Traveling to Bordeaux

I’m off on my next adventure and it starts with a long travel day. I arrive at Cleveland International Airport and approach a nearly empty American Airlines check-in area. It’s staffed with about six agents and there are very few other travelers. I have my choice of kiosk. The kiosk very easily scans my boarding pass, and I proceed through the screen to print my luggage tag and boarding passes. I’m flying a codeshare flight. My flight is booked with AerLingus, but the first leg of my journey is American Airlines. Codeshare flights can be quirky. My boarding pass is printed, and it is in fact not a boarding pass. It printed a piece of paper that says it cannot print it. I have my first leg on my phone from checking in yesterday so I’m okay for now. I loop the luggage tag through the sturdiest handle on my bag and walk immediately to an agent to check it. He looks at my passport and then I’m on my way. Easy peasy.

I’m not as lucky when I arrive at TSA precheck. The line is longer than usual and moving slow. I notice a new line in the area. It’s TSA Touchless and that line has no one. I’m not familiar with this so of course I Google it. It’s only available through some airlines and you have to opt in. American Airlines is mentioned, but I can’t find out how to do this. Maybe it’s because I’m on a codeshare flight? I’m not taking the shortcut today. Overall, it didn’t take that long to go through security, and I wasn’t “randomly” selected today. Hurray!

I walk to the CLE Club for breakfast. I enjoy some oatmeal with a little sugar and coconut flakes with toast and a glass of orange juice. I sit at the bar and enjoy the relatively quiet atmosphere. Eventually, I’m tired of sitting so I leave to go for a walk. As soon as I leave, I’m notified that my flight is delayed. I wish I knew five seconds earlier because I would have postponed my walk. 

My husband texts me that I forgot my package. I couldn’t find my SD card when I was packing so I ordered a new one to arrive this morning. It hadn’t arrived when I woke up, and I forgot to check when I left. I have a camera with no SD card. I shopped at the airport for one, but the stores were out of them. Hopefully I can easily find one in Bordeaux. 

Our flight is a small plane which means boarding is quick, but it also means limited overhead space. I’m boarding group 7 and I’m relieved that the bin above my seat is still available. It’s an uneventful flight which is nice and I actually fall asleep on this short flight. 

Left: View from plane window | Right: Amaris on flight

I’ve traveled through Chicago before, but I don’t remember it being this bad. I think I’ve typically flown with United or Southwest when I’ve been here which are in different terminals which I remember being much better. The American Airlines terminal is new to me. It’s a mess. There is construction everywhere, temporary walls, and a smell I haven’t experienced since the 90s. I have no idea what the smell is, but it brings a sense of nostalgia which I can’t pinpoint. It’s good it’s under construction because it needs it, but it isn’t a pleasant experience. On top of that, the gates are a complete mess with trash on the floor, dirty chairs, it’s really hot in here, and it smells like someone dumped out a vacuum somewhere nearby, but it looks like the place hasn’t seen a vacuum in weeks. I’ve become an airport snob and this one is pretty bad.

I’m flying AerLingus from Chicago to Dublin and then from Dublin to Bordeaux. I don’t have a boarding pass for the last leg, so I see the gate agent. She checks my passport and hands me a boarding pass for this one and one for the next one. My seat has changed to the front of the plane. Not first class or a cool upgrade, but towards the front of Economy. My connection in Dublin is less than 2 hours, so I appreciate the change. AerLingus sent an email before the flight with sandwiches and drinks that are available for purchase. It was a bit confusing because drinks and food were included. I had my first can of white wine and buttered chicken. The meal was nice and I ate all of it. The wine exceeded my expectations as well. The flight seemed more cramped than normal, and I found it extremely difficult to get comfortable. No sleeping for me. Instead, I watched Zootopia 2 and listened to several hours of Project Hail Mary.

In-flight Meal on AerLingus

Dublin was a breeze and I did not have to go through passport control or immigration. It took about 15 minutes to go from one gate to the next. There was a shuttle bus that was involved and the setup was a little unusual. My next flight was out of gate 335 which was a bus. You hop on the bus which takes you to another building. This building has gates A-F and then you need to look at the board here to find the right one. 

It’s the last leg of the journey! We’re only in the air for 1.5 hours. I couldn’t fall asleep on the long flight, but I crashed on this one. I probably got a total or one hour of sleep so it’s going to be a long day. The plane is unloaded from the front and back which means we unload quickly. I’m in the middle of the plane in a window seat so I end up being the second to last person off the plane. This now puts me at the back of the line for immigration. There are two immigration officers: one for EU passports and one for everyone else. Despite only two officers, they move quickly. I wasn’t asked any questions either. I’m the last one to collect my luggage as well. I’m in no rush. I expected immigration to take much longer, and I booked my driver for 11:30am. I ended up being out there at 10:30am. Lucky for me, the driver lives close and was available to come earlier. It takes him ten minutes to get there and then it’s a 25-minute drive to Bordeaux. My driver is from Bordeaux and is friendly. He tells me that Bordeaux is a very safe city. I ask him if there are any streets to avoid and he can’t think of any. That’s promising!

Bordeaux Airport

We arrive at Marty Hotel Bordeaux Tapestry Collection by Hilton, and I’m delighted that my room is ready. I need a short nap to make it to dinner tonight! I literally walk into the room and crawl into bed for a quick one-hour nap. I could have slept 8-hours but that will completely mess me up for jet lag this week. 

Marty Hotel Bordeaux Tapestry Collection by Hilton

Time to explore! I’m on a mission to find an SD card. The driver tells me that downtown Bordeaux is a short walk from my hotel and there is shopping on the same road as my hotel. This makes navigating the city easy when your hotel is on a main road. I walk towards the city and there are more and more people as I get closer. It’s around 2pm and the shops are busy. Not overcrowded, but more people than I was expecting at 2pm on a Monday. There are very few tourists. Nearly every conversation I hear is French. It’s such a cute city and the people I’ve encountered have been very nice. Anyone I’ve spoken to has been able to communicate with me in English and have been helpful for answering my questions.

I’ve found an electronics store which I think will be a place to find an SD card. It’s an authorized Apple Store so it has an Apple Store vibe to it, but they don’t carry SD cards. I ask the salesman if he knows of a store that sells them. We walk over to a computer, and he pulls up Apple Maps. He types the name of a camera store into the computer, and I copy the information to my phone. It’s about a ten-minute walk to Panajou. Panajou isn’t just a camera store, it’s a high-end camera store and I drool over the cool cameras in here. I have a Leica camera which I love, and this store carries the full line of them. Unfortunately, Leica discontinued my line of cameras a few years ago and now they mostly sell high end cameras. Most of the cameras are several thousand Euros. No new Leica camera for me! The store not only has SD cards, but a wide range of sizes and brands. I buy a 256gb Sandisk and it costs me 99€. The nearly identical SD card was $70 on Amazon. Things cost more here. 

I spend the rest of the afternoon meandering through the city. The camera store was in a high-end area of the city with expensive stores. I see a lot of cool architecture, but I don’t know the significance of any of the buildings. Hopefully I learn about some of it on my tour tomorrow. 

Exploring Bordeaux

My dinner reservation is 6pm which is early for this area. I can’t make it this long, but remember the restaurant opens at 5:30pm. I arrive at 5:30pm and I’m the only customer, but they are open. I’m able to eat earlier. This restaurant does not get great reviews online, but I choose it because the menu seems allergy-friendly for me. By allergy friendly, I mean I should be able to order a normal meal without making any special accommodations. They also have an English menu. I know it’s kind of a tourist restaurant, but sometimes when you’re a tourist, it’s easy to go to a tourist place. Also, I found that many of the restaurants with great reviews are closed on Mondays. Bread is delivered to the table with a can of pate de foie de porc. I open up the Translate on my phone and point my camera to the can. It’s pork liver fat. I’m usually inclined to try new things, but it’s kind of a big can and I don’t want to be wasteful for a taste. I stick with olive oil. The bread was a bit of a disappointment. It tasted hard and sort of stale. The water, though, made up for it. I ordered a carafe which is tap water. Their tap water is so much better than ours. It tastes so clean and refreshing. I’m tempted to order wine, but this week will be filled with wine, so I opt out for now. I don’t sleep well when I drink and I want a good night’s sleep tonight. The menu has plenty of French options, but I can’t resist a Beef Wellington. My plate arrives quickly and it is a huge portion of the most delicious Beef Wellington that I’ve ever had. The pastry around the meat is perfection. Buttery and flaky. The meat is cooked to perfection. There is a lettuce type barrier between the crust and meat which avoids the crust from getting soggy. Also, the meat has a red wine sauce on it that makes me very excited to drink wine this week. The entree is served over mashed potatoes and came with one side. I ordered the gratin potatoes with it not realizing it already came with mashed potatoes. I love my potatoes, so all is well. The mashed potatoes were much better than the gratin potatoes. I’ve only had my airplane entree today and at 5:30pm with no lunch, I’m very hungry. Despite that, I’m only able to eat half of the meal. It’s so much food! I want to try the desserts, but there is no room for that today. I walk back to my room and at 7pm I’m sleeping for the night.

Brasserie Bordelaise

My overall impression of Bordeaux is very positive. The city is clean, the people are nice, and the architecture is interesting. I'm excited to spend a week here and the neighboring towns! Tomorrow I will be going on a food tour and then will board an Avalon ship!