It’s a warm summers’ day in France. Late June. Today I travelled from Paris to Gothenburg, Sweden.
I departed from CDG terminal 2g for the first time. The terminal felt like something that was built in a small airport in Central and Eastern Europe. It had one cafe, a Paul, by checkin. That cafe and its small seating area consisted of the the majority of the seating area of the terminal before security.
As I got to the airport two hours early, and had electronically checked in and had already dropped my luggage off, I decided to get a coffee. As usual, I was greeted with that friendly Parisian customer service I have become accustomed to. I asked for a medium coffee, in what I thought was some pretty good French. He corrected me as a double espresso, I paid, and was on my way.
I was pleasantly surprised to find the security line empty. It almost appeared you would enter through security right before your flight and that only one flight at a time ever queued. There was a good page or so of flights departing, so I would have expected more people clogging up security.
After spending a whole 15 minutes enjoying my coffee and already bored rummaging through social medial, I decided I better get through security before my luck runs out. Somehow I have a knack for assuming the line must always be like this, and then pick a time to enter security at the same time everyone else does.
I was the sole person in line. One of the quickest, least stressful security screenings I have experienced in the French Capital City. Upon taking the steps up one level to the main waiting area, I was greeted by one rather large room. On the back wall was a few stores; the usual Paris duty free, newspaper store, and electronic store. I also ran right in to a Lauduree stand that I couldn’t resist the temptation of. I decided I’d be a good friend and bring some delicious French Macarons to my Swedish colleagues.
There was also a cafe in the back corner. Opposite the back wall lined with stores, was a large seating area, and windows. Towards the end of hall, was a door that led towards the boarding gates. Two ramps led down to two sub buildings where the doors were for boarding. This was an old fashioned boarding where, after you waited in line to have your ticket scanned and your ID checked, you walked outside and up to the plane.
Lounging Around Terminal 2G
I made it on the plane with relative ease, and no real issue off to Sweden.
