Fontainebleau to St Louis

CDG to Fontainebleau

The Start

On November 17 at 08:40, 5 minutes ahead of schedule, Charlotte Shuttle showed up to take us on a 45-minute ride to the airport, plenty of time for our 12:05 departure flight. That was good because about 4 miles down the road as we were going over our mental check lists, Dorothea (this girl is truly amazing) said, "We forgot our phones!!!!!" OMG!!!!!!!! A quick ‘U’ turn, a dash through the house, a frantic search for the phones and back on the road at 9:05 with the items as essential to life as our beating hearts.

Arriving at Ft. Myers Regional with plenty of time, we checked our bags at the curb. The Delta Skycap on parting nonchalantly mentioned we needed to present our visas at the gate. What’s he talking about?

Before arriving, Dorothea checked us in on-line and printed our boarding passes. But I was a little anxious. When doing the online check-in she found out Delta had overbooked the flight and was offering up to $500.00 to volunteers who would take a later flight. If no one volunteered, then they would start a forced bumping process. Umm, does that mean travelers using frequent flyer miles instead of cash are the first to go? 

When we arrived at the departure gate, I asked the attendant to verify our boarding status. She said we were o.k. but needed to see our passports. O.K., it’s an international flight and she’s just making sure we have the proper credentials to leave and return. Rejoining Dorothea where she was sitting with our carry-on bags, I mentioned the agent’s comment.  Thinking we had been cleared to board, she went to the agent for a final check-in. After talking to the agent, she started to wave for me to come join her. Across 15 rows of waiting passengers I jestered back to her in a language only she and I can understand; “I can’t leave our bags”; she motioned “Get over here”; I motioned “I can’t, I need to stay here with the bags”; she motioned “You better get over here right now. Don’t make me come over there!”; “O.K., I’m coming.” While we were communicating by hand signals and facial expressions, people were watching which made me feel like I was in the final scene from “Crocodile Dundee.” “What did he say?”; “Tell her he said he loves her!”; “He loves you.“; “What did she say?”; “She said tell him she loves him ”; “She loves you.”. When I finally joined Dorothea, the agent said she needed to see our visas. What’s she talking about? We don’t have a visa. She says, “You have to have a visa because you’re not returning to the US until May 2020.” I say in my authoritarian tone, “Nope, don’t need a visa. We’re going to be in the Schengen countries for only 3 months and then 3 months in the UK.” She says, “O.K., let me do this and you’ll be good to go.” Whew!

Oh Lord, please let me get to Europe without a CVE. I promise I’ll be a better person.

Our first-class accommodations on our flight to St. Paul weren’t anything special. We had more leg room but nothing extraordinary. However, the flight to Paris was something entirely different.

I wrote this early in the flight to capture the essence of the moment:

“Here I am sitting next to a beautiful woman, in my First Class Pod, on a Boeing 737, over the Atlantic Ocean at 37,000 feet, headed for Paris, sipping a Macallan Double Cask 12 Single Malt Scotch Whiskey, listening to Willie Nelson while waiting for my filet mignon dinner to be served.”

If the Catholic Church wants to attract more parishioners, they need to get away from the ‘Hell and Brimstone’ approach and adopt the Delta One marketing strategy. Offering something like I was experiencing for an eternity would no doubt bring in converts by the thousands. Allah did something similar when he offered men 20 virgins in the afterlife if they would dedicate their lives to him. Looks like that worked out well!!

Plane to Minnesota

No Worries

Boarding Call

On Board Flight to Minneapolis

Chilling in Delta Crowne Room Minneapolis

Our Pods

In-Flight Status

Over the Atlantic at 35,00 Feet

Tucked in for the night

Almost there

Waiting for Shuttle to the Car

There were a couple of hiccups’ on our arrival in Paris, but we were on the ground in France and nothing was going to stop the show from going on. We got our car and headed on a two-hour drive to Fontainebleau. It didn’t take long to reacquaint ourselves with the familiar GPS phrase: “In 300 meters, enter the roundabout and take the 3^rd exit.”

That's one! That's two or is it three? No, that's three!

O.K. Here we go!

The Portage

“All our bags are packed, we’re ready to go

They’re standing here beside our door

One last look before we say goodbye

The dawn is breakin’ it’s early morn

The taxi’s waitin’ he’s blowin’ his horn

Already we’re so excited we could die

…

So ready are we, the traveling Zs

To share with you all we'll see

Thought we’d never ever get to go

But now we’re leaving on a jet plane

Don’t know if we’ll be back again

Oh babe, can't believe it's time to go”

Thank you, Mr. Denver, for all the great music you left us. (You almost wrote the perfect good-bye song).

Our departure date of November 17^th was driven primarily by economics. Winter in Europe is the off season. It's significantly less expensive, beautiful as a post card and no crowds. As you might expect, destination Poland in January is not high up on Rick Steve's list of must do travel videos.

Aside from what we consider to be an advantageous time to travel, we wanted to be in the heart of Christmas-Land during that time of year. Christmas Markets, the arrival of St. Nicholas, Christmas concerts, and Glühwein, of course, are local traditions and highlights we experienced in the past. We are very much looking forward to enjoying them again. For us, this is our Christmas.

Our celebration of the Christmas holidays with family members has diminished over the years; partly because of the passing of our loved ones and partly because of physical distances. We have so many pleasant memories of Christmas’ past with family but now, they're only memories. The chance to spend this special season in places like Colmar, Strasbourg, Freiburg, Lucerne, Zurich, and Vienna helps ease the tinge of emptiness we and many seniors like us feel during the Holiday season. No reason to get depressed. . . Improvise, adapt, and overcome! Since there are fewer gifts to buy for others now, why not continue to contribute to the economy by gifting yourself? You'll always like what you get!

Our flight out of Ft. Myers takes us to Minneapolis for a plane change to Paris. Dorothea, our wonder travel arranger, has us flying Delta in a “Pod” to France. I’m anxiously awaiting to see what exactly a “Pod” is. The only thing that comes to mind is the escape pod in “2001 Space Odyssey!” If while we’re in there HAL starts to talk to us, not so good!

We pick up our car, a spanking new Renault Duster SUV, at Charles De Gaulle airport.  Hopefully, all our luggage will be at baggage claim and easily recognized (remember the tassels!) and the layout of the airport Dorothea found will help us navigate to where we need to go. Oh joy!

Look out Europe, here come the Zs!.


Dorothea and Ed

The Prep and Pack

The Prep

Planning for a six month road trip to foreign countries isn’t as daunting as it seems. If they can plan for an astronaut to be in the space station for twelve months, six months across the pond with convenience stores nearby shouldn't be a big deal.

Before deciding what to bring, we had to decide how to get it there.

Way back when the idea of our trip was still in its infancy and vowing to never again book a long flight in coach class, we explored the possibility of taking a re-positioning cruise from Florida to Europe. The fares for a 12 or 14 day crossing were less than $2,000 per person. Not bad for two weeks of room, board and transportation with no limits on luggage size or weight  (we do not travel lightly) and space to stretch. It was a great idea but the timing was all wrong.

Enter Ms. Dorothea, our transportation wizard. When she had her own business, she used her AMEX to pay for fees and permits and in doing so, earned enough reward points for two round trip air fares. “Nope, I’m not going to fly. You can’t get me to sit in a stinking, crowded, cramped, germ-infested cattle car for 7 hours. No, absolutely not, never ever again!” “Not to worry honey, the tickets are for two first class seats both over and back.” What a gal! She never ceases to amaze me!

'Old Tumi'

New Travel Pro

Our tickets allow for each of us to have, at no extra charge, two checked bags, one carry on bag and one personal item. Boys and girls, that adds up to eight pieces of luggage filled to bursting capacity. Not so fast. The new size and weight limitations put the kibosh on using our old luggage to take everything we own (I’m worse than Dorothea about over packing). The Tumi luggage we bought 35 years ago is extra large and still in good condition (a living testimony to its longevity) but we bought it long before scales were invented and size and weight didn't matter. What to do? The price of one new Tumi piece today is equivalent to what we paid for the entire 7-piece set back in ’84. A couple of smaller new pieces, conforming to the allowable dimensions was the solution. To make sure the new pieces didn’t cost more than the whole trip or fall apart before we got to the airport or got rejected at check-in, we did a lot of research. The new pieces had to be spinners and capable of being grouped and stacked so the two of us could manage all EIGHT pieces over short distances. You can never find a porter when you need one! In addition to two 'old' Tumi pieces, we settled on two new Travel Pro bags for checked baggage and a Travel Pro Flight Crew bag and Tote for carry on.  And note the spiffy colorful luggage tassels Dorothea made so we can identify"our" luggage from the other side of baggage claim!

Some or all of the preparations we made probably seem mundane but they're all part of Pee Wee's great adventure.

First and foremost is cat care. Fortunately, a friend of Dorothea's had a friend who needed a place to stay during the time we would be gone and was willing to "cat sit."  Wow! What a relief. Boarding a cat for six months would have cost more than a few sardines.

Secondly, $$$$$$$$. Without the internet, it would be impossible to do what we were planning to do. The "Cloud", the copy keeper of passports, driver's license, and all things important, will be our portable filing cabinet. And, the advantages of electronic banking did away with the need for a personal secretary. Over the past several months, we have arranged to either have our bank do "Bill Pay" or set up auto debits for financial obligations. Additionally, moving funds from one institution to another is a snap. Some, offer no transaction fees for credit card charges or ATM debit withdrawals. They do charge a premium on top of the current exchange rate but it's not outrageous. Also, over the last 4 or 5 months we have been tracking foreign currency rates and have purchased Euros, Pounds and Swiss Francs when they were low. Thank you Yes, No, Maybe, Brexit! You have made the Pound Sterling a little more affordable than it was during our last two trips. And, since Switzerland's Franc is on par with the US Dollar, we'll be having more cheese fondue and chocolate than Weiner Schnitzel or Fish and Chips. Plus, I may have to stock up on German Spaten before getting to Budapest where a beer is 500 Hungarian Forint!

The Pack

O.K., we now know when, where and how we’re going to get there and what we’ll use to carry our stuff. The next question. What stuff?

Except for Putin, Trump hasn’t made many friends in Europe. And, not knowing if radical Europeans hate all Americans, we think it better to blend in rather than stand out. No white “New Balance” walking shoes, no fanny packs, no cowboy shirts or hats, no team athletic wear, no Jimmy Buffett shirts and no white pointy hoods. We need to try and dress like Europeans, black, black and more black. We are retirees who currently live in shorts, tees and sandals - none of which even remotely resembles black or is suitable for January in Poland. Bealls senior Tuesdays has been a regular weekly outing for us. O.K., how many outfits? Two weeks of dirty laundry impregnated with various colognes and human scents in a closed, heated car pretty much sets the upper limit. Needless to say, visits to ”lavanderies” are right up there in importance as visits to castles and cathedrals. We don’t do laundry in the hotel bathroom sink. We tried that once and cardboard underwear and socks makes for very long days. Besides, all of our underwear are labeled with his and hers and day of the week monograms. Wearing Friday’s underwear on Monday or visa versa causes unnecessary confusion and tension.

Consumables! How much? Here is some interesting trivia that even Alex Trebek doesn’t know. One 7.6 oz tube of toothpaste will last 40 days; a 3.4 oz stick of deodorant, 53 days; a  12 oz bottle of shampoo, 70 days for two; a 7 oz bottle of aftershave, 66 days; and a 10 oz can of shaving cream, 5 months and still counting. So, what’s needed for 6 months???

And meds. Oh, the meds. “But honestly Mr./Ms. TSA person, we are elderly Americans heavily medicated not “Mules.”

Then there are plug adapters for various European outlet shapes. Cables and locks to secure our luggage. Can’t forget the Applewatch, iPhone, iPad, PC (a new Dell Note Pad replaces our 36”, 20 pound laptop), battery packs, charging cords, an external memory drive and two 32 GB memory cards for 6,300+ pictures (about 35 per day).

With all of the “stuff,” we need to limit the weight so we have enough reserve capacity to bring back 12 bottles of French wine!

We have pre-packed and repacked to evenly distribute the weight. And, things have been distributed across all of the luggage pieces in case one or more of our bags winds up in the Azores without us.

All the major pieces weigh in at around 50#, under the 70# limit. I recently had a hernia repaired on my left side. I hope we haven’t booked any long stays in elevator-less BnBs on the third floor as we have on previous trips. If so, “Hello Dr. Janis, guess what?”

14 days and counting!

Ed and Dorothea

Other Photos

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOqkxcgLDUcMpTY1i3lkEyEemLp6abNndhnGAfD

The Plan

After a couple of false starts, we finally made the leap to embark on our 3rd trip to Europe.

Where to go, where to go, where to go???

Our first trip was a lifelong dream come true: London, Paris, Brussels, Octoberfest, Neuschwanstein, Salzburg, Lipizzaner Stallions, Vienna Boys Choir, Venice, a cruise to Athens and the Greek islands, Florence, Christmas midnight Mass at the Vatican, Pisa, Genoa, Italian Rivera, French Rivera, Monaco, Lyon, Dijon - and many other surprises never ever imagined, like Willy Wetsocks, GarmischPartenkirchen, Jungfraujouch, Lucerne, Gotthard Tunnel and Aix-en-Provence .

Our second trip was a special reward for drinking Corona Beer! Dorothea entered a "Find Your Beach" contest and won a week's paid vacation, including airfare, to our favorite beach. We started out with a plan to relive our honeymoon in Montego Bay but wound up in Sitges, Spain, just outside of Barcelona. What the hey, if you're going to get a free plane ride to a beach, why take just a short hop to Jamaica? Move over Dali, here we come! 

Can't go to that part of the world without going to Valencia, Seville and Lisbon. Catholics, when in that area, are obliged to make a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Fatima and the Templar Knights. This helps shorten any potential stays in purgatory. 

Bordeaux, Geneva, Luxembourg, Christmas in Amsterdam and New Year's under the Eiffel Tower filled in the "ho hum" time. But again, surprises were the unimaginable:  Arcachon, CERN, Montblanc, Chamonix, Gruyere fondue, Bruges, and Calais.

Some will say, our travels are too rushed, and we don’t get a chance to appreciate what an area has to offer. Au contraire mon ami! We do not just scratch the surface. Everything is quality time and truly a life-altering experience. There is no way to go into the details of each and every event and convey the essence of the experience. Suffice it to say, those experiences are why we are going back. America is great and the best place in the world, but the diversity and lure of European culture and its unique soul keeps tugging at us to experience everything it has to offer. Life is short and there is sooooo much to see and experience.

For our third adventure we start at the Fountainebleu outside of Paris, then on to Roger Federer's  Swiss home town for a month with side trips to Christmas Markets, Christmas Markets and more Christmas Markets! Then on to Prague, Vienna for Christmas, and Budapest for New Year's. Being of Polish decent, guess where to next; Krakow, Auschwitz and Warsaw. Then on to Berlin and then south to the trail of the Brothers Grimm to Frankfurt, Bonn, Dusseldorf, Antwerp and back again to Calais.

A ferry takes us across the channel to the world of wrong-way drivers. After a stopover in Canterbury, it will be three weeks along the southern coast of England to Fishguard for anther ferry ride to Ireland. It's already March and almost St. Patrick's day. I wonder what St. Pat's day is like in Dublin. I’m counting on Dorothea to remember how to get back to our hotel. Without her, I would still be wandering around Munich.

 After a few other high points in Ireland like St. Andrews, it's another ferry ride back to England and the Scottish Highlands and Edinburgh. On the road back to London; Nottingham, Cambridge, Stratford, and Oxford are all places that were here-to-fore only words on pages.

By now we're down to our last few silver dollars and we need to make our way back to Paris. So, after a final week in London, we head to Dover, catch our last ferry ride back to Calais and do the laundry that has been piling up since we left. Then, on to the City of Lights. 

Once in Paris, we have 10 days to live like Parisians. Wine, cheese, wine, bread, wine, wine, wine, and more wine. Sorry, drinking a lot of French wine costing only 2.5 Euros isn't considered gluttony, it's considered opportunistic. Then, it's back home for 3 months to a de-tox center.

Hope you'll follow us. We plan to have an immensely good time and if you can't join us in person, at least join us in spirit.

Ed and Dorothea