Belle Bordeaux

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Clearly, I have made it to Bordeaux!! But, I’ve been a bit too jet-lagged to write coherently.

After a stressful fight with AirFrance in Paris – apparently the automated system is great until you have something like a large, heavy bag that doesn’t work fit within the system – and another visit by the flying panties – I finally made it to Bordeaux. I spent my first night at a quaint, small and very European Best Western at le Gare St. Jean, Bordeaux’s primary train station. Apparently, this is one of the city’s rougher neighborhoods – but I wasn’t concerned for my safety at all. It was a bit like being in a baby-SF Mission. Or maybe just downtown SJ after a Sharks game. I would love to say I saw a ton of cool things and explored the neighborhood in detail but I will confess despite an hour plus long walk, I don’t remember much.

The next morning I conquered the tram and made my way to the city’s Chartrons district and my new flat. My lovely landlady drove me back to the hotel in her Twingo where we actually managed to stuff all of my luggage into the back of her car and make our way back. And the lovely staff at the hotel actually allowed me to check out early. Unfortunately, I wasn’t expecting such a precipitous move and in the process of frantically re-stuffing my bags I missed one of my hairbrushes. But that was my only loss – and I really can’t complain. Particularly as my favorite hairbrush made it.

That afternoon I unpacked and started an initial shopping list. So I set out to master the local supermarche (a bit like a Walmart on crack). However, I have to confess I was completely overwhelmed. It took me 20 minutes just to find the milk and the eggs. So I grabbed basic essentials (toilet paper, milk, eggs, cheese and bread) and a few items for the flat (Swiffer, hangers, etc) and made my way back. I spent the rest of my evening getting organized and trying to stay awake.

Yesterday I began running errands in earnest and explored my new neighborhood. I picked up my first piece of mail – a package for my birthday sent from London, made an appointment at the bank to open a new account, and found a place to make copies. I also made my way back to the supermarche for a more in depth exploration and more essentials. Now at least I have ziplock bags, trash bags and some real food.

And last night, in honor of my upcoming birthday, my landlady invited me to a dinner party with her friends. I learned that my French is coming along better than I thought, but I have a hard time understanding conversations when more than one person speaks at the same time. Also, to state the obvious, French people speak very fast. 😉 But all in all it was a lovely (if very late – I went to bed about 2 am) evening. And there was even cake!

I’ve had a lazy morning but am getting ready to head to centre-ville (city center), camera in tow, to find the Apple store, a cell phone provider and go exploring. My one major communication fail with my landlady has been about connecting my time machine to the wireless router or modem. So far we haven’t made it past “but we have wifi.” Hence the hunt for the apple store – I will just manually back up my computers for the time being. Plus I don’t want to impose too much as the wifi is centered in her apartment. And I would like to feel connected again.

A plus tard!

Bonjour Paris!

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Three out of four flights and I’ve finally made it to France!!!

I am currently sitting in the Orly airport enjoying free wi-fi and waiting for the chance to drop off my bags. Apparently bag check in is much more efficient in France and you can’t check your bags in more than 90 minutes before your flight. Unlike San Francisco where bag check in ends 70 minutes before departure. I like the efficiency. I think. It means that I am currently waiting with all my bags and watching the clock as I really would like to freshen up in the bathroom – but there is no way I fit through the doorway with all my stuff. And yes it’s a lot of stuff. Even the Air France staff was a little taken aback.

I will confess – I do feel a bit ungainly sitting next to all of these put together and lovely French women. I’m in sweats I’ve been wearing for about 22 hours, have no make-up on and I’ve got all of this baggage. I REALLY need a shower! I smell like plane.

But I am surprisingly awake. Maybe not at my best, definitely struggling with my rusty French, but awake. Apparently two cocktails at the airport and two glasses of wine on the plane are conducive to actually sleeping. The empty middle seat in my row helped a lot too!

I was also surprised by customs – or the lack there of. Maybe I am just used to fling to London Heathrow where they are overly cautious. But they barely glanced at my passport. Didn’t even check my visa or look at my bags. The whole thing took about 30 minutes – 5 of which was waiting in line and the rest was waiting for my bags to be unloaded.

Well writing this post has killed about 20 minutes, about 50 to go. I’m going to go find something else to keep me busy so that awake status doesn’t change! Looking forward to finally arriving in Bordeaux.

A plus tard!

Greetings from a Mile High

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I am currently sitting on the plane (yay! on board wi-fi) on my way to Dallas for my first stop. Months of prep work, meltdowns, packing and planning and I left San Jose this morning at 6:20 am. I would like to think that I am a seasoned traveller and that I normally have my shit together. But I will confess – this morning I lacked all of my usual calm, grace and poise (or what little of it I have.)

Kudos to Dad for the curb-side drop off idea. We got to the airport this morning and it was already a zoo. Lots of people lined up at the curb so we pulled the bags out and got in line as fast as possible. Turns out this was a good idea as things were moving slowly at the check in counter and I only had to wait for one person. I checked in my two bags (both of which came in heavy. oops. but I only got charged for one ;D ) and got in the very long security line. By the time I cleared security with my two VERY large carry-ons and two laptops, I had enough time to buy a bottle of water and book it to the gate.

This is where the lack of poise really showed up. My plane was already boarding and I was one of the last people on. But the ladies (one very nice and one…not so much) objected to the backpack and I got what I wanted – which was to gate check my bag and not have to pay for it. 😀 But this also meant frantically digging through the bag to pull out my jewelry – and due to poor planning on my part – a few other essentials like an extra pair of underwear. Which of course means that as I open my bag on the airport floor – my underwear goes flying and I promptly embarrassed the older gentleman standing next to me.

After a minute more of digging – and a frantic search for the passport that was right in front of me – I FINALLY got on the plane. Day pack and overnight bag in tow. Of course at this point my overnight bag is overflowing and I am holding it my arms like a baby so that things don’t go flying again. I managed to shove a few more things in my day pack and squeeze the overnight bag at my feet. But I have the dreadful feeling something got left along the way. Oh well. C’est la vie. Right?

Here’s to hoping that all three of my bags make it through both of my connections and the carrier change to Paris. Where I promptly get to clear customs and start the whole lovely process of checking in all over again. Yay?

Keep your fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed that everything makes it in one piece. Now I gotta go find that flight attendant. Is it too early for a drink?