SUMMARY We were up well before sunrise for final house/self/trip prep. Breezed thru airport security (even though the TSA line was longer than the regular line) and flew to Newark where we spent several hours waiting for our flight to Paris. Flew La Compagnie airlines - all business class with “lie flat” seats for sleeping. (This assumes that you’re short like me! ) Champagne, light dinner with wine and a sleeping pill. Night, night! - Karen
DETAIL
The first day of a Europe trip is typically the most boring and a little bit stressful. It’s essentially getting to the airport and getting on a plane. We’d been getting up earlier and earlier (and thus eating and going to bed progressively earlier) for a few days now. Today we get up at 3 am. It’s 10am in Paris so we feel like slackers. We’ll be hopping in a ride share at 4:45 am for the airport, so we feel we have plenty of time. We bathe, dress, and tick off one box after the next on our “Do before we leave” list.
We’re carrying on our luggage so we’re mindful of the volume and location of our liquids. In Austin we’re TSA Pre, so they’re fairly chill. Out of Newark the airline is “La Compagnie” who don’t do TSA Pre. We’ll be removing shoes, belts, computers, and liquids. Our 6 am flight to Newark was moved to 7:15 am which really helped, but that still means a seven hour layover. La Compagnie brags of a nice lounge in which for us to relax. Sadly the New York area Port Authority shut it down two and a half weeks ago, so no lounge. There’s got to be a juicy story in there somewhere. La Compagnie will give us a couple of meal vouchers to make up for this new shortcoming. But that’s only if we come to the ticketing counter, and that means going through security a second time. Thanks, but no thanks.
The reason we’re talking La Compagnie to Paris is that we found a reasonable fare and they only have one class of service: business. Every seat is a full lie-down one. We have to check this out! Their route map is similarly straight forward: just going back and forth between Newark and either Paris or Nice.
As we wait for our flight we consult Yelp about the two restaurants on our side of security. They’re neck and neck for which got the worse rating. The reviewers were beseeching us (“For the love of God…”) not to eat at these places. Maybe the reviews on Trip Advisor would be more reasonable. Nope, they were equally negative about submitting your digestive tract to either place. We figure maybe it’s just crabby travelers. Come on, how bad can it really be? Maybe these are old and the places have improved. So we suck it up and order two entrees and a beer. It is dreadful. We haven’t done any reviews, but they’d say the same things. Live and learn (not).
Our plane got in thirty minutes late, so we were a half-hour late to board. Since all seats were full reclining there was nowhere to put your stuff “under the seat in front of you”. We were repeatedly admonished to “put everything in the overhead bin”, which we did.
The seat back displays played a video explaining the safety features of our airplane. La Compagnie found an attractive couple, dressed them in white yoga shorts and tops, and had them stretch while oxygen masks automatically dropped from an off-camera overhead compartment. It was quite amusing and oh, so French.
Dinner, and the wine (not to mention the champagne when we boarded) was thankfully also very French. So we could sleep they only offered a light/abbreviated four course meal. We found everything surprisingly tasty as we savored and scarfed our dinner. We only had about five hours to sleep, max, so any time spent eating cut into our sleep time. Once the last bit of cheese and wine were consumed and the dishes picked up, we hit the ‘lie flat’ button and we're asleep in no time. Next stop: Paris, France.
Photos
Getting on the plane we see what an "all business class" plane looks like. Fun!
We're fresh and ready, after a day of traveling from Austin, and sitting around Newark airport all day. In seven hours, after (hopefully) a bit of sleep, we'll look more disheveled.
The FAA requires that certain messages be conveyed to all passengers. Each airline has their own way of getting this across. La Compagnie's way is trés French.
Of course they're equal opportunists with regards to showing attractive men as well as women.
They offer "high speed" internet and lots of movies, but we just want to sleep.
Bye-bye Newark, see you in a month.
Sun is setting. Dinner is done. Time to sleep, perchance to dream.
I see my twin is wearing our twin shirts. Love it! Wish we were with you!!!