The Trip Over

Ugh. Just no better way to describe the experience of flying from Tyler, Texas through DC and then on to a 7 hour layover in Paris before the final flight into Malabo, the capital of EG. There's no way around it -- it's a long, long journey, enough to wear even a youngster out. In my case, I was doing pretty well until the stop at lovely Charles DeGalle airport in France. We got in at about 6am and then got directed to a huge line of folks, all waiting to get through the security just to get to the departure gates. A couple of observations on my part: (1) It was an amazingly patient bunch of people. I think under the same circumstances in the US, there might have been riots. (2) Suitcases with wheels are a real good idea when going through the Paris airport. I unfortunately was loaded down with two heavy carry-on bags, which really did seem to get considerably heavier after about the first hour and a half in line.

On the flight from Paris into Malabo, I think there were maybe a handful of people actually from Equatorial Guinea ("EG-ians"); everyone else with the exception of the two of us were in the oil business. The flight was packed.

Air France, once they actually get up in the air, actually treats their passengers pretty well, even those of us traveling in coach.

It definitely was nice, after what felt like a very long time in the air and waiting in airports, to finally arrive in Malabo. And to let the adventures begin...