Another Travel Lesson Learned

Last time we took a transatlantic flight I said “Never again an overnight flight without a bed (or at least a darn big seat).”

So this time we found a two-for-one deal with beds on the flight. Great, right? Yes, of course, and we did sleep.

Except that the flight is only six hours long, a short night by most standards. And you get dinner first. So at best you get four or five hours of sleep. And that’s if you can fall asleep on a full stomach.

Which might be ok if you had slept more than four or five fitful hours the night before.

All of this is by way of saying we were way too tired our first day in Paris. It was not a lost day, but if you are in what is arguably the most exciting city in the world, you don’t want to see it through a veil of fatigue.

So next time, if there is a next time, no predawn departures. Even if we have to fly to New York or LA or wherever a day early and get a hotel, it will be worth it.

And next time, I’ll eat early in the airport and skip dinner on the plane. As soon as the flight attendant hands me the little pack containing a sleep mask, earplugs, and socks, on they go, and out I go.