John and I questioned the 1 hour 10 minute connection between our Delta flight arival from Atlanta and the connecting AirFrance flight from Paris to Vienna. They assured us it was fine, but we were so nervous we didn't check any bags, no small feat when you take into account that in addition to the regular stuff you pack for a two week vacation, we also packed bike clothes, jackets, handlebar bag and mounting bracket, shoes, gloves, helmet, pedals, headlight, taillight, water bottles, water bottle cages (can you believe that they would rent a bike without a bottle cage?), and all the tools needed to assemble all that stuff.
Packed into less than 60 minute allotted time (connection boarding cutoff was 15 minutes before departure) We had to wait at the back of the line getting off the flight over to Paris because our seats were at the back of the plane, we had to wait in line at customs, we had to hoof it over to another terminal, and we had to go back through security again. All that was pretty nerve racking, but it kept looking like it was going to work out until it all fell apart at security screening to get on the domestic connecting flight. Security unpacked all of our bags and to top it off, there was a shift change right in the middle of our screening where the agent looking at our bags just left and we had to wait for the next agent to show up.
Since there were two of us, Sue ran down to the gate and then wouldn't board until John came running down with the bags after finally clearing security. That turned you to bed a good play because Sue was able to buy us 5 crucial minutes at the gait which allowed John to still get onboard. We know, first world problems. :-)
In the end, the gate agent couldn't believe we connected in that amount of time. They were very nice at the gate. Viva La France!
John and Sue
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