One month today I’ll be leaving for Paris, France. This is a
trip with 30 years of history behind it and no one has even boarded the plane.
30 years ago Wanda and I would huddle in the town library with travel books
sprawled before us on the big table, planning our trip to Europe. We had
planned to embark on this journey in the fall of 1984, after a summer of
working and saving money.
Instead, I remember great duress from parental figures to go
to school right away to keep the scholarly momentum going, and Wanda and I both ended up going to university in Ottawa. She went to UofO and I went to Carleton, and we
shared a seedy downtown apartment where we learned more about bizarre city dwellers
that I actually cared to. Following that
was a marriage (mine), then another marriage (Wanda’s), then a kid and more
kids and more kids, then a divorce and a kid going to university, and two more
on the brink of graduating high school. Enough is enough! 30 years goes by
fast! It’s time to do this!
Our original plan to travel across Europe by train staying
in hostels along the way has changed somewhat. We are going to France and
Shirley, our good road trip/shopping buddy and amigo, is joining us. Together,
we plan to have an adventure. We want to shop the flea markets (and much more)
of Paris, see the castles in and around Tours, take a cross-country road trip to the
country markets of Provence and then we’ll head to the French Riviera – all in
15 days! That’s the plan and I’m so glad that not one hostel is on the schedule.
An apartment in Paris, a chateau in Amboise, a farmhouse in Provence and a
hotel on the beach on the Riviera sounds much better to me.
So, on with the planning!
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