Back to Bordeaux, Back to the Blog

I've made it back to Bordeaux after two weeks chez moi in New York drinking iced coffee and spending good ol' quality time with the fam.  I left from JFK on Monday evening with my feet still tingling from the shoes I wore out on New Year's Eve and a solid 12 hours of travel ahead of me.  As with the last time I flew to France, I walked sadly past the first class bed-seats to my rightful place in Economy.  I was seated next to a family that smelled vaguely of salami and in front of a family still donning their shiny plastic New Year's party fedoras.  The flight was fine save for the fact that there was plenty of turbulence but only one movie option (it was about robots).  I tried to sleep, but only ended up dozing for about 20 minutes.  We landed in Madrid five minutes ahead of schedule, giving me just over an hour to get through customs and security before my next flight was due to begin boarding.  Sounds like plenty of time, but let me tell you something about the airport in Madrid: it's enormous.  It took ages for me to get from one terminal to the next.  Luckily I was the first person from my flight to get through passport control, and I got through security quickly enough once they decided that I'm not a terrorist.  I got to my gate with five minutes to spare, then promptly fell asleep as soon as I boarded my flight to Bordeaux.

When we landed I groggily gave up any hope of taking public transportation home, and instead got on line for a taxi.  When the taxi driver asked for my help lifting my suitcase into his trunk, I chalked it up to the fact that many French men have approximately the same body type as the Olsen twins, when I should have chalked it up to the fact that my suitcase was really fucking heavy.  No worries, though, I realized my mistake - as I was lugging said suitcase up the four flights of stairs to my room.  By the time I made it up, I had resolved to never leave again.  Sadly, my plan to live in bed for all eternity was foiled by pangs of hunger and the fact that my room was entirely food-free thanks to my two-week absence.  I went to the small grocery shop a block away and bought the absolute bare-minimum to get by, then returned (four flights of stairs! Again!) to bed and stayed there for the entire afternoon and all but 30 minutes of the evening.  So there you have it, folks.  I am back in Bordeaux, and I am finally conscious, which I take as a good sign that I may actually survive this jet lag.  It was touch-and-go for a day or so, but I have high hopes for a full recovery.