Travel Essentials

Let’s start with shoes—comfortable shoes!  I have bought shoes to wear and when I reached my travel destination, found that the shoes are not that comfortable.  Did I break them in ahead of time?  Probably not.  Or, let me rephrase that, I took them on a trip to break them in for another trip.  I got blisters right away, so those shoes were a no-go even for that trip.

One time, I wore a pair of shoes on a trip, and they were the only shoes I had.  I wore them regularly, so I thought these would be the best shoes for the trip.  My initial motivation for having only one pair of shoes was that I was going on my first Rick Steves tour.  If you are not familiar with Rick Steves’ travel advice, he says to just take a carry-on bag as your only luggage.  I tend to pack too much anyway, so I was going to do it!  I was going to travel abroad for two weeks with one pair of shoes and whatever would fit in my carry-on. 

Turned out to be a very stupid thing to do for a variety of reasons, first of which were my feet!  Rick Steves tours are action-packed.  You are on your feet much of the time.  When you look at the itineraries for the tours, they tell you how strenuous the walking will be.  I am not in that great of shape to begin with, even though I vow to get in better shape every time I plan a trip.  By the end of the week, I could barely stand to stand.  After the Rick Steves tour, I met my niece in Paris for a week.  We spent part of the time looking for reasonable and comfortable shoes!  She dragged me up the Tours de Notre Dame, almost literally:  Come on, Aunt Kate!  Only a little further!  400 steps! The view is definitely worthwhile, as is seeing the variety of gargoyles up-close-and-personal, but I was done-in by 6 pm almost every day.  Not that much fun for a teenager!

This trip, I now have two pair of comfortable shoes ready to go.  Here’s hoping!

The Right Clothes —Forget it!  You will never have the right clothes.  If you pack for cool weather, it will be warm.  If it is supposed to be warm, it will be cooler than usual.  The weather on my last trip to France with my parents, end of May/first of June, turned out to be rainy and cool.  We only had one day of sunshine during the week we spent in Paris. The Weather Channel, and most weather apps, will give you a ten-day forecast.  Just realize weather seems change from minute-to-minute these days.  Pack a jacket and an umbrella, or, umbrella-wise, you can buy a souvenir umbrella for about 10 euros that you can continue to use at home and be reminded of your trip!  I think I have enough souvenir umbrellas now that I just need to take one with me.

Even if it turns out to be on the warm side in Paris this trip, it is always good to have a light sweater or jacket—a sleeve as my grandmother would say—because it will be cool inside museums and such.

Sundry—Other than the obvious! 

I have taken to carrying a packet of wipes because you never know!  Matters of hygiene are treated differently all over the world.  The last thing you one is to get sick.  My very first time to Paris, I was already sick with a horrible cough.  It only got worse during our week there.  My poor nephew Trevor was saddled with me as a roommate, and I will never forget the long, long walk my sister made us take from the Tour Eiffel back to our hotel in the 6^th,not only because I thought I was going to die, but because my other nephew Spencer trekked way ahead of us and got lost!  He found his way to Notre Dame, then eventually back to the hotel from there.

Band Aids and Neosporin.

Ankle braces—I always seem to twist an ankle.  This has been going on since high school when I would run for the bus and invariably twist my left ankle.  Seriously, I can twist my ankle, always the left one, just walking in bare feet!

Nail clippers and tweezers—broken or torn nails?  Splinters? Just be sure not to put them in your carry-on!

It’s Time to Get Out the Suitcase

It’s Time to Get Out the Suitcase

I take a lot of time to pack.  I also usually pack way too much stuff.  But I like stuff.  You never know what you may need when you are away from home, and why wait to buy what you might need if you already have it and can bring it with you?  I am talking about Band-Aids and Neosporin.  Nail clippers and tweezers.  Ankle braces. A variety of plugs and adapters.  Wipes. Hand sanitizer. A hair dryer.  Laundry soap and softener.  If where you are staying has a kitchen, what about spices that you like to use?  Coffee and/or tea?  This last is pretty silly!  Why would you cook while you are on vacation?  But that’s why you booked an apartment instead of a hotel room!  Have breakfast and maybe dinner rather than spend a lot of money on meals in restaurants!  Sheesh! And the apartment is on a market street, so no need to stock up like we tend to do in America. When my nephew spent his junior year of college in Paris, I brought a huge box filled with Mexican food fixings for him.  We used some when I visited, and now I realize I was probably overly ambitious.  I also like to have a choice of clothing—what if it’s hot?  What if it’s cold?—so one of my challenges for this trip is to pack light, especially since there are a washer and a dryer in the apartment (see—need for laundry soap and softener!).

I started gathering odds and ends weeks ago.  I am trying to decide whether to put my vitamins and Rxes in little plastic bags, one for each day, or in a daily pill sorter.  When your baggage limit is 50 pounds or you are putting such things in a carryon, the weight factor can make a difference.

I am looking at a Ziploc bag full of plugs and adapters that are now just dumped on a table.  I need to match up my gadgets with appropriate plugs.  These also pack on the weight.  I bought a power strip that has places for 3 plugs and 4 USB connections, so do I really need to bring all the European plugs?  I tried out the power strip on a recent trip, and success was sketchy, but I think the problem was with the electricity in the hotel room.

Camera(s)!  Smartphones have become people’s main cameras of choice.  It is nice to be able to point, shoot, post (or not) all from one device.  Maybe phone cameras are useful for up-close and selfie shots, but I will rely on my Nikon(s) (always take a backup I learned).  Charge batteries and verify SD cards before I go!

Another challenge is to lighten the load I carry while wandering the streets of Paris with my travel partners.  I am guilty of carrying a larger bag because I figure it will carry anything I might purchase along the way!  I advised my travel partners not to use a backpack-type purse while out and about in the city.  Don't carry passports—instead, carry a copy and leave passports in the apartment.  Maybe use something small for a purse and/or something you can sling across your body so that the purse is in front of you rather than in back—carry only a camera, small amount of cash, a credit card or two (good to have two in case one is denied for some reason), and of course, whatever necessities.  My reasoning is that I stopped a pickpocket from getting into my mom's backpack purse while on the metro.  Pickpockets are usually at work in crowded areas like the metro, RER, and popular tourist spots.

A friend recently posted a news item about a new (that I know of) scam taking place in Paris.  Here is the link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3007440/Footage-reveals-one-common-scams-tourists-fall-Paris.html

I have not witnessed the petition scam shown in the article but have witnessed the gold wedding ring scam several times. Unfortunately, there are a lot of these kinds of incidents going on around Paris.  On the way up or down to Sacre Coeur, there are men who have some kind of string that they tie onto your wrist trying to get money.  I have never fallen for this particular trap so I don't really know what all is involved.  When I had the opportunity to visit Florence, Italy, it was surreal to see many people trying to sell you things in the square, but if the police were sighted, all of a sudden the crowded piazzas emptied.

One final note:  Where the heck in the garage is the suitcase?

Paris Here We Come

It all started on Facebook one fine spring day last year (2014) when a discussion started about going to Paris.  I cannot find the original post (and I spent way too much time looking for it!), but here is a recent one remarking on how close our trip is coming to fruition:

Sorry those of you who thought about it, signed up for it and/or had to change your minds about it!

We started looking for apartments, once we decided to go that route, using a website called VRBO (www.vrbo.com).  I used VRBO to find the apartment my parents and I stayed in on our France 2013 trip.  By last August, we confirmed our apartment choice in the 7th Arrondissement.  It is small, as are many apartments (and hotel rooms), but LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION!

Not to give away our secret hideaway, but it's on a market street near La Tour Eiffel, convenient bus and metro stops, fresh food—can we say picnics at La Tour Eiffel?

Our current crew are Jane Parisotto Woods, Sherri Chambliss (a friend of Jane's), and Kathy Shumate (me).  I will have a few days in Paris by myself before Jane and Sherri arrive—after that:  LOOK OUT PARIS!