Some (considerable) time later I have finally got around to wrapping it all up. Getting out of Paris was not without its troubles. First, we ran foul of the lack of taxis. No one would take a booking from the hotel and there were none to be seen on the streets. The fall-back option was public transport so off we went up to Villiers but this time to catch a bus. Yes, we could have got the Metro to Gard du Nord but that would mean lots of stairs. The bus worked quite well, dropping us with only a short walk to the station. Fortunately, it was still quite early for Paris so the bus wasn't crowded which is good when you have luggage.
A last look at Paris - near Gard du Nord station
Once inside Gard du Nord, we made our way to the RER B line for a train to Charles de Gaulle Airport. Normally I would say it wouldn't be a bad way to get to the airport but we arrived to find a lengthy delay. We boarded the first train along with everyone else so it was "sardines" all the way there. With all the delays and the added time of a separate shuttle train to our departure terminal, the time safety margin was starting to get eroded. Still, we made it the Check-in queue in time and that was all that really mattered. While we were in the queue slowly moving forward, we could announcements asking for the person who had left some bags somewhere in the terminal to return and claim them. The announcements were getting more and more strident and regular until final got our bags checked in.
Around the corner and up the moving walkway to the Departure Gate we were told to go but no, it was around the corner and get stopped by a very nice French policeman. It turned out that no one had shown up for the bags and they were being treated as suspect. I was not certain where the bags were but I think they were at the bottom of the atrium that all the walkways criss-crossed over and, as a consequence, the whole terminal building was shut down. Eventually they sorted out the bags somehow and then it was a mad rush with everyone racing for their planes. We settled into ours, a Singapore Airlines A380. We had window economy seats on the upper deck. If we were flying Qantas, we only could have got these if we had paid for Premium Economy but with Singapore we were able to choose these at the time we booked. It really doesn't make sense when you think about - we booked early and got a cheap price and then got to choose the best of the seats.
The rest is history - first leg to Singapore arriving at something like 6 in the morning local time, 3 hours in the airport exhausted from a lack of sleep and then the second leg to Melbourne. We had no problems with Customs but I was bit annoyed with Immigration. Everywhere else on the trip, Anita had been able to breeze through on her UK passport while I had wait with the crowd with my non-UK/EU passport. So here was my big chance for "the boot to be on the other foot" and they just had one line operating and we all went through together...
Inside Singapore's Changi Airport
For next time, what worked well and what didn't? Staying in B&B's worked really well and using TripAdvisor to find them was excellent. Everywhere we stayed was fantastic including the small hotels where we stayed in London and Paris. Catching the train around England was great but you have to book well in advance to get the cheap fares otherwise the cost is horrendous. The seating was a little cramped though so it maybe worth paying the extra for First Class. Although it is not "a little extra", the idea of Business Class on the plane is also tempting.
What didn't work? Nothing really but getting back to London from the Lake District could have gone badly wrong. Driving a long way across England with the objective of dropping off a hire car and catching a train all in the same day seemed like a good idea but really, we were lucky it didn't go badly wrong on the day. A better plan would have been to split our stay in York so we had some time there before taking off in the car and some after we got back - much as we did with Dublin.
Love to go back again some time but, right now, we are not sure when that can be. Poor old Jasper's trouble with his eye has turned into trouble with both eyes. He needs lots of TLC and we can't leave him for very long - certainly not for weeks to go overseas...
