Saturday, October 5, 2013, north parking Centre Hospitalier de Brive, 6:00 (French time). It's been already 10 minutes I'm in the parking lot and people come gradually. 30 people are present. Theoretical from Brive at 6:15, but too many lights and a forgotten bag make us lose about 40 minutes. It is still dark, but the sun rises slowly during the journey that leads us to the airport of Toulouse. Here we find the last person to participate in the trip, the group is complete: 31 people. Started!
Having had some small computer problems with registration, we will in the direction of the gate. During the wait, here is the video of the travel :

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Before going further in the drafting of the report, I want to say I am French, relatively proud of it, but this is the first time I make a group trip with other French... I usually do my story alone or in very small groups (3 or 4 people max) as a result, it has changed me... if I had to learn a lesson, it would be: NEVER WITH FRENCH !
I now understand why it has a reputation for grumpy, ungrateful, jerks and assholes in other countries... ( just talking of it, I remember certain things and the desire to knock some short takes me ... ). Do I look vulgar ? It must come from the huge amount of stupid remarks and capricious people who don't know how to travel (and should not leave their seats ).
When you travel, if you want to enjoy and discover the best of the country or region in which you are, prejudices and habits are allowed to houses. You do as indigenous : in France, do as the French, Italy, as the Italian and America as Americans. Some have thought that this trip is to have all the comforts and habits but seeing the landscape (and still not always). So they may as well stay at home in front of the TV watching the channel ''Planet'' with a meal tray or salad.
One of the comments that came back most often is: ''I paid so I must have it'' In theory... yes (and still not always). But not from the other side of the earth without a minimum sense of adventure. How do you want from us at 15'000km everything goes perfectly as planned ? You cannot, there are always unexpected, delays. So NO, the guide is not responsible for the shutdown, it does not put it either ill will (it has, however, done a lot for that, even if we have not seen exactly what was marked in the brochure, we could see almost everything ( and more! Since Darwin and many other things were not on the agenda... But criticism is easy when you refuse to see the good side ... ) .
It is true that we do not have went on the side of the Grand Canyon, but we could fly over it. We saw Bryce Canyon from another point of view, as good as the one in the book. We have not seen the tallest redwood in the world, but we could see huge nonetheless (and NO, there are not the same in France or even in Europe, as some have said ... oldest and widest tree in France live in Brittany, this is an oak and has 1,000 years... I saw it and it is dwarf figure compared to Redwood that was given to us to see.) .

Well, this digression has been said, the story can resume its course. (There are still likely to be some other kind of brackets and I'll try not to do more than one par day of reporting (which will be difficult given all that has to say... )).
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After recording the luggage, we go to the detector. And go for a good 10 minutes to remove all his belongings, belt, watch, shoes, bag, bag, jacket, etc. ... Then (finally) towards the boarding gate. We still have some time before boarding the plane, I want to make a picture of the rather special deco glass from the airport. These are small strips of wood connected (almost always) with colored stems. The result is quite nice, though unusual:

Shortly after, we place ourselves in the plane (a Airbus A319), luck, I'm on the side of the window ! The seats are quite comfortable and still has a little room to move around (but when we used the train is smaller of course). The windows are small, but they aren't built, at first, as a photo post. The security measures are explained by speaker and the screen placed just above us and the stewardesses. Too bad though, there will be no demo lifejacket (well, but on the screen, cartoon, which is less funny ).
It's funny, the last time I flew ( between Geneva and Bordeaux), I remembered a quick takeoff, noisy and hectic... This time, it was very smooth. A little bit of vibration at the beginning, but nothing significant. GoPro stuck to the window, I look for myself at the ground away from us at full speed and then pass over the clouds. It really is a sight I really appreciate to see from above the clouds, not to mention that apart from the night on the floor of the cows he beautiful raining cats and dogs (pun \o/ ) us up there, we always have a great sun ! Well, I will not go tanning cream so far as to 36'000ft ( 10'973m ), the outside temperature is usually 50°C... below zero ! But the view is superb :

Wanting to try a photo polarizing I enjoy the polarization of clouds:

Barely an hour after takeoff, we are above La Rochelle with the bridge that connects the Ré island to the mainland :

After we left behind Brittany and Normandy beaches, this is the island of Jersey we leave behind :

After 1h50 flight from Toulouse, here we are in London, with one hour less due to time zones. It's as simple travelers in transit, but that does not stop us from getting again control of passport, airline tickets and even a shot of detectors (I should not had to take my hiking shoes to go...). The waiting area is great, unfortunately I did not think to take photos of the particular architecture of the London-Heathrow airport. Based on huge pylons apparent cross the structure looks very raw but I think this is intentional and it's.... I would say ''charming'' but it's not really that, it's more... raw !
Through the large windows we can see the Boeing 747 which will take us to the end of the world. This is a big baby who will take off by a few hours...

We take off from England and finally came out of the clouds... yes it's gray in London. It's much better above the clouds ! And I'm having fun again... This time with a combination of two photos:

We fly over Cardiff (Hello Doctor Who!) And Ireland, a meal tray is given with a salad, pasta with tomato, a bread bun, a mini bottle of wine (red wine of south africa ''Cape Spring'' of 2012, I found good) and a yogurt for dessert. it's not worth a good restaurant meal, but it fills the stomach and it is not bad, it was enough for me (and not forget it is almost 12km altitude!).

Several hours to fly over the Atlantic ocean, I see down there to land ... except that there is a huge amount of ice and snow that covers it. Normal, we are over Greenland. 38'000ft (11'582m) altitude and -71°C outside the plane... brrr! It should also be very cold down there, but it keeps that is beautiful and that we can see the polar circle.

After this icy ecstatic moment, there is again more than the water in the eye. Many people sleep on the plane, I can not. The sun, which we follow the race keeps me awake. It is still great sun and is 22h in France, it's a bit disturbing ... After an hour and a half, we are flying over Canada. At one point, turbulence oscillate the wing of the plane that I can see ... 35cm is violent anyway! Long live the elasticity of aluminum ... Certainly, I would have seen beautiful things during this flight :

At the Bay of the Hudson, we are served a ''16:00's snack'' (haha, it is 23h in France... I would rather say a supper... but a bit complicated as it is still great sun...). We are given a cardboard box decorated like a lunch wicker grandparents. Inside, two sandwiches not bad, a scone, jam, cream and... a pot of water! First time I see it, I'm used bottles... it is original (I kept it !)

2 or 3 hours later flight, we arrived (finally) to Phoenix, Arizona, USA! He always does the sun, the earth and the rocks are red (looks Collonge-la-Rouge!), Ocher, sand and breathable warmth. No more than a few minutes before daring foot on American soil (and finally get out of the plane, as 11am without moving from his seat 40cm wide, we quickly tired), I take some pictures through the window a little damaged by frost, below, people having fun at the pool, it portends good things that!

Here we go, the wheels hit the ground, the aircraft station on the tarmac, the engines cut, luggage retrieved and... haaaa'MURIKA!
Passport control and ESTA form and recoveries suitcases we go . We finally arrived and our guide , Mark, waiting for us . It looks like Bruce Willis ( in my opinion). He explains that the bus waiting for us, and he has. Management bus, we put our business at the motel and then go eat. By the time we get off the plane it's dark ! Yet there is that... 6:30 p.m. ( 2:30 in France ) .
Marc tells us several things about the current situation with the shutdown and how it will impact our stay here. Then, how to spend the evening : arrival at the motel Hospitality Suites Resort, removal of suitcases in the rooms, dinner and then sleep (unless some motivated want to go for a walk in the evening) .
The room is simple but well equipped, even coffee ! The famous soaps in the bathroom ( I despatch to grab... ahem... ) and a large bed... we could sleep there at 4 and close to 50cm thick mattress! A trampoline that's true, I loved to sleep ( it changes my mattresses in peach stones ). The meal takes place in the small restaurant in the motel. It's simple, but it is in the stomach and it is good ( I could even have the recipe for chicken enchiladas 's chatting with the cook, yum ). It's also, for me the first meal made ​​in usa and eaten in the usa. And I must say that I liked it. But still a little surprised ( I squeezed even more days, you'll see ). in beverages. For if the buffet is at will and that is used as one wants, glasses ( buckets ) are also unlimited in size but... significantly bigger than in Europe. I also learned that the coca, seven -up , unsweetened iced tea and coffee were at will almost anywhere. Some grumbled as what the coffee was not strong enough... except that a bucket almost 1/2L, the dose of caffeine was monstrous if the coffee was as strong as in France or Italy... and as the USA, the coffee is morning, afternoon and evening... it is much better than it is weaker considered quantities (and, even if the coffee is not a ristreto , it tastes of coffee and no ''Saloperie de jus de chaussettes''(shity juice of socks) as I heard... (in french in the text... sic... ) ).
On my plate : Mexican Totopos ( triangular chips ) , homemade guacamole , white sauce, hot pepper sauce , tomato and the famous chicken enchiladas ( a plaster because it's good! )

During the meal, I do like america: Coke and coffee (burps, sorry ...) because the tap water is drinkable but very saturated with chlorine, once she has a taste ... very special. It's time to sleep, it is 23pm in phoenix and 7am in France... I am exhausted but the night will be short... see you on the next episode !
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