Two Days in Paris: Adventure Layover Style Touring

 

Evening of May 11th:  Jet-Lagged and loving it!

We slept.  We slept like the dead.  And I mean the DEAD. 

One of the most difficult things you'll ever do is drag yourself from the horizontal to the vertical plane after a two hour nap, the afternoon after a transoceanic flight.  

The inertia of sleep... that sweet, utterly delicious nectar of heavy muscles, heavy eyelids, foggy-shrouded wit and the murmuring of your hind-mind singing "sleep... sleep... sleep" ... takes a gargantuan force of will to break.  When your entire being cries out for sleep, when you'd sell your mother, your dog, even your Beatles LP collection... for another 10 minutes of sleep, sitting up, then standing up, is one of the hardest things you'll ever do.  But simply standing up... and breaking the horizontal plane... is all you have to do.  Once you're up, you have it licked.

I was definitely not up.

And I must say this. Anyone who says "I can sleep on the plane!" is delusional.  I'm a professional traveler, and while I can usually catch some sleep while airborne (if I'm not flying the plane, that is), it's not 'real' sleep.  Not REM sleep.  Not recuperative sleep. 

So after our ocean crossing, Kori and I were starting our adventure with a sizable sleep deficit.  We had walked around for a few hours near Notre Dame earlier, while waiting for the hotel to clean the room... once we got in, however, the beds called our name loudly, and we slept for 2 and a half hours.

Kori (younger than me, and eager to see Paris) woke first.  She kicked my foot, which was dangling off the end of the short, european style twin bed.  Damn, being 6' 3" sucks sometimes.

"Lemmebe" I said groggily.  "I'm schleepun." Snort.  Ehrmagherd.

She kicked me again, harder.  Shit. 

"Ok... gettin' up."  Ten minutes of vertical and two espressos from the room machine later, I was ready.  We set out to see Paris.

Kori and I had discussed a plan of attack.  I've been to Paris many, many times as a working pilot.  How many?  Well, without checking my logbook, I know it's over twenty.  So I've seen almost everything touristy at one point of another.  But this was Kori's first time, and I wanted it to be a good one.

I made a list, from most important to see to least, of the major sights.  Tour Eiffel.  Louvre.  Musee' D'Orsay.  The Sacre Coeur.  The Catacombs.  Jim Morrison's grave.  Notre Dame. The Champs d'Elysees.  The Arc de Triomphe.  The Tuilleries.   Am I misspelling some of these names?  Probably.

There were a few others, but suffice it to say, that list itself is too big for two days.   We put our heads together, and came up with a plan.  Can we do/see/experience EVERYTHING? No.  But we CAN see the big stuff and experience the reality of Paris.  We came up with a list of must-see items.

Tour Eiffel-- the symbol of Paris everyone recognizes.  I took this photo from the top of the Arc de Triomphe.

The Louvre--famously closed on tuesdays, it's the home of everything from Egyptian Mummies and heiroglyphics to Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa to the Venus De Milo and Michelangelo's Slave.  It's got something for everyone.

The first of Kori's many "Oh my GOSH!" faces.

The Sacre Coeur--The lovely white cathedral on a hill overlooking the Montmarte section of Paris.  From it's steps, the entire city is at your feet.

The Tuilleries--The Gardens just west of the Louvre.  The Louvre, the Tuilleries, the Champs Elysee' and the Arc de Triomphe lie in a straight line that stretches almost 4 miles from east to west.  We walked the route that first night.

The Tuilleries have their own automatic lawnmowers.  Kori speaks their lingo.

Walking from the Tuilleries towards the Champs d'Elysees and the Arc in the distance.

There are 283 steps you have to climb when you go to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.  Ask me how I know this useless, random fact.

As you can see, the first day was above ground... wandering and walking.  I am of the opinion that you can't really 'see' Paris unless you walk it.  And by walking it, you commit yourself to many, many miles of sights, sounds, smells and experiences that you wouldn't get if you used taxis or the Metro.

So that evening, and the next day, we resolved to move about the city on foot.  After walking from the Louvre, through the Tuilleries, along the Champs d'Elysees, we climbed the Arc de Triomphe and surveyed the city.

After the hike up, we found a nice Brasserie a couple blocks off the Champs and sat down for dinner. 

I'm starting to develop a taste for mineral water, or "l'eau avec gas." But I still enjoy my beers.  Being from Oregon, the French have yet to impress me with their beers. Just because they suck doesn't mean they're cheap, however.

This simple meal was one of the most delicious.  Steak Tartare, on the right, was incredible. The Croque Madam (basically a grilled ham and cheese sandwich baked with more cheese and and egg on top) was just shy of orgasmic.  The first of many, many incredible meals on this trip.

Dinner was spectacular in it's simplicity of design, it's complexity of tastes, smells and textures, and was amazingly cheap.  The beer was the most expensive part at 12 euros (French beer... especially Kronenbourg's 1664... is NOT worth the money.  Try one so you'll know, then never have another) and the Steak Tartare was only 10.  The croque was 5 or 6 euro, I don't remember.  Suffice it to say, the meal as a whole was inexpensive.

And delicious.  I can't explain... a grilled cheese sandwich and some raw hamburger.  But it was incredible.  The Steak was perfectly seasoned and was mixed with diced pickles and onions.  The croque was made of some kind of magical peasants' bread that smelled of rosemary.  That's all we needed... Kori and I resolved at that point to bypass every McDonald's we saw in France, no matter what.

And we did.  We saw at least ten McD's in France, and never even considered stopping in.

After dinner at the brasserie, a light rain began to fall.  It was nearing midnight, and we had a big day planned the next day.  We cabbed it back to the hotel, compared photos and experiences, and went to bed.

I was happy... my friend Kori had experienced her first day in Paris!  It was a good one... I had stopped counting the number of times she said "Oh My Gosh!" at fifteen.  Onward to day two, as the adventure was just beginning.

Go see something!

Moose

Spring in France 2013

May 08-11: Queens, NY - Bend, OR- Portland, OR.

Finding a Suitable Travel Companion

It may sound easy, or simple, but finding someone with which you travel 'well' is not always an easy proposition.  Six months ago, when I planned this trip with my friend Bob (master travel planner), I had just started dating someone and had planned on her traveling with me.  As it happens, we stopped seeing each other rather soon thereafter and I found myself with a planned and paid for trip to France without a Travel Companion.

But finding someone with the right mix of adventure, laissez-faire atttitude, 'roll-with-the-punches' ability to adapt to (and sometimes cope with) the challenges of Guerrilla, hit-and-run travel can be a difficult task.

Traveling can be an adventure, but it can also challenge relationships.  The best planned trip can often be described as 'order emerging from chaos,' which means that things can sometimes--and sometimes often--go askew to the plan.  Having a partner who can absorb the normal to and fro of the process can really be the difference between a wonderful experience and a truly dreadful one.

So with that in mind, I set about the process of finding someone to travel with me.

It wasn't easy.  My first choice was my oldest daughter, Jennie.  At 19, she's already a seasoned international traveler.  I've taken her to France, Canada, Japan, China, Saipan... she knows her way around an airport, and is as level-headed as I am when it comes to dealing with the chaos of traveling.

But as a freshman at the University of Oregon, she couldn't take the time away from school.  I also considered my nephew, Nick, who is a professional videographer and web designer.  Again, schedules got in the way.

Bob, the master trip planner, had some suggestions, but for one reason or another, none of them worked out.  As the departure date loomed, I resigned myself to the possibility of traveling alone.  That's not a bad option, though.  Being able to set my own schedule, traveling light and fast and at my own whim, can be a wonderful thing.  The drawback, of course, is having no one to share the experience with.

And I considered pretty much every person I knew.  I didn't ask everyone, because, of course, there are baseline requirements.  Do they have the time to make the trip?  Do they have the money?  (Unfortunately, this was NOT going to be a cheap travel experience.)  Most importantly, does that person have the right temperament for travel?

Most possible travel partners were eliminated without even knowing they were in the running.  I called one friend and left a message: "Hey!  It's been forever since I've heard your voice.  Call me back when you get this and let's catch up!"  But they never did call me back.  Everything happens for a reason, I have learned.

So when Jennie suggested I call my friend Kori, I really didn't expect her to be able to come on the trip.  Kori and I have been friends for almost fifteen years... we go waaaay back.   But really, I hadn't called her earlier, because I knew she wouldn't be able to make it work.  She juggles two careers and is a parent to boot; Kori is a rock star at scheduling 'life.'  She works full time as an emergency services manager for a public agency, while also serving as a Major in the Air National Guard.  I really was not surprised that when I called her up and asked if she wanted to go, she regretfully declined.

She already had a trip planned with coworkers to Las Vegas, and she would have to take a full two weeks off work to go to France.  There was just no way she could make it work.  And I completely understood.

We caught up and rung off, and I resigned myself to traveling solo.

It wasn't long before she called me back.

"I told my coworkers about your trip, and they all looked at me like I was crazy.  I told my parents and the told me I was crazy.  I told my boss, and... you know what?  I am crazy if I say no.  I need to go on this trip!" She said.

And with that, I had a last minute travel companion.

And I was excited, because I've known Kori for such a long time.  We've been friends forever, and while we hadn't traveled together like this before, I knew the kind of traveler she would most probably be.  Level headed, open to changes, able to be scheduled without being anal compulsive about the whole thing.  Flexible.  An asset in challenging situations.  A resource, not just a body in the seat.  I was stoked.

The Beginning

When my last work trip ended at La Guardia on Monday afternoon, I still had a couple of reserve days on my line and sat in the crashpad for 48 hours while they passed.  There was a twelve hour window where Mother D could have given me a one or two day trip on short call, but the period passed uneventfully, and by Wednesday I was on my way west, home to pack.  Once I left New York, the clock was ticking... it would be a very short trip home. 36 hours, during which I had to pay my bills, wash my clothes, repack my work bag, then pack for France. 

I wrote about my packing "theology" in a previous blog... suffice it to say that I ended up with 6 lbs of clothes and 15 lbs of camera and computer gear.  It was an appropriate ratio.

Leaving Bend, I hit the ground running.  Sleep was a secondary priority... I got my chores done, packed my kit and headed for Portland to meet up with Kori.

I crashed at her house in Beaverton that night, and watched her pack... she whittled her piles down from "all" her clothes, to "most" of her clothes... to almost none of her clothes.  After several iterations, she ended up with a very respectable packing job... one medium rollaboard for her clothes and a backpack for books, camera and other gear.  I asked if she had read my blog on packing.  She hadn't, but it didn't matter.  Kori, I already knew, had her head in the game.  She was of a like mind... less is more.

The next morning we caught the morning flight from Portland to Salt Lake.  Loads had been tightening significantly in the weeks prior to the trip, and I had been nervously monitoring the dwindling seat numbers.   You should probably realize that I'm skipping the nerve-wracking part, where I checked aircraft loads every hour, gaming the system to see if there were better odds flying out of different cities in the US to different cities in Europe.  Bob and his wife Marnie were traveling from Dallas, Texas to Paris... and ended up getting bumped off the JFK-CDG flight and flew to London-Heathrow, then took the TGV Bullet Train through the Chunnel (Channel-Tunnel) into Paris, which cost them a pretty penny.   As Bob so eloquently stated, "It's only money."  He was smiling as he said it, there's that.

After a three hour sit in Salt Lake, we boarded the Paris flight.  We were elated to see that we had been upgraded to First Class (called Business Elite nowadays), and that the food, alcohol and movies were 'gratis.'  Most importantly, the seats were 'lay-flat,' which means that when you want to sleep, the seat lays back to horizontal, and the seat becomes a bed.   This makes a HUGE difference in your fatigue level on arrival.  Any sleep you can get on the inbound flight is good sleep... even if you have to take a sleeping aid of some kind.   The vibration, light and noise make for restless, shallow sleep, but do not try to stay awake, watching movies all night and simply 'power thru' till landing.  The inertia of sleep will overtake you later that day, and you'll be absolutely miserable.

A hearty meal, a quick movie (End of Watch, Jake Gyllenhaal), and then sleep.  And 10 hours later, we landed in Paris.  Passport control, no bags to claim (remember, never ever check bags unless absolutely necessary!), an ATM to get Euros...

A quick note about Travelex and other money-changing services... avoid them at all costs.  They give the worst exchange rate, and charge a percentage fee on top of the crappy exchange rate.  You'll lose the most value using these services.  I can see where it might be necessary on rare occasion, but try to minimize their use.  The cheapest way to exchange money is almost always via an ATM.  I use USAA, who refunds any ATM fees, gives money at the direct daily exchange rate as set by the market, and does not charge an exchange fee.  Basically, it's a direct, free exchange.  Other banks may charge fees, but they won't approach the costs of using a Travelex or other Money Broker.

After arrival in Paris, it was time to find the Hotel.   We trained to the Les Halles section for Paris, just east of the Louvre, and about three blocks from the Centre Georges Pompadeau.  We were exhausted... and the room wasn't ready for us yet.  We checked in, dropped our bags, and headed to the Cathedral Notre Dame, about 1/2 of a km from the hotel, on an island in the middle of the Seine River (Isle de Paris).  We sat in the sun, reflected on the the fact that yes, we were actually here, in Paris and eating a baguette with ham and brie.  After an hour, the room was ready, and we crashed... hard.   We slept in the way that only sleep deprived, jet-lagged travelers can sleep.  We slept the sleep of the dead.

More to come.  So sorry to rush thru the 'en route' portion, but the real experience awaits.   We were in Paris.  Cheers.




   

Adventure Layover Secret Number One: Packing Light

It's been a busy few weeks, out flying the line.  Lots of 4 am wake-ups, long days in the cockpit, short layovers in airport hotels.  And it's been a fun few weeks as well!  I've shared beers with new friends, met some challenges head-on, and plotted out my next adventure... and that's the reason for the whole shebang, isn't it?

I'm airborne right now, commuting home to Oregon to do a quick turn (48 hours), then head off on a two week trip to France.  Some friends and I are renting a canal boat and are wine-touring the Loire Valley (near Bordeaux) via canal for 10 days.  I'm going to sleep for 18 hours, shop for some new travel duds, play with my new camera and organize everything by color, weight, texture and usefulness.  Every moment of my time at home is planned out, to the minute.  

Okay, well, no it isn't.  I'm just not that organized!  And who would ever want to be?  But I am organized enough to get the job done.  Anyone can be.  It just tales some realistic planning and thought.  And that's what today's Adventure Layover blog is about: Realistic Adventure Layover Packing--The Serenity of Lightness.

In most cases, the trip you're about to take will very clearly dictate how much organizing and packing is required.  If you're headed out to catch a cruise ship for two weeks, you obviously need to bring things you wouldn't want to bring on a quick weekend trip to the beach or, as in my case, a tour of Paris and a week on a canal boat with friends.  I won't need my tophat and tails for this one.

Moose Weatherman's First Rule of Guerilla Travel:  When in doubt, leave it out!

Here's what I mean.  

Do you need five pairs of shoes?  No, probably not.  Bring comfortable shoes that are appropriate for the trip.  Hikers.  Or sneakers.  Sandals for the beach, if that's where you're going.  But don't bring "just in case" shoes.  It's an extra burden both in weight and in volume, and you'll regret having brought them.   Women are not the only ones who do this.  Guys, listen up.

Do you need a fresh, clean pair of underwear for each day you're on the road?  Surprisingly, NO, you don't.  Before you start questioning my personal hygiene (and remember, I am a Moose), let me remind you that two or three pair of the right kind of underwear is plenty!  REI (Recreational Equipment, Inc.), Patagonia and ExOfficio offer really good polyester underwear and tee shirts that can be easily washed in a sink or basin, and will be dry within a couple hours of being wrung out and hung up on a shower curtain.

Same is true for pants, skirts, socks, hats.  The stores above also carry "convertible" pants, or pants that zip off the legs to become shorts.  Just don't lose the legs... or mix them up with other pants' legs.  I carry a few ounces of a mild, biodegradeable detergent and usually spend 15 minutes washing clothes every second or third day.  Regular soap works fine too, just be sure to rinse it all out when you are done or it'll show up on your clothes the next day... and if you sweat or it rains, you'll be walking around wearing suds.  Ask me how I know this.

For my two week France trip, I will pack exceedingly light.  Three pairs of underwear, three pairs of socks, all polyester.  Two pullover breatheable/wickable tee shirts.  A pair of shorts to sleep and/or swim or run in.  Two button front polyester wrinkle-free semi-dress shirts.  Two pairs of convertible pants, with zip-off legs.  One pair of shoes (travel-ready Vasque Hikers) and one pair of flip-flops.  One hat.  One polypro sweater.  One breatheable waterproof rain jacket.

All of this will weigh about 8 lbs, and will leave tons of room for souvenirs and for my camera equipment.  No, all these specialty clothes aren't cheap, and you may be reluctant to spend $10-15 on one pair of underwear and $30 on a tee shirt.  But it's an investment that you're going to be using over and over again.

If you pack jeans and cotton shirts and unmentionables, you may end up having to check an overweight bag.  That can cost hundreds of dollars!  And really, unless it is absolutely necessary, you never-never-ever want to check a bag with an airline.  Any airline!  Ask any flight crew... pilots or Flight Attendants... how often they check bags.  You will be surprised at the looks you get.

Additionally, you simply can not wash cotton in a sink at night, wring it out, hang it up and wear it the next morning.  Period.  If you bring cotton, bring enough for every day you're away, or plan to pay and wait on hotel cleaning services.   For me, in most cases, it's actually cheaper to buy the expensive travel-oriented gear.  And how do you compute the value of having significantly less weight and lots of extra room in your bag?   It's easy math for me.

On this trip, I'm leaving my trusty, bulletproof rollaboard bag behind and packing all my clothes into my 3850 cubic inch Osprey Backpack.  Because of this, weight and volume are of paramount importance.  Everything I take with me, I will wear on my back.  And since I'm no longer a young Moose, my back requires me to be quite a bit more realistic with my packing!   As you approach middle age, you'll understand.   Also, it is my goal to leave ample room in the pack to bring home souvenirs and wine.

Once all is said and done, I'll be carrying about 30 to 35 pounds of gear and clothing for my journey, including my camera and laptop.  I organize using fabric cubes so that my clothes won't be jumbled up the first time I paw through the pack to get a clean pair of socks or my toiletries kit out.

Pack heavier things towards the bottom of your bag, whether you're carrying a pack or a suitcase.  Heavy items high up can unbalance the load, especially in a pack that you're going to be hauling for any significant distances.  Load medicines, passport, sunscreen and sunglasses, and reading materials last, on top; if there is a smaller accessories pouch on the top, that's perfect.  Basically, the things you might need first or while you're en route, pack them last, with ease of access in mind.

Some things to think about.  Do you need a power converter where you're going?  Get it before you leave if you can... airport concessions charge 50% more in many cases because you're now a captive audience.  How about a towel?  An empty water bottle/Nalgene?  If you are staying at Hostels, it's not a bad idea to invest $40-50 in a silk sleep-sack.  Toilet tissue and a hair dryer?  Sometimes the most basic things get left behind... and herein lies the big anxiety of packing.   Let me tell you, you will forget things that you planned to bring.  You will also not think about things that you will need at some point.   There is a simple, easy and foolproof fix for this, and if you truly embrace the concept, you anxiety over over-packing, under-packing or even not packing at all should be immediately alleviated... if you bring this with you.

A credit card.  Don't forget your credit card!  It's probably the most important thing you'll bring, next to your identification.

I've walked out of Moose Landing on a 15 day tour around Asia and didn't realize until the aircraft door was closing behind me that I forgot to pack underwear.  True story.  I've forgotten my socks.   Even my toothbrush.  Ack!

But in almost every major city on the planet you can buy these things, for a very reasonable price, with a credit card.

So do your best to let go of the anxiety.  Plan.  Be realistic.  Pack minimally.  Make lists.  Make more lists.  Do your best-- then relax, knowing you'll probably forget something.  It'll be okay, I promise.  Stop worrying and get your travel on!