I had my first panic attack in that terminal, so I may be one of the few in this thread with professional psychiatric analyses to share (though surely not the o

I had my first panic attack in that terminal, so I may be one of the few in this thread with professional psychiatric analyses to share (though surely not the only one.) Basically a lot of Americans find CDG stressful because it is so close to the beauty of Paris without allowing any exposure to it. It is a perfectly accomodating and pleasant space, but it hits the uncanny valley of manufactured cultural institutions while really just being an airport at the behest of arbitrary French immigration officials. The airport is also very open even by airport standards. There are very few nooks and/or crannies to hide away in to catch your bearings. The omnipresent announcements relay information relevant to you 1% of the time but you constantly feel on edge trying to keep up with all of them. Couple that with the fact that travellers are likely to be sleep deprived (or in my case Ambien deprived) and you have a recipe for disaster. If purgatory is a real place I am pretty sure it will feel like CDG. Its quite a nice place for an airport. In fact, your first hour there is always lovely, but it seems to have an exaggerated version of that 'airport feeling.'