Off to Paris

Except for heavy turbulence over the Indian Ocean between Australia and India, we enjoy the 13-hour flight from Adelaide to Doha.

In Doha, the plane is ramp parked and we're offloaded via a scissor-lift portable lounge onto an awaiting bus.

We wish we had arrived in daylight. We cannot understand why the bus ride to the terminal was so long. Once inside the terminal, we cannot understand why the cart ride to security screening just below the lounge is as long and circuitous as it is.

We arrive in Paris after a short but interesting 6.5-hour flight from Doha.

Last year we flew over Shiraz, Iran and avoided Iraqi airspace. This year we fly up the middle of Iraq following the Tigres River passing over Basra, Bagdad, Falluja, Mosel, and other famous Iraqi bad guy places.

We arrive to rain in Paris. A 60 Euro taxi delivers us to the hotel.

This begins a 46-day Odessey mixing visits with friends and family with reviving younger memories in Dayton and Detroit and an adventure worthy of Lewis and Clark on the Snake and Columbia Rivers.