In the fall of 2010 I went to France with my then-boyfriend, Andrew. I had been working on him for a while, and although he didn’t have a burning desire to go, in the end he agreed. Life is short, after all. We had traveled together domestically (Sacramento and LA) so I trusted him with my wheelchair and thought we would be good travel partners. Unfortunately, it was less than the amazing romantic vacation I had hoped for. I could tell that something was bothering him from the time he arrived at my house the afternoon before we departed, and finally at the airport I asked him what was wrong. He told me that he didn’t really want to go! Yikes. I appreciated his honesty, but it did lend an awkwardness to the long flight, not to mention the rest of the trip. Although to be perfectly honest, I am glad he told me when it was too late to back out, because in spite of difficult moments, I am still incredibly glad we went, and grateful for his assistance.
I had done quite a bit of planning, of course, including taking a Basic French class at Rick Steves’ travel center in Edmonds, listening to the audiobook Last Minute French and joining a gym three months earlier so I could get myself into cheese-eating shape. I was as ready as I could be.
The first flight, 7.25 hours, was from Seattle to Reykjavik on Icelandair. Once we got seated, I happily took off my shoes, inflated my neck pillow, and tucked in to the Cheddar-flavored Kettle Chips we brought. Then, I turned on my iPod Touch. Nothing. Are you f***ing kidding me? All my music, my Rick Steves France podcasts, and Last Minute French were gone! To this day, I still have no idea what happened – they were all still on my iTunes when I got home, and it’s never happened again. So I was stuck listening to the airplane radio and trying to make my way through the “learn French” tutorial on our individual screens. It was not good. But I was going to France! So technology be damned, I was still excited. 🙂
Icelandair is a pretty good (and inexpensive) airline, but they charge for everything, beware. Andrew and I are pretty cheap, so fortunately we’d brought some snacks along. I don’t drink on long flights, to minimize trips to the bathroom, so that worked out. We were seated near the bathroom, in case I had had to go, but getting from the seat to the bathroom would have been a challenge nevertheless. I’ve heard that some airlines have an aisle chair (those skinny chairs that get you to your seat) onboard, to assist you to the restroom on longer flights, but not Icelandair. When we got to the Reykjavik airport, my intent was to make a beeline to the nearest restroom but unfortunately they don’t have an accessible restroom in that part of the airport, so they had to escort me through security to another area. Nothing like finding a security guard to take you to the bathroom. 
About the airport – it is gorgeous! It is very quiet, has polished wooden floors, and there are none of the fast-food vendors that you find in other airports. It looks more like a fancy office building than an airport. I was pretty impressed.
And 3 1/2 hours later… we were in Paris!
Have Chair, Will Travel 