To Cambodia

I checked in at the Zurich airport and paid for my excess baggage. It was CHF 300 that is about $300 for six kilos or 12 pounds. I tried to get the seat in front of mine that was in the exit row but I could not.

I slept most of the way to Charles De Gaulle (CDG) a one-hour flight. I had four hours to kill in CDG. I found a small desk with an electric plug and went to work trying to solve a Lightroom and Photoshop problem.

Working away at a small desk I looked up and there was a crowd in the aisle, everyone was looking down the terminal toward an empty portion of the terminal, to the place where I had just checked to see if I could change my seat. Army personnel had the area blocked off. I guess someone left a bag unattended.

Some time ago, when I was at Orly airport, they had cleared most of the terminal. A while later there was a very loud bang, they had put an explosive on the bag and blown it up.

At CDG, I went back to work. 30 minutes later people were allowed back into the terminal. There was no bang.

I boarded the flight to Bangkok (BKK) just after the families. I was in the second row or coach class and was lucky I got on early, I staked out my place in the overhead. The guy that had the seat in front of me told me how he thinks he got it. Next time.

Boarding early gave me a chance to see all of the other 340 passengers come by. I asked how full we would be and the attendant said there would be about 40 seats free. Not enough to stretch out and sleep.

Usually on a plane I fall asleep during taxi, wake up for takeoff and then back to sleep. On this flight it did not work I was awake the entire flight. It must have been the nap on the flight from Zurich.

We took off from CDG an hour late. I set my watch on what I thought was BKK time. The time on the in flight display had a different time so I set my watch to that. It looked like I would have seven hours to kill in BKK. I was not looking forward to that.

I was one of the first passengers down the gangway into the terminal. A thin Thai boy was holding a sign with my name and those of four others. I introduced myself and stood by while he collected the others. I asked what time it was and was told 13:15. It did not register at the time but my flight to Phnom Penh was to depart at 13:40. It was a jog through the airport to make the Bangkok Airways flight to Phnom Penh. There was NO Way my suitcases would make it.

When I walked into immigration in Phnom Penh, a man held up a sign for me, then helped me fill in the paperwork at immigration and file the claim for my bag.

I made it.