The Last Push! Ibis Paris Charles De Gaulle

The Last Push! The Final 700 Tier Points to BA Gold!
The Ibis Hotel, Paris CDG

Contents!

• Why do I do this to myself? (The introduction)
• Off to Birmingham Airport, Air France AF1656 to Paris CDG
• Ibis Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport
• A Rushed Check in, AA Lounge
• AA45 Paris CDG to New York JFK
• A Delayed Transit, AA85 New York JFK to San Francisco International
• Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport
• Intercontinental Mark Hopkins
• One Time Special – Around the Bay and Under the bridge
• Two Time Special – 3 and a half miles. Across the Golden Gate Bridge and back
• Escaping San Francisco to the Crowne Plaza
• Early Morning San Francisco Airport, AA24 San Francisco to New York JFK
• A Dash Across Manhattan and NJ, Newark Airport
• BA Galleries Lounge, EC8004 OpenSkies Newark Airport to Paris Orly West
• Paris. City of Dreams, Romance and Pickpockets?
• Eurostar 9013 Paris Gare du Nord to London St Pancras, Chiltern Railways London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill
• 700TP: Job Done

I disembarked the plane and headed off into the terminal, passing through the transit area and a shuttle train, before approaching French Immigration.

Nowhere – or the transit area

Smoking booth

C’est le WhaleJet.

The formality was carried out with a glance of the passport, and handling it back. From there, it was through to baggage claim, and finally French Customs and Excise.

Finally – towards the exit!

Once through there, I was in the public terminal, where I play “Hunt the CDGVAL”- which is easier said than done as Terminal 2 is a vast place (Although looking back, it was good training for the days ahead).

Once I found the SNCF station, the access way to CDGVAL was visible. The CDGVAL is the ground side automated shuttle, connecting the three terminals of CDG together, as well as access to the RER, and my base for tonight – the Ibis CDG.

Exiting at T1, it was a quick walk from the CDGVAL to the Hotel, with a quick walk outside (and getting a fresh drizzle of Eau d’Paris).

Hotel: Ibis Paris CDG.
Rate: Prepaid Sale Rate (€60 or so)

Reception area 

Even coming in at the best part of 23:00, there was still a big line to be checked in. Thankfully check-in was swift, with no card imprint taken, and a keycard issued. With the formalities completed, I headed up to my room.

Hotel Vending Machine: Overpriced…

Lift

Without any hunting, my room was easy to find – and I popped the keycard in.

… And I swear that this hotel has taken more than its fair share of lessons on design from capsule hotels, as the room was large enough to swing maybe 2 cats. Squeezed together.

The bathroom is in the right hand side.

The bed isn’t far away from the door.

TV and storage unit

Electric and Temperture control

Bedside lamp

Working Area

As for the bathroom… this was a sideways navigation room only.

Toliet ontrols

Toilet and sink

Does everything and anything – Generic shared soap stuff

On the plus side, the bed was actually quite comfortable (which considering this was a crash pad for the night), and the Wifi was of a reasonable enough usable speed (and more importantly – Free). Power outlets were reasonably located allowing me to use the laptop either on the desk… or more accurately – on the bed.

This allowed me to get some admin done before going to bed (as well as preparing the laptop for the weekend ahead).

With those things done, I did what I do best – crashed out for a while.

8:00am rolled around way too quickly (with my body on UK time.. more like 7:00am), so it was time to pack my trash up, and leave the hotel and begin the hike back to CDG2 to commence the real part of the trip and tier point run.

I went to reception and checked out. No money changed hands and I was thanked for my business.

Overall: Whilst “functional” the rooms are verging on the tight side (to put it bluntly), whilst the bathroom is hard enough to move around – let alone use. However, the bed was comfortable and allowed me to get some rest – which  is the main thing.

Next: The joy of check-in. Oh. Four PNRs and one ticket? … Umm…

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