Let's Begin Gentle - Or Not?

Yesterday, we've dropped off Aluna at my colleague Berit, who would take care of her for next couple weeks. I had to hold back the tears. I have never been away from her for such a long time before. However, I was sure, Aluna would feel safe and sound with Berit and her partner Jan.
This morning was an early start, as Seb and I woke up at 3.15am to get ready for our 4 week adventure through 3 different francophone countries. We packed our last bits and pieces and went outside to wait for our taxi. As it arrived, we thought we've booked the wrong thing. It was a luxury limousine with designer leather seats and ambient lighting.
"Are all taxis that nice?", asked Seb the driver. He just smiled and said we'd be lucky today, as the company didn't have any other taxis in the city. Unfortunately, the "Champagne was in the fridge at the back of the car."
We chatted a bit about the career development of taxi drivers and how difficult it is to sustain with that job, until he dropped us off at the train station. We wanted to get the cheap Niedersachsen Ticket, but I've completely missed the fact that it is only valid from 9am on... We needed to get the train at 5am. Well, train tickets as usual it is then. Only 10€ p.p. more was alright though, for a booking of such short notice. We hopped on the train and after 1h we arrived at the Hanover main station. Obviously, when something goes smooth with the Deutsche Bahn, the next thing has to be delayed. But we only had to wait 7min for the S-Bahn to arrive. At the Hanover Airport, the Check-in was still closed, so we could find a quiet spot to sleep a bit. At 8.30am, we made our way to Check-in again and it opened just then. We queded in and saw a family in front of us leaving the counter again. When it was our turn, we overheard the desk worker say "Why do all the Paris people to us?". Seb and I looked at each other and told the lady our destination was Paris as well. "It says so on the panel. These are the Air France counters." The lady looked at us as if we'd be milking mice. "But usually this is the Euro äwings counter", she tried to make sense of the situation. She went looking on the panel and was super confused, as she saw that we were right. After a call to her colleague, she packed her things and said "You're right. It's Air France today. They'll come in 5min. Eurowings is in another terminal today." Well, I guess someone didn't get the memo. However, the Air France people came around at last and we could Check-in. Sebs luggage was too bulky, so we had to drop it off at another counter. Hopefully, it would arrive in Mauritius anyway. Leaving our luggage behind, we went through Security and waited for our flight to depart. It happened way faster, then we thought and the Boarding was completed after 10min. We steamed toward the Take Off area and didn't even stop but took off immediately. In the air, we got a (veggie) sandwich and something to drink. Seb chose a tomato juice and stated that it was scientifically proven that it tastes differently than on the ground. I tried it - tasted like McDonald's ketchup to me. But the veggie sandwich was pretty good and they even asked if someone would like another one. I would have never thought, that we would get a snack on a shuttle flight on AF HOP! The flight was over soon and we arrived in Charles de Gaulle, Paris. We've heard lots of horror stories about the airport, so we were ready for everything to come. However, in the end it wasn't too bad. Yes, you definitely need some time to get from Terminal to Terminal, but it's not too bad. We landed in T2G and had to get to T2E. We had to first take a bus to T2F, which was absolutely crammed with people. Arriving there, we went through the Immigration and walked until we arrived at T2EL, but we had to take yet another crammed bus to T2EM. But afterwards, it was a piece of cake. Our gate M44 was right around the corner and it only took us 1,5hrs from landing to the next gate. So we could get some coffee and sweets before settling down to charge our phones once more.
Boarding started and finished, so that we could start just on time. We took off and an extremely annoying high-pitched and loud noise appeared. Looking around, I figured that not only I was hearing it - there were a lot of baffled faces around. But the noise didn't go away and the flight attendants could do nothing about it... So we had a beautiful, calm flight to get some well deserved rest before our real holiday started - not.Read more