We're on Our Way Home : Day 8 [Part 13]

We're on Our Way Home: Leaving London

I can’t remember if Jeff took a short nap or what, but his cab was there to pick him up at about 4:30am. We made sure he had everything and we said farewell until we would meet again in New York later that night. Remember Jeff flew directly to London, but I had to go back to Paris and then back to New York.

I finished packing and took a short nap. Kevin and Michelle said they would take me to the train in the morning on their way to drop their daughter off at school. It was early enough that I would have plenty of time to get to the airport to catch my flight.

I can’t exactly remember which train station they took me to, but I had to take three trains to get to my Heathrow that day, but they took me a bit closer than if I had taken the Overground from where they were. I can’t remember if they took me to an Overground station or to a rail station. I can’t even really remember the rout I took to the airport. I was so tired that morning. All I know is that I ended up either at Hammermith or Earl’s Court to make a switch. I think it was Earl’s Court. Either way at that point I switched for the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow. Now remember there are a couple of trains that go to Heathrow. One train is for Terminal 1,2,3 & 4 and another for 1,2,3, & 5. I was so happy to see the later come when I was on the platform waiting to make the switch. I was dog tired. I mean just beat down, but I was almost there.

I got to Terminal 5 and prepared myself for whatever Heathrow might throw at me. If you remember I took the train in to London from Paris, but I decided to fly back for one major reason. I had to go back through Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris fly back home because that’s how I came in with Burnt Sugar. So on the return home I booked myself a flight on British Airways back to Paris, then I wouldn’t have to spend money to get form the center of Paris (if I had taken the train) to the airport. Now I just had to get to the proper terminal at Charles de Gaulle to catch my return flight that the Sugar crew booked me. Okay, now let’s see how Heathrow security is going to act on this day. When I got to British Airways check-in counter there was no line. I couldn’t believe this happened to me twice. First when I was flying into Paris from JFK at the Air France counter and now this. Wow. So I checked my bag, kept my bass on my back, plus my purse on my shoulder and I headed to the security line. First of all it wasn’t all that long, which was amazing, but I was checking out the security officer on the line I was in and I could tell she was tired and cranky. So I knew anything could happen with her. It wasn’t like I was carrying anything…oh wait…I had the damn screwdriver in my bass case. I forgot to take it out. Oh well, I was at the airport in plenty of time. If they took it I still would not miss my flight. So as the line is moving I notice that they take her off her post and replace her with someone else. Okay! So when I got to the front of the line I did as you do at the airport these days and everything was fine. No questions about anything. Not even the screwdriver, which I was surprised about because Heathrow can be crazy.

On the other side of security I put my shoes, coat, etc., on and headed downstairs to wait for my first flight. I was there so early that a gate hadn’t even been assigned to my flight. So I walked around and looked at the duty free stuff. It always amazed me how much of a mall that airport is. I got myself an overpriced souvenir because I needed to get rid of my Pound coins since I couldn’t exchange them back in the states. I got a pretty terrible sandwich at Pret a Manger, who by the way is taking over London. There are more Pret’s than Starbucks and you know that’s saying a lot! Then I found a place to chill until my gate showed up on the board.

If you are a smoker, it's your LUCKY day!

Sleepy in Heathrow.

Soon my flight popped up and I headed to the gate to sit there and wait until they called boarding. Again I have to mention how they board in Europe. It’s just so great. They call that the flight is ready for boarding and people get on. No calling of sections or things like that. Folks just get on the plane! LOL!  So I boarded my B.A. flight, put my bass in the overhead and it fit without any problem and settled in for this first leg.

Wing of my British Airways Flight

Flying form London to Paris is really fast. It might have been an hour maybe. So we were up and down quickly. I barely got a nap before we were landing. Since this was not a true connecting flight, I had to go pick up my luggage from baggage claim in Paris and then figure out how to get to Air France from where I was.

After getting my bag off the carousel, I found an information desk to ask how to get to terminal 2E. Since I was already in Terminal 2 I just had to take a long walk to 2E. I so glad I didn’t have to get on the airtrain to get to the terminal, which I totally thought I was going to have to do. I started walking and before I knew it I was at Air France check-in. Again there was barely a line. I knew I would be early for my flight, but I still didn’t expect that. I had already printed out my boarding pass so the woman at the counter checked my bag and I headed for Air France security.

The line wasn’t so bad, but I wasn’t sweating anything now that I was in Paris. I was almost home. When my turn came up I do the usual and walk through the metal detector, but this time they pulled my bass off the belt and asked if it was mine. “Yes, it’s mine.” They needed to look inside. Well, there goes my screwdriver. It made it from Brooklyn to Paris to London, but it wasn’t going to make it back to Brooklyn. Oh well. No worries. They took the contraband and gave me back my bass. Almost home.

I was mad early for that flight. I wasn’t scheduled to leave until about 7:30pm, and after going through security it was only about 4pm. So I had lots of time to kill. I didn’t have many Euros left. So I got a little snack, but I wasn’t worried because I knew they were going to feed us well on Air France and I’d have some wine!

Charles de Gaulle Airport Air France Terminal

Me & my bass on the last leg. Heading Home.

I sat in the terminal and thought about the days gone by. What a journey. From performing in Paris with Burnt Sugar and hanging out with my parents there; then off to London and the crazy housing situation, meeting up with Jeff, and playing some incredible shows; seeing London in a day and just having lots of laughs. I couldn’t help but look around and see the Burnt Sugar crew in my minds eye sitting with me in the Paris Airport. It made me smile. They were the reason I was there. I took a few pics of my tired self in the airport and before I knew it, it was time to board.

E 41 My Gate!

I didn’t get a window seat on the way back, but they did hold my bass for me again. This flight was challenging because it was so dry on the plane, but I later realized I was coming down with something. Honestly I think my body was just winding down so it was slowly trying to break down. The charge was over…for now. I drank so much water on that flight and could not get hydrated for anything. I was in and out of sleep the whole trip and when we were landing I thought my ears would explode. I hadn’t had that feeling in a long time.

When we landed and went through customs I could hardly hear the agent talking to me. That’s how clogged my ears were. It felt crazy. I felt like I was under water talking to people. It was strange to be home at least strange to come through customs in the U.S. Of the three places I had been (France, UK and America) only America was feeding nationalist propaganda at it’s visitors when they get off of plane. I mean as soon as you hit customs they might as well just hand you the lyrics to the National Anthem and make you sing it on the spot, with feeling! It was so crazy to see the TV screens with all the American “stuff” on it. I’m happy to be home as much as the next person, but it was all so much.

After I cleared customs and went to the ladies, I headed to baggage claim. I got my things and headed out to catch a cab when I see Jeff waiting for me with flowers! It was Valentine’s Day after all. Very sweet. We were back home. Back in New York and back to the everyday things of life, but what a time we had. What a time we had.

Thank You to everyone who came out to support us in London and all those who took the time to read this oversized blog. Love to Jeff who crossed the pond with me and represented the NY büshe. Love to LyricL who was my shining light in London. Love to Michelle & Kevin for opening their home at the 11th hour. Love to Adam and the Jazz Re:freshed crew for making their house mine. Love to the Morpheus Soul show for continuing to shout us out. Love to Up all Night Music and Native Tongue for saying yes and showing your love. Love to the UK blaKbüshe band. Love to the fox totems that kept showing up. It is my hope to get back to London soon after I release my next album this summer.

If you like what you read please be a part of making the album happen so we can go back to Europe and beyond. Check out my IndieGoGo campaign and be one of the hairs in the büshe. Thank you so much! Now on to the “Can a Girl Catch a Break? New Album Blog! Whoo Hoo!

The Gift of Paris! [Part 1]

To get to London we must start in Paris. This is how I was able to get to the UK this time around, so we must start there.

Back in November I received the best b’earthday gift ever. Jared from Burnt Sugar asked me if I would like to join the band in Paris in February for the Sons d’Hiver Festival. They were invited to do the James Brown se and wanted me to come along. Of course I said yes! In my excitement I wasn’t even thinking past Paris. That’s when my friend Ian reminded me of how close I would be to London. He suggested that I inquire about extending my ticket, which never even crossed my mind. I haven’t been back to London since 2007 so I was long overdue.

Before contacting Jared to ask about the flight extension, I sent an email to my man Adam Rock at Jazz Re:freshed to see if he could book me for Feb. 10th, which would be the week I could be in London. He said he had something booked, but he would bump it and put me in. Yes! So I went back to Jared and asked about the flight extension and he said it would be no problem. With that, it was on!

I never thought it would have taken me four years to get back overseas, and now I can’t remember why it did. Sometimes the small things in life get in the way. But there I was, poised to go back to London and I was prepared to go it alone.

The last time I went Shawn, Achuziam, Lionel, Irv and Teddy came with me and we had an awesome time. I knew that it may not be a possibility for them to come this time as I could not secure anyone’s lodging or ticket except my own. So I figured I would pick up a band there and just go for it.

Somewhere along the line I told Jeff of my plans and he said he would be down to go and was really excited as he had been to London and really wanted to check it out. So it looked like it was going to be just two hairs in the U.S. büshe in London, but I digress. Let’s get back to Paris.

When I told my mother that I was going to Paris, she said she was coming. I didn’t know if she was serious, but then she kept asking me for travel dates and where we were staying so I knew it was really on.

As the departure date got closer I was in full swing of booking shows for the band in London. I managed to book four shows and two radio spots. Not bad for a gorilla operation. I was planning and squaring everything away right up until I got the plane for Paris.

I have to admit that before departing I was concerned about how much luggage I was bringing. Would it be overweight, would they let me bring my bass on the plane, etc. I was making calls to airlines and praying the whole time. When people would ask if I was excited I would tell them, “I’ll be excited when I’m through security at JFK.”

I wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible so I got to the airport mad early. I printed out my boarding pass at home so I wouldn’t have to do it at the kisok. I wanted to go straight to the line to check my bag and pray they don’t ask me to check my bass because I decided not to bring the travel case. For comfort sake I needed the bass to be on my back. I just had too much stuff for it to be in my other hand. I needed an angel.

When I got to JFK to the Air France counter it was empty. I mean totally empty. There was no one on line at all. Note: If you want to fly to Paris from JFK and not wait on line, fly on Thursday night, barring a holiday of course. It was sort or eerily quiet, but I was glad.

I walked over to the counter. Presented my passport and paperwork, checked my bag and headed for security. The woman at the desk didn’t ask me about my bass at all. Just gave me my boarding pass and a smile and off I went. [Angel #1]

Next shocker, the security line was damn near empty as well. I went through without any problem, but they wanted to look at what was in the pocket of my bass case. The guy at security went in and pullout out my screwdriver. I forgot I had it in there. I use it to take the battery in and out of my bass when I need to change it. Well I was prepared to leave that behind, when my man slid it back to me sort of on the sly tip! Wow! I mean I know that I’m not going to try and hijack the plane with my screwdriver, but how does he know? lol Oh well, I’ll take it. [Angel #2] I gave him a nod and headed to my gate. He was flirting with me a bit too so I think that’s how I got over. Lol.

I walked down to my gate and I was the only one there. The only other Burnt Sugar members who were on my flight were LaRonda and Lisala. So as I was there waiting I had to buy the obligatory overpriced sandwich in the airport. If there is time to kill that is a must, unless you are at Chicago, O’Hare and then you must purchase the obligatory bag of Garrett Popcorn. ☺

Before I was able to make my purchase I saw Lisala coming toward the gate. I was on the phone so I waved. When I got off the phone we chatted a bit and then out of the blue I see my old neighbor Chris from my Clinton Ave. days. Can I tell you how much I love running into people I know at the airport? I think this is the second time this has happened to me. I ran into Saul Williams at O’Hare actually, on my way to Michfest. It just reaffirms for me that I am doing what I supposed to be and that all my artistic people are living the life they want to live. Chris was on his way to the Sudan to teach illustration. Nice!

As I walked and talked with Chris, on my way to the obligatory sandwich, we ran into LaRonda eating her obligatory overpriced meal as well. Ah, the airport. Chris and I said a brief hello, moved on to get our overpriced meal and then parted ways.

Air France is incredible from before you even step foot on the plane. They don’t calls seat numbers or sections or any of that in order to board people. They just said “Air France flight 008 is now boarding” and that was it. Now that’s what I’m talking about. That’s just civilized. LOL!

My departure gate

When I got on the plane my bass didn’t fit in the overhead, but they gladly put it in the closet, in business class thank you very much. I also wanted a window seat, but I just ran out of time to request that so I was on the isle. Well when they closed the plane door the person in my row had not shown up so there I was with the window seat that I wanted! [Angel #3] I moved over, situated myself and soon we were off.

The Air France flight experience is incredible. People rave about Virgin America and Jet Blue and I have flown both, but right now Air France is giving both of them a big run for their money. Big! I had no idea flying could be like this. There was mad room in coach, lots of movies for free and the topper, wine! Red or white, and it was good. The food was good for plane food and you didn’t have to pay extra. The bread was on point and the cheese was amazing. They are serving France before you even get there. They were also offering Champaign! For Free! What? Just lovely.

I could hardly sleep, which would catch up with me later, but for the time being I was happy as a clam. I was on my way to Paris.

The French countryside from my window seat