Saturday – Early Morning Departure
I was again 5 minutes late getting to the hotel lobby Saturday morning. Not because I had overslept, but because I had underestimated how long it would take for my socks to dry. (I was out of socks, so I attempted to wash some the previous night.) Anyway, Steve called my room at 4 past the hour and explained that he was "on a mission to get home and he didn't want any barriers or anything to jeopardize getting home," a polite way of saying, "get your ass down here."

I was downstairs at 5:07 am. I checked out and our shared taxi zoomed to the Fréderic Chopin International Airport. (Chopin was from Warsaw, in case you didn't know.)

Steve and Connie had problems with their tickets and it took them 15 minutes or so to sort things out. I had thought about giving Steve grief about being on the "critical path," but I did not. We later joked about it. He promised his kids he would be back for one daughter's birthday party. He's a family man. I respect that, truly.

The flight to Paris was uneventful, which was a blessing, as there had been strikes in the city just the day before. Thankfully, no disruption.

As I got on the plane for Cincinnati, I text messaged Kevin, detailing my ETA. It will be really great to see him again. I've really missed him this time. Not that I didn't before, but this time, it was even more evident to me.

Anyway, I could really get into this business class thing. The seats are huge, made of a nice leather and recline to perhaps 60 degrees above the horizontal.

I chose a nice mushroom/beef barley stew for the main course. We watched "Sideways," so I enjoyed a steady stream of Pinot Noir during the film.

I don’t usually have sweets, but I indulged in ice cream and more wine.

Having drank upwards of a bottle on my own, I staggered up to the restroom, brushed my teeth and went back to my seat where I took a solid 3 hour nap.
- posted by Matt @ 8:28 PM