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Eastward Ho! France-ward we go

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 We departed Chicago on the 20th, so as to arrive in Toulouse on the 21st, so as to arrive at our house-sitting place northwest of the city on the 22nd, 2/22/22, two two two two two, no matter what your cultural date-sequence is!  

Husbanding of United frequent flyer points finally achieved business-class on their Polaris-branded plane. Indeed it was quite nice; but the main point was to be able to sleep on a flat bed, so I ate dinner then slept five hours, with earplugs and eyeshades.  Interestingly, my apple-watch noted that my blood-oxygen level was quite low during that sleep.  I wonder if that is typical?  

Note to self: when you get business-class ticket, you get automatic entry to the business-class lounge in the airport.  That was not explained on the website, nor in my prior reading in various airline blogs.  We sat around OHare in a generic seating area for a couple of hours, actually not bad...but when we checked at the gate, the agent said "Hey, the flight's delayed a bit, you might as well enjoy the business-class lounge." Oh.  It was nice; we enjoyed a glass of wine and a snack, in a quiet leather chair. 

Then arriving in Frankfurt to realize we have a 5-hour wait.  So we try to find the PriorityPass lounge.  Various workers point in various directions, and say we have to go outside passport control -- indeed, we leave the transit area and get our passports stamped, walk a long way around to find the small Luxx Lounge, which was overheated and a bit crowded, but some snacks and quiet available.  After an hour or so in the heat, we decide to head back to the gate, again through passport control and very-thorough security checkpoint, and pass by ... the Lufthansa Business-class Lounge! Lo and behold, we are granted permission: spacious, quiet, lots of German businessmen on phones and laptops, nice snacks (fresh big pretzels!).  

Flight to Toulouse was easy--European business-class seat simply means there is an empty seat next to you.   The big surprise was in Toulouse, where we arrived on time at 6:30pm.  No customs officials.  No passport officials.  Not even a policeman or authority figure in sight.  The airport was obviously shutting down for the night.  Delightful, you say?  But I was expecting some help perhaps getting a simcard, and definitely getting my passport stamped, because...I had signed up for a getaround.com car rental the next day, and they (after many back-and-forth e-mails) would only authorize me if I could prove legitimate arrival in France, specifically with the current passport stamp.  I (thought I) needed a French entry-stamp in my passport.  Calling the information office (no human is visible) at the kiosk reveals that the guy is in the back room, getting ready to go home.  He comes out, is helpful and apologetic, says I can go upstairs to the Police Frontière and ring the bell, they can stamp my passport.  We make our way through the quieting airport to the Police door, ring the intercom, and I try to explain my need to the guy over the intercom.  He was clearly not wanting to open any door.  My French was quite halting, as I'm tired and find it hard to understand the tinny intercom speaker and I can't remember all the terminology -- tampon, by the way, is the French term for the passport stamp.  After I finally explain the reason for my need, he says to just take a photo of my German entry stamp and my airline boarding pass to Toulouse.  He reassured me that he had heard this many times before.  Really?  Really.  I nervously snapped a photo right there, submitted it online to getaround.com, and voila!  I am approved!  

More later.



Location: Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (TLS), 31703 Blagnac, France

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