On the ground in Chad!

Judy is crying, its 8:32 in the evening on Tuesday, Feb 28 and Its raining hard. We have once again successfully boarded another aircraft, this one going to Paris. We had a challenge when boarding, they seated us five rows apart. Judy was in no mood for being apart from me, Jim. As a grandmother just leaving her first grand-daughter, her daughter, her youngest son and having her oldest son in Korea, she was not going to sit and cry next to a stranger. She boldly and politely asked the gentleman sitting next to her if he would mind trading seats with her husband, five rows back, so she wouldn’t have to cry on his, a stranger’s shoulder. He eagerly agreed.  

We now sit together, and she is happy once again.  A young French couple has sat next to us and Judy has started a conversation in French with them. She has never met a person who is not her friend. She is finding that her French is much better than she thought.

Eight and a half hours later, about noon local time, we arrive in Paris on a rainy and overcast day. We have a 4+ hour layover. We leisurely go thru inter airport security, just like the USA TSA, except shoes were not required to be removed.  We ate some lunch, bought some small gifts for friends in Chad and took a nap.  About five we were boarding the aircraft again and got the very last seats in the back of the aircraft. It was just a little over a five hour flight.  Air France served wonderful snacks, drinks, a delicious dinner and a movie. A date night without ever leaving our chairs.

We arrived in Chad about 10:30PM local time and went thru immigration, then customs with only minor issues. Some friends were waiting for us and after loading the bags and a quick drive thru the city, we arrived at our new home.  Yesss, we were tired, and oh so thankful all the travel went very smoothly. Thanks for your prayers. We have a wonderful little apartment and will continue the story, with photos, another day.