Day 8: Wednesday, January 22

Home Time!

Time to return home to our true north strong and free.

One Last Venice Breakfast

I had set an alarm on my phone for 8:00AM but awakened at 7:45, so I had time to linger in the luxurious King-sized bed for a short while longer. At 8:00 I got up, showered, then went down to the hotel’s Breakfast Room for one last awesome breakfast at the Hotel Saturnia & International Venezia.

After I loaded up my breakfast plate, I noticed James sitting at a nearby table, so I joined him for breakfast. He said that Phil and Kate had already gone out shooting on that extremely misty and foggy morning, and he was going to follow suit once he was done his breakfast; James finished up and left about 9:30. I finished my own breakfast shortly after that, then returned to my room to finish packing and preparing for departure.

Bound For Marco Polo Airport

I checked out of the hotel at about 10:15, paying for the previous night in the hotel (which wasn’t covered in my Light & Land tour package).

Leaving the hotel I found my way (successfully!) through the winding Venice streets to the Santa Maria del Giglio Vaporetto stop to catch the Alilaguna boat (Orange Line) to Marco Polo Airport for my flight home:

I caught the 10:45 boat. I was several hours early at this point so it proved to be a very relaxing, enjoyable and scenic ride to the airport. On the boat, I got a big kick out of the little Italian girl opposite me who was singing Christmas Carols in English!

As the boat slowly made its way through the Grand Canal to the airport, I took a couple of random last shots of Venice in the light mist:

Arriving at Marco Polo Airport (Very Early)

I arrived at the airport around 11:45 for my 4:05PM flight. After disembarking the boat at the airport docks, I wandered around the airport a little to get my bearings. Venice’s Marco Polo is a very clean and modern airport:

Did I Mention I Was Ridiculously Early?

I then checked in for my flight via an Air France kiosk. My flight out of Venice was AF1727, departing at 4:05PM that afternoon. Like my arrival flight earlier in the week but in reverse, this flight lands in Paris and connects to flight AF0386 bound for Toronto:

I was hours early for my flight so its information was not yet posted on the Departure boards. I also could not print my boarding pass for the same reason.

Time For Lunch

At about 1:00 I had a pizza combo meal at the airport’s Kitchen Pizza Bar. This meal deal was comprised of a large pizza slice, a fruit salad and a Coke Zero, all for €14.00. I settled in at a table to have my lunch and get caught up on this journal. At 1:30 my flight information was still not up on the board, nor could I check in, but that was OK – there’s something relaxing about being so early at an airport, so I didn’t mind the wait.

After lunch I strolled around the airport a little more and discovered this artwork designating the washrooms. At the Venice airport, even the washroom signs were artful:

Check-in At Last

At about 2:00 I decided to try printing my boarding pass at an Air France kiosk, as I could not get it to work earlier. I still could not get the kiosk to print my boarding pass, but the Air France counter was now staffed and operational. I checked in there and asked the staff to print my boarding pass for me; check-in was a breeze.

I located the Security gates and got ready to go through the usual scanning and mauling procedure. When they scanned my carry-on bag, Security became very interested in its contents – I suspect it was all my cables and batteries for my camera gear that caught their attention. I then had to do a special screening where they swabbed my palms with some substance (bomb detection, I assume?). It all went OK, though, and I was then free to move on.

By 2:30 my boarding gate was still not announced so I made myself comfortable in one of the waiting areas until the flight information was made available. I had a good seat for viewing the airport flight apron but it was so incredibly foggy that not much could actually be seen.

Time To Board

The boarding gate was finally announced as Gate 13, so I made my way there, joining the queue – so many people: this was a very full flight!

We boarded at 3:35. I found my seat (11A) and got settled – unlike the Toronto-Venice experience a few days ago, this return journey home remained an “Economy” experience… c’est la vie.

We pushed back right on time at 4:05PM. It was a pleasant and smooth flight out of Venice, but the weather was extremely foggy so it was not possible to enjoy a last glimpse of the city from the air.

So long, Venice! It’s been great…

Debacle at Charles de Gaulle

We landed at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris right on time at 6:00PM, and that’s where the fun began…

What Air France was thinking when they put these two connecting flights together is beyond me. My Air France flight from Venice was scheduled to land at 6:00PM at Paris Charles de Gaulle, and my connecting Air France flight from Paris to Toronto was scheduled to depart Paris at 7:00PM. On paper, 1 hour may not seem like a tight connection time, but in actuality, it was almost impossible. The reality of the situation was that, as the wheels of my plane from Venice were just hitting the runway at 6:00PM, my connecting flight to Toronto was boarding at 6:05PM.

Seeing all this on my boarding pass, the realization of the situation hit home. It seemed to take forever for the Venice flight to taxi to the terminal when we landed. When the plane did stop we were not at a connecting bridge to the terminal, but rather in the middle of a runway where an open stairway was manually pushed up to the plane so we could exit. Coming down the stairs we then made a run for a waiting bus to shuttle us to the terminal – this wouldn’t have been so bad but the rain was utterly pouring down in buckets and we were all soaked.

After bumping along on that stupid airport bus, we finally made it to the terminal, where I sprinted at near-Olympic speed to try and find my way from Terminal 2F, where I landed, to Terminal 2E where my connecting plane was boarding.

After frantically running through seemingly endless hallways, I then rounded a corner to find that I still had to pass through Border Control (Schengen Area). I silently prayed that I still didn’t have to pass through Security – thankfully, that was not the case. Charles de Gaulle was an impossible airport – the signage was confusing and useless, and there was NO ONE around to help.

To make a very long story short, I finally found Gate L53 in Terminal 2E. Everyone had already boarded the plane and there was literally no one at the boarding gate, not even Air France staff. Crap!! I was so sure I’d missed my flight, but the bridge door was still open so I made a run for it. They were about to pull the plane door shut when this frantic Canadian madman came running up yelling WAIT!!, WAIT!!

I got on board, absolutely soaked with sweat, red-faced and gasping for breath. God bless the Air France Flight Attendants; they were so kind. One of them was uttering soothing/reassuring words to bring my heart rate down (“don’t worry, you’re on board now”, “It’s OK”, etc.), while the other one brought me a big glass of water. Collectively, these Flight Attendants were just freaking awesome and I told them so.

In all my years of travel this was the closest I’d ever come to missing my flight, and it wasn’t even my fault! I hope the experience never happens again. All the while this drama was unfolding I swore under my breath that I will never, never, EVER pass through Charles de Gaulle again – I don’t think I’d live through a repeat experience of that. Charles de Gaulle airport is so bad and so confusingly laid out, it makes Toronto’s Pearson International look good – and that’s not saying much.

Paris Departure

Anyway… I found my seat (29J, aisle seat of a 3-across) and settled in, drenched in sweat and still puffing from my run. We were scheduled to depart at 7:00PM but were delayed as a “rude” passenger had to be ejected from the plane (or so the Captain announced over the PA system). We finally lifted off at 7:45PM. It was an extremely foggy night in Paris so there was no chance whatsoever in catching an aerial view of the city as we climbed into the sky.

Crossing the Atlantic

Once we reached our cruising altitude and levelled off everyone settled into the rhythm of the flight. I connected to the free Air France WiFi (thanks AF, nice touch!). About an hour out of Paris the flight’s main meal was served. I opted for the chicken dish, and it was actually very good.

After the meal service was completed and the cabin darkened for the flight, I listened to the “Red” and “Blue” Beatles albums in their entirety, which took me through another 3 hours. About an hour out of Toronto a light meal was served, consisting of a sandwich, yogurt and a muffin.

Back in T.O.

We landed in Toronto at 9:40PM, amazingly only 5 minutes behind the scheduled landing time. I deplaned, cleared Customs, and made my way to the baggage carousel, praying that my baggage made its way back successfully to Toronto (on the flight to Venice my ID tags somehow got ripped off in transit). It took a long time for our bags to drop, but my trusty suitcase did finally appear. On a side-note, I’ve recently discovered Apple AirTags, and they have certainly reduced the stress of trying to locate a seemingly missing piece of luggage.

It had been quite a few years since I’d been in Pearson International’s Terminal 3, but I don’t remember it as being this chaotic. In any event, my “limo” driver was waiting for me upon my arrival so I met him at Door A, Pillar 7. The weather was a bit of a shock as I stepped outside: southern Ontario was going through a cold snap of -15 C at the time. The limo driver and I had a laugh when we recognized each other – he was the driver who brought Vince and I home from our Portugal trip in the fall of 2023.

Home At Last!

The drive into the city was OK except that the Gardiner Expressway was absolutely blocked and not moving – this at almost midnight! The driver got on to Lakeshore Blvd. and this allowed us to get into the core a lot faster, reaching home at 11:15PM.

Everyone at home was fine and Ollie, especially, was very happy to see me and I was severely love-bombed (oh, the joys of a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel). I chatted with Vince for a while, then everyone was off to bed – it was past midnight and I was tired and jet-lagged beyond description!

Thank you, Venice! It was a wonderful, rewarding and beautiful trip.  😊