So here I sit at gate D43, waiting to board a flight that will take me to the other side of the world for three months. A trip that I have been talking about for about 2 years, planning for about 8 months, and not sleeping as a result of my excitement for about three weeks.
I think it’s a solid argument that if you keep talking about a dream, and continue to convince other people as well as yourself it’s happening, you really start to think about it in your day to day life, and work in methods and ideas to actually make it happen. It is almost like daring your brain to come up with a way to make the idea truly come to fruit
So here’s my story. I hope to share lots of pictures, delightful discoveries, funny stories, and things I learn in my travels that you might find useful when you peruse a dream you have in the back of your brain… 🙂
Because I am not planning on being in France for more than 3 months, I did not need to get a visa, so this trip truly only required a valid passport, flights and accommodations there. And of course, booking French classes. However, being the ‘slight’ overthinker that I am, I wanted to figure out the best ways to A) pack my luggage smartly and efficiently, B) be the savvy long-flight traveller, and C) look more like a European than a tourist.
This is where a little website you may have heard of, called Pinterest, became completely invaluable. For example, the packing tips! I understand that there are two sides as to how to best arrange your clothes: 1) folding, or 2) rolling. After finding numerous blogs and travel tip websites saying ” ALWAYS roll”, I then spoke to friends who have travelled the world and worked at travel companies who said “fold ONLY”. I was excited to discover who was ‘right’, and I want you to know that after careful examination, and several packings and un-packings, I came to the following conclusion: I see NO clear advantage to one OR the other. Hello anti-climax. I ended up folding the vast majority of my clothes, and rolling smaller items like tshirts and scarves that fit around the edges. So there you go. Do what works with your suitcase and you’ll be good to go.
Good to go that is, unless you didn’t have the right info for baggage rules with your specific airline and have to completely rethink and repack your two pieces of luggage the morning of your flight in order to not be charged extra at the airport…. yeah… that happened to a friend of a friend of mine….
Onwards and upwards, anyway. 10 hours over two flights , a bus, the train and then I’ll truly be living in Paris!!
Entry one done. Sound good? 🙂