The Flight to France and the Hotel du Cadran Tower Eiffel (Day 1) (Cultural)

It was July 12th, 2017 and we begin our journey by catching an Uber to RDU Airport in Raleigh. We had to wake up at 4:00 a.m., grab our stuff and be out the door as fast as possible. The car ride took 45 minutes, so we passed the time by playing music and talking with the Uber driver. When we arrived at the airport, we hustled over to the baggage checking line and began to wait. It took about 45 minutes for all of our bags to be checked, but after that, we were on our way.
It was now 5:30 a.m., and our flight was leaving at 6. The flight was leaving from gate #8 and we were only in gate #1, so we had a long way to walk. On the way to the gate, we stopped at a McDonalds for breakfast. We each got a sausage and cheese biscuits with water, except for Connor, who only got a biscuit because he is a proud vegan. We had to eat as we walked, or we wouldn't make the flight in time. Time was going by fast, so we had to pick up the pace.  Gate 8 was near, but it was already 6:00. By the time we made it to the gate, everyone was boarded, and we were the last ones to get on the plane. All of us found our seats near the back and sat down.
We had a little bit of a wait before we took off, so we passed the time by taking pictures of us inside the plane and and planning our first adventures. Before we knew it, the plane was taking off. The liftoff was easy for most of us, except for Gene, who had a surprise fear of flying. While Evan was trying to calm Gene down, the rest of us acquired peanuts and pretzels from the flight attendants. We were all tired from waking up so early, so we all fell asleep pretty soon.
I woke up to the sound of a baby crying. It didn't stop crying for what felt an hour. I checked the clock on my phone. I had been sleeping for almost six hours. With the six hours left that we had in the flight, I watched some movies that I downloaded on Netflix. They were some low-budget, three-star movies that were somewhat enjoyable, but only if you were really bored. In this case, though, I was.
Finally, the pilot came on the intercom and announced that we will landing shortly. I was excited, and I could tell that everyone else was too. The plane started to descend and began to level out. We were finally landing. The plane soon did land, and we prepared to depart from the flight. All of the passengers slowly began to move off of the plane. We all got off, walked down the tunnel, and into the airport. We were finally here; Paris Airport-Le Bourget.
Our next move was to go get some food. We were all starving from not being able to eat anything but a bag of peanuts and pretzels for the last twelve hours. A french smoothie cafe was looking rather appetizing, so we decided to stop by. We all got strawberry smoothies with veggie wraps and we were on our way. Next thing we had to do was get our bags. This didn't take too long. All of us got the things that we needed and then we were out of the airport. The Uber that Connor called was waiting for us outside.
We packed our bags into the trunk of the van and piled in. Next stop: Hotel du Cadran Tour Eiffel. The hotel was an hour away, so we passed the time again by playing music and taking pictures. We also planned more of our trip for the rest of the week. The Uber driver spoke only French, so listening to him speak was also pretty entertaining. We got stuck in traffic too, which was unfortunate, but we eventually arrived at the hotel.
The hotel was really nice, it had big rooms, free breakfast and a huge lobby. Not to mention it was also pretty close to the Eiffel Tower. The room had two queen beds and a pull-out couch, so it was perfect for all five of us. The lady at the front desk gave us our room key; 336. We packed our bags onto the cart in the lobby and crammed into the elevator. More people tried to get in, but they couldn't because of the load of things we had in the small elevator box. Two weeks of stuff can be a giant load, too.
We finally made it to our room and dropped our bags onto the floor. Will and Connor took one bed and Gene and Evan took the other. I got the pull-out couch all to myself.  By this time, it was 10:45, and we were all tired, so we decided to just go to sleep. Our adventure started tomorrow, and we needed all the rest we could get. I actually ended up in a super comfortable chair next to the beds, while Evan took the pull-out couch. I soon fell asleep while fantasizing our adventures ahead.

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