I fly to Dublin through JFK and Paris and Discover that Ham and Egg-salad Really Do Go Together.




So, about 30 minutes into my layover at JFK, I walked into the women’s bathroom. Now, I didn’t know that I had walked into the women’s bathroom. I just walked into the bathroom and realized there were women in there. Then, I wondered why women were in the men’s bathroom. Then I wondered who had removed all the urinals. Then it struck me that I might not be in the men’s bathroom.

Some may say that it does not that it does not bode well for a trip around the world if you can’t figure out which is the right bathroom when you're still in your own country. I would argue that I am just very eager to explore new places.

And, by the way, if you’ve never been in a women’s bathroom, it is NOT as cool as they made it seem in The Office. Plus, the occupants of women’s bathrooms are far from welcoming and, in fact, are distinctly unfriendly.

Anyway, after an uncomfortable flight to Paris, I packed up all the food from the breakfast tray they gave us on the flight in preparation for the long layover before my flight to Dublin. That's when I found out that my long haul flight granted me access to the Air France lounge.

Charles De Gaul Airport.

Apparently the French like glass.

The Air France Lounge


The Air France lounge is seriously crazy. It’s like the kitchen at Northlich multiplied by 100. There are croissants, water, juice, that crazy French yogurt that contains 110% fat and tastes better than a Dairy Queen Blizzard, bread, champagne, wine, vodka, other liquors (including Kentucky whiskey – holla Kentucky), little mini Cokes and Diet Cokes, mini beers and even Fanta.

I briefly considered getting drunk just based on principle (the principle being that it was free), but I thought better of it. Instead, within the first 15 minutes, I had eaten two breakfasts and, a half an hour later, I had lunch – including, among other things, an egg salad-and-ham sandwich and a tuna-and-basil sandwich (the lounge is seriously giving Poppie's a run for it’s money on odd ingredient sandwiches). I also had some potato chips that, from what I could translate, were labeled Ancient Potato Chips (Chips a l’Ancienne? Anybody?) – I guess everything in Europe is really old.

The lounge also had a small bathroom with cool urinals and a private toilet stall.

The French Sense of Style Carries Over to the Bathroom

If you made it this far in my blog, please don't worry that it will only consist of detailed descriptions of airport lounges. It's just all I've experienced so far. Plus, I don’t think they will ever let me in one again. Which is too bad because I think the Air France lounge could be better than the Louvre.

On a final note, and, to leave the lounge talk aside for a moment, I’d like to mention that, while foreigners may not really like America all that much at the moment, they certainly love the heck out of New York. In the terminal and on my flight, I have never seen so much ‘I heart New York’ gear, ever. Entire tour groups wearing identical, matching shirts with ‘I heart New York’ keychains dangling from their bags. It was actually really cool to see.

But, I felt a little bad because Cincinnati was left out - anyway, I heart you Cincinnati. Big time.