Home again: Stepping back on the wrong foot

October 20, 2017

I'm never sure what to do with the flight home on our journals. The tour's over, but it feels flat to just end on the last day. Unsure again this time, I electe to add a bit of drama to the day to spice up the narrative. First off, we nearly miss the first leg of our flight, at Montpellier. We arrive at the airport in plenty of time, and we're just hanging out taking advantage of the free wifi, getting a bit anxious about the departure time - the flight is delayed a half hour, and we have a fairly tight connection to our next flight in Paris.

Suddenly, we hear our names over the loudspeaker - we're being summoned to the departure desk. The flight departs in about two minutes, and they're wondering where the hell we are. We're at the wrong gate, is where we are. I've gotten confused by the departure board, and the fact that there are two flights to Paris leaving at the same time, from adjacent gates. Our flight is on time, it's the other one that's delayed.

No harm, no foul. We make the departure, and make the next one in Paris as well. Back in the USA.

The airport has ornamental umbrellas that match the ones in Sete, so there must be a bit more to the story here. I wonder if it's a regional thing and Montpellier will have something like this also, including monuments illuminated in mauve like Sete has. One more reason to come back, for more research.

I've flown into JFK before, but never at a time when I had a window seat and the lighting was right.

So that's pretty exciting, don't you think? But wait - there's more! I've saved the best for last. JFK is our point of entry so we of course have to clear customs, retrieve our baggage, walk it across the line and then recheck it on the other side for the final flight (a requirement I've never really understood the point of). Somehow, in lifting one of the bike suitcases up onto the belt I manage to slam my big toe into the corner of it - hard. Hurts like hell. Bleeding copiously, and looks like the toenail has been completely broken off at the base.

I'm quickly bleeding out at the baggage counter, trying to find someone who can get me to a first aid desk. Finally someone takes my case and we walk upstairs to the Delta desk. She disappears, and returns in a few with a mountain of supplies: bandages, tape, gauze, pain killers, antiseptic, a coagulant-inducing spray. Looks like I'll live after all.

We clean it up a bit, tightly wrap it to stop the bleeding and offer protection, and then hobble off to the next terminal for our departure gate. The rest of the flight home is uneventful, other than that I'm anxious in crowds - I'd just as soon no one step on it - and about halfway home I start getting anxious also that I may have wrapped it too tight and have cut off circulation. It would be annoying to get gangrene, so I remove half the wrap, loosen up the rest a bit, am relieved to see that the bleeding doesn't resume.

At home, it doesn't seem too bad. It doesn't feel broken at least, and there's no real pain as long as I don't whack it again. It may be awhile before I can pull a bike shoe on over it again though.

That's it. Too much excitement for one day.

Surveying the damage. I see that I have fat feet as well, swollen by the flight. And, I should wash my sandals.Pro tip: if you decide to try this trick yourself, save it for the end of the tour like I did. It might be awhile before I can wear a bike shoe on this foot again. An update, from the following day. We unwrapped it to inspect the situation. The toenail is a definite goner, and the toe is a bit swollen and still looks disgusting; but it doesn't seem broken, and there's no sign of infection yet. So, we'll keep an eye on it but so far it seems no worse than it might have been.

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Rachel and Patrick HugensWelcome home!
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1 year ago

Scott AndersonTo Rachel and Patrick HugensWell it’s about time! We’ve been waiting six years for you to finally say something.
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1 year ago