Power food before the packing-mania. Mmmm all-you-can-eat sushi for $15/ person!!! =DEAL!!!
Here we go. Time to pack. Arrgh.
This endeavour was a much more frustrating experience than we expected. The bike boxes were too small for comfort (bikes don't like getting squished sideways, you know). We literally had to take our bikes and racks to pieces and use all our jigsaw puzzle solving skills to make all the parts fit into the box together. Below is a picture of the partially completed task. I was too tired to remember to take a picture right before it all went into the box, which was sometime after midnight. It looked pretty cool though. I have never seen such a distorted bike before.
Next day, in the afternoon...off to the airport. We had asked around whether someone with a car could give us a ride out but unfortunately the one girl who offered to take us was busy in the afternoon. So our options were go to the airport in the morning and wait there all day for our evening flight or take public transit later in the day. Of course Boston has loads of taxis but with our oversized luggage we would have probably needed two taxi vans, which we were a bit to cheap for. Besides, hauling boxes and bags around the Boston subway system during rush hour could be quite the adventure.
Bags and boxes outside Josh's back door.
Josh and Laura were a great help in getting everything to the first subway station a few blocks away.
JOSH AND LAURA, THANK YOU SOOO VERY MUCH FOR ALL YOUR HELP! YOU MADE US FEEL SO WELCOME IN BOSTON AND IT WAS GREAT TO GET TO KNOW YOU A BIT. IT WOULD BE AWESOME TO SEE YOU AGAIN...PERHAPS ON THE ROAD SOMEWHERE!
Waiting for the elevator
Josh and Laura had to take the trollies back home with them so we had to drag everything by hand from then on. A very kind man who got on the same train with us kindly offered to accompany us to the last of three transfer stations on our way to the airport to help us with the luggage. THANKS SO MUCH JOHN.
Finally, on the airport shuttle!!!
Four rolls of packing tape later, the luggage is ready for check in. Seeing the bike boxes disappear on the conveyor belt was a somewhat solemn moment. Will they make it to Paris in the same number of pieces we packed them in?
We arrived at the airport in Paris around mid-day, which left us with not enough time to get the bikes put back together and ride out of town before night fall. So we just hung around the airport for the rest of the day and then set up camp in the same nook in Terminal 2 where James slept a few years ago upon his return from Central Asia.
Next morning, we relocated to Terminal 1 from where it is easier to leave the airport by bike. Although my bike box suffered a few collisions and punctures, the contents appeared to be unscathed. James' bike however must have received a hard blow from the side because the frame had a thumbnail-sized dent in it. Luckily, it is only a dent and not a puncture so the chance of frame developing cracks is not as high. Poor bike.
A few hours later the bikes and luggage were finally back in touring mode.
HELLO FRANCE! If all goes well, we should reach James' parents place in Brittany in 5 days!
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