Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

*Jane, Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, 7:15am*

One thing it seems the French are not so good at is airport security. From what I could tell, the fault is mainly on the passengers, who don’t seem to understand what they need to put into the bins, which articles of clothing need to be removed, etc. This is despite all of the signs and a worker who wanders through the crowd and periodically repeats the directions on the signs. And of course we've been doing things like removing our shoes at airport security in the West for around 10 years now... But several people in front of me hadn’t taken off their shoes. The man who was directing us through the metal detector had to tell them sometimes more than once, and then they would slowly unlace their shoes and throw them on to the conveyor belt. Then the man would command them to place their shoes in a bin, and I think some of these people even argued about that. The worker seemed frustrated, but luckily I arrived at the airport with enough time that the situation seemed humorous.

This is my first time flying out of Terminal 3, and it seems newer, simpler, and smaller than at least Terminal 2. I believe there are actually only 10 gates, so once the security check is finally accomplished, walking to the assigned gate is very quick.

In light of this, I would recommend leaving plenty of time when flying out of CGD, because I went through security early in the morning, and still it took over 30 minutes to get through. And right after I got in line, the line quickly got much longer.

I’m flying on Air Berlin today, one of those cheap, no frills airlines. So far it’s been very good. There was essentially no line at the check-in desk, and the check-in process went smoothly. (I watched a BBC documentary recently on Ryan Air, one of the pioneering cheapy airlines, and it sounds so horrible and difficult that I was worried Air Berlin might treat their customers similarly.) I’ll report back later about how the flight went for anyone who might find this useful.

Getting to Vienna by plane from Paris takes 5 steps. The first is to ride the métro to the nearest RER train stop. The métro operates just within Paris, while the RER takes you into the suburbs. Then one rides the RER to the terminal 1/3 stop, or the terminal 2 stop. The airport in Vienna is also in the suburbs, so once one lands, it is necessary to take either the Post Bus or the airport train into the city, and then finally one gets on the underground (in my case at the West Train Station) and takes that home. Oh, and actually in my case there will probably be a 6th step: riding a bus from the U-Bahn stop to Nick’s apartment.

I’ll be at Nick’s for two weeks. We both have a grant application due in 3 weeks, so I’ll have plenty to do even though I will be away from my archives. We’re competing against each other for this one!