I'm back! My budget (if still not inexpensive) trip took me over JFK to CDG and back Orly to Newark, both in surprisingly small planes. The more interesting surprise was that we flew over the Channel Islands and then snowy Newfoundland and Nova Scotia on the way, before hitting weather. I'd forgotten that Europe is so, well - it's not close exactly, and it isn't cheap anymore, but it is convenient. Back when some combination of my parents, my sister and I lived there I was building carbon karma over the North Atlantic several times a year... The much larger Pacific (and the whole of it, not just the northern part) is our family pond now, and Asia claims me in ways Europe no longer does, personally or professionally. After a quite lovely week in France that seems more bittersweet than it has for a while. Je reviendrai un jour!