the first scene from the Filipino movie, “That Thing Called Tadhana“, where I had to leave a few things and move around a few clothes in between 3 luggage just to make it in the 30-kg limit. I was so stressed out, I didn’t even have had the time to cherish my last moments with my family. I bid goodbye so quickly cause the plane was already boarding.

Once I got on the plane, I had trouble relaxing cause I was on the middle seat. It made me think a lot of why’s but I knew better and it doesn’t matter anyway. I had to remind myself to focus on the positive side, like food. Food always makes me better. One problem with being on the middle seat though, is when you need to get up and go to the toilet or the person on the window seat needs to get up for the toilet.

After the meal, I tried sleeping and I think I did. I woke up just in time we were about to land. Thankfully, the person on the window seat didn’t, but I did. I had to wake up the person on the aisle seat and politely asked if he could make a way for me. The whole situation was dreadful because I didn’t want to disturb the person, but we both don’t have a choice. I need to go, so the person needs to move. LOL

To be honest, I actually have no idea what I’m doing. When I arrived in Singapore, I just followed the signs to my connecting flight with full uncertainty if I’m going to the right direction. Eventually, I made it to the right terminal. I, even, have had enough time to wait in line and get my access code for the free wi-fi.

I left Singapore on a Sunday, just after midnight. I arrived Paris still on a Sunday, thirty minutes after seven in the morning. During the flight, I had a hard time sleeping though. I was still in the middle sit but thankfully, I was on the first row which means more leg room, right? Nope. I’m too short for that! I can’t rest my feet on the wall cause I can’t reach it. I had to be creative and had to move a lot too to get into a comfortable spot. It wasn’t easy at all. When we arrived in Paris, my body was aching and needed a comfortable bed.

*On the positive note, the food was amazing!*

I wished my journey ended in Paris, but no. I still had one last flight to Bordeaux that afternoon. I have nine hours to kill, I decided to visit a few of Paris landmarks. I passed through the immigration, got all my luggage, left them at Bagages du Monde for a couple of hours and bought a one-way train ticket to Paris. It sounds so easy though, LOL. But it took me three hours to figure all of that!

It takes another hour to get to the metro city and back to the airport, which means I only have an hour to roam around to make it back in time for my next flight’s check-in. My only itinerary on my list was to visit two famous landmarks which is near to a train station.

I visited the Saint Michel Notre Dame, which was just outside the train station and the nearest one. Then I walked all the way to the Louvre Museum, took some photos and marvelled at the beauty. After the stroll, I headed back to the airport.

When I was ready for check-in, I was confused as I didn’t see any person at the counter. People were just leaving their bags and left. I had to sit at the corner and figure out what to do. Then I realised the airline was doing a self-service check-in, and same goes for the baggage. At that time, it looked awesome and I just followed what everyone was doing.

When I arrived in Bordeaux, I was tired and sleepy. I wasn’t able to get into my Airbnb right away as the caretaker had some problems from the previous renter. I waited almost 3 hours to get checked-in and when I got in, it wasn’t ready. Still, I was tired and didn’t mind. I got my keys, settled my things and went to bed thinking about my whole year ahead of me. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJW9O7OyuaE&feature=youtu.be