LAX -> CDG

So. The journey here.

My flight out of LAX left around 8:30am, which meant an early morning wake up call and rushed goodbyes to my little fur babies at home (#sobs). Then, equally rushed and teary-eyed goodbyes to my human loved ones at the AA Terminal. Los Angeles to Dallas Fort Worth to Paris Charles de Gaulle; that was our flight plan.

My Lilo “Cuddle Clone” (aka, Lilo 2.0) was one of my absolutely-positively-must-bring-with-me items. If you are a dog person or have any sort of pet, YOU NEED ONE OF THESE. Basically, you send a ton of pictures of your fur baby to the Cuddle Clone website, and then about 3 months later they mail you a masterpiece. It’s easy and awesome and not necessarily cheap. Worth it in every way, though!

Lilo 2.0 managed to scare all the employees in the AA Lounge, and subsequently every single flight attendant we came into contact with on the. entire. trip. It was pretty glorious. One stewardess came up to us on the LAX to DFW leg, genuinely peeved because no one told her “there would be a dog on the plane.” Then she sort of did a double take and started laughing. It was even more amusing in France, where we actually saw a couple REAL brindle Frenchies with owners who freeeeeaked out.

The last view of home for a while…

AIRPLANE SUSTENANCE —

— AND WINDOW SEAT WONDERS.

The journey here was pretty seamless. All the flights were on time, turbulence-free, and full of complementary wine, movies and lay-flat seats (thanks, Mark). Plus the checked luggage didn’t get lost! Success, I’d say.

2 movies, 3 glasses of wine, lots of cat naps, and a little more than 15 hours later… I was halfway around the world. We landed in Paris around 7:30am, and in a weird redeye fog had to navigate the terminal to the TGV – France’s high-speed train that runs from CDG directly to Marne-la-Vallée Chessy, the home of Disneyland Paris (our first stop, WOOO).

But, the TGV was either full or not running because of the rain (or, we just majorly fail at communicating with the French.) Bottom line, we ended up abandoning that plan and just taking a taxi.