Home, Sweet (?) Home!!

Thursday, August 16, 2012
We have arrived in Algeria....finally! 

This was our first experience with Air France and it didn't start out very well.  We had our 4 suitcases all settled, under 50 lbs each.  I had called Air France several times to confirm their baggage policies.  They neglected to tell us that our carry on bags had a weight limit.  Needless to say, we were sent to a scale in the corner of the airport to repack our suitcases and get our carry-ons under the weight limit (which subsequently put 2 of our suitcases over their weight limit).  $300 later, our carry-ons were approved and our suitcases were checked. Good thing we arrived early at the airport....it took over 2-1/2 hours to get checked in and through security at Dulles.

Our flight from DC to Paris was delayed over 2 hours which caused us to miss our connection in Paris.  We were seated in economy on the flight from DC to Paris and that didn't make for very good sleeping conditions!!  My knees were touching the seat in front of me, my back hurt and I couldn't get comfortable.  Kirk didn't sleep much either.  We can't wait until we have enough frequent flyer miles to upgrade to business/premium where we can stretch out and enjoy those long flights! 

Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris has to be the most unorganized airport in the world!!  We have decided that we want to avoid going there at all possible costs in the future!!  We had to go through security each time we changed terminals and when we were finally called to board, we went down the gateway, thinking we were getting on the plane, only to be crowded into a shuttle bus to be driven across the tarmac to our plane, where we had to get out of the bus, climb the stairs and then finally board our plane.  We were late taking off from Paris because we had to wait for the last bunch of passengers to arrive via the shuttle bus!!  And people outside of the United States do not form lines.  They form a "queue" which means they all push to the front of the line trying to get in front of you!!

The weather is sunny and warm here, very similar to San Diego.  It was a beautiful day to arrive.  I can tell you that there weren't many tall, blonde females in the Algerian airport.  It was a bit strange for me....I sure don't blend in!  LOL

So glad we didn't have to drive home from the airport....the traffic is CRAZY here!!  They make their own lanes and just pull out in front of each other.  Kirk did some research and found that Algeria is the 4th highest in traffic accidents in the world!

Our apartment is on the ground floor, just steps from the pool (very small pool).  It is a 3 bedroom, 2 bath furnished apartment.  All of our neighbors are State Department.  We are going grocery shopping tomorrow with our neighbors and then are meeting some more of the Embassy staff tomorrow evening.  We have been invited to a bbq on Monday.  It is a long holiday weekend here (the end of Ramadan) so I don't have to report to work until Tuesday morning!  :)