Today I traveled and arrived to Fontainebleau, France: my year has commenced.
The travel segment was interesting (and it always is, if you know what is happening behind the scenes). I arrived at the Delta check-in counter at JFK for my flight, which would take me to Paris via Venice (don't ask, I bought my ticket late). I checked three massive bags, totalling over 80kg, and the rep behind the counter didn't blink; I think they don't enforce baggage restrictions so tightly on Medallion passengers. We made some smalltalk about holiday schedules and the incoming weather. Whereupon she informed me that my Venice-Paris flight had been cancelled, and I was looking at a five-hour layover in Italy. Thanks, but no thanks. Surely you could put me on another Alitalia flight, I asked? No dice. Perhaps another airline is flying at a more convenient time? No. I decided to use the trump card: isn't there a nonstop Delta flight, and could I fly standby? A dim glimmer appeared over our rep's head, the kind that (as Neal Stephenson put it best) comes out of a flashlight that has been sitting in a closet for five years, when you finally lose power in a thunderstorm and feel like you're in a coal mine, and have no matches or candles to boot.
"Hmmm, I think so, let me ask my manager." She walked away for a few minutes, then came back at a brisk walk. After a spell of furiously typing, she said that they would put my on the nonstop to Paris, but that I would have to hurry because the flight was leaving at 6:30p, and it was already almost six o'clock. I collected my documents, went through security, and saw that they hadn't started boarding the plane yet. Relieved, I got something to eat and drink, thus narrowly averting a hypoglycemic disaster, and returned to the gate area. The rest of the flight was uneventful; I ate bad food, watched Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt in the cheesy film "The Tuxedo", and slept. When I arrived, I collected my luggage, which had miraculously arrived even though it was tagged "Standby", which basically reassures the baggage handlers that "We know that you will do what you can with this but don't worry if it doesn't work out".
I hopped into my rental car and drove to my house in Vulaines-sur-Seine. My roommates were out, so I went for a quiet lunch in one of the two restaurants in town. I finally got to meet everyone a few hours later, and it promises to be a fun year jam-packed with challenge and diversity. I'm excited that it is finally happening, after years of planning.
11:00:50 PM 
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