I am not a good candidate for months and months of ongoing travel:

a) the picture above is from Paris. That was taken a few days ago. Since that photo we have been to Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny, to the incredibly moving war memorials at Juno and Omaha beaches, to the Normandy beach town of Deauville and are now in the gobsmackingly beautiful village of Honfleur. I feel like my thoughts and feelings about all that I’ve seen have no time to catch up. I want to assimilate all that we’ve experienced.  I need time to reflect and to figure out what I think…to absorb.

b) Call me shallow but I like fashion. I get sick of wearing the same few items. I think longingly of various shoes and boots that would work SO much better than the sensible sturdy walking shoes I’m destined to keep on my feet.

c) I HATE getting completely ready in the morning before I get my coffee. That is the worst. It is becoming more common for rooms not to bother with the mess of the coffee maker. I get it. I really do. But this means, I can’t schlump around in a robe and slippers (as if there could be room in my bag for that!) sipping a perfect cappuccino before I have to make myself presentable for public appearances.

d) I am peeved at myself for breaking my cardinal rule of traveling with only a carry-on bag. When I was packing (back in the comfort of home) it seemed like a fine idea to bring out the slightly bigger wheelie duffle bag. It was positively a brilliant idea! It was so easy to stuff a few more items in, and hell, I was checking it in anyway under Transat’s priority luggage program. What I’d forgotten, of course, was the harsh cold (or more correctly, very sweaty!) reality of dragging that thing up and down the Paris Metro stairs like a I was hauling an unwieldy corpse. It was enough to make me consider flinging the entire affair on to the tracks.

e) Packing and unpacking for only one night’s stay gets tedious, but if we stay in one place for more than one night, we won’t miss out on the other places we wanted to see before we get to our final destination of Amsterdam.

I realize this is sounding just a little whingy (a little!?) but here’s what else I know:

Waking up in Honfleur to see the swallows surge up as one through the sun-kissed ancient rooftops, standing on the beaches where so many young men lost their lives, drinking wine while sitting on a sidewalk cafe, eating pain au chocolat in a bistro bar that has been serving people for hundreds of years, standing under the same willow tree that inspired Monet, walking along the Seine and watching artists paint…all these moments inspire me to count my blessings over and over.

I am honoured to have been given so many chances to see this world. I know that it is an enormous privilege to have had so many experiences in so many different places and for that I am drop-to-my-knees thankful.

I just wish I’d had room for my Fluevogs. 

Related articles

• End of Summer, Monet Gardens Revisited
• Impressions of Honfleur