The only non-stop over seas flight from Cincinati, Ohio these days is to Paris, France.

When we decided to go visit some friends of ours in Switzerland, it seemed only natural to fly directly to France and then rent a car to drive down. I was on the other hand not too excited about flying into the Charles de Gaulle airport due the sheer size of the place. The issue is that unlike Cincinnati, where you can fly into concourse A and simply walk to concourse B or vice versa, if you fly into one terminal and are departing from another, you have to clear customs and security in order to go to the connecting flight.

Since we were not taking another flight this time, it all seemed so simple. Either that, or the airport has changed over the last few years. We walked off of the airplane, followed the signs where we quickly passed customs with a friendly agent and off to wait for the one bag we wound up checking. Even that, was not a big deal. The ramp agents were very efficient. The exits (sortie) are clearly marked and easy to find exiting immediately outside. After renting out car from Europcar, whom I highly recommend not only for courteousness but speed and efficiency, we picked up the car and were headed away from the airport within 20 minutes if that.

Overall, the experience with Charles de Gaulle this time was great and I no longer dread the thought. Hopefully the same can be said for the return flight!