Monday, June 1, 2015

I can remember the feeling pretty well, the extensive confusion and overwhelming excitement as we stepped off the plane into the maze known as Charles de Gaulle, Paris. We had finally arrived, we were on the door step of our long anticipated adventure. Over the course of the next three months, we would learn a lot about traveling, life, and growing in our faith, our relationship, and our love for each other.

   // Lesson number one: First impressions don't really matter. 

The seemingly simple act of taking the metro RER line C from the airport to our first apartment on Boulevard de Grenelle proved to be a daunting task, one that left us questioning, why exactly do people come to Paris in the first place? First off, simply making our way from the gate to the metro required about 4 different light rails and approximately a mile of walking through different terminals, not to mention trying to figure out how to buy a ticket from the broken machine with no chip in my card (but that's a story for another time). Let's put this into perspective, the only time we got lost on our ENTIRE trip was in the airport on the very first day. I don't remember being particularly excited at this point.

When we finally got to the train or whatever you wanna call the metro there, it looked like it hadn't been cleaned since 1964 and it was packed like a bus in India, minus the whole sitting on the roof thing (although at the moment I would have probably preferred the fresh air and cool breeze that accompanies the whole riding on the roof thing). It was dirty, stuffy, and smelly, i don't recall much excitement here either. 

If any of you have made the metro trek from CDG into the city you know that your first impression of Paris is...well, less than positive. For some reason the only metro that takes you above ground in Paris takes you through the oldest and most raggedy neighborhoods, where there's more graffiti than paint on the buildings you pass by . At this point I remember uttering the words "Paris is terrible," half joking but at the same time kind of thinking, why on earth do people love this place? Let me be really honest for a moment, I actually wasn't really expecting much from Paris. Sure, I figured it would be awesome, because, well, this was our honeymoon and it was the first time either of us had really traveled, but honestly, I was kind of looking forward to heading South and hitting the Mediterranean beaches with my new bride. Seafood, sunshine, and turquoise water is what i was after, and I couldn't wait to get there.

When we finally arrived at our apartment, we were greeted by our kind host, Thomas. For the next three days we would be taking over his flat (via AIRBNB). Thomas seemed to be a young bachelor and his apartment reflected the lifestyle. I must note several distinct characteristics of the flat : seven flights of the steepest and narrowest stairs known to man and a shower so small I could hardly fit my elbows into ( my wife would stop me here and point out that I'm above average size at 6'4" and she'd say the shower was fine, I'm just a giant), but by American standards the shower was half of your shower divided by two and a half, twice..... The apartment wasn't the nicest we stayed in, it wasn't the biggest, it didn't have the fanciest kitchen at all, but I remember dropping our bags at the entrance, saying "au revoir " to Thomas, and thinking "wow, this place is kinda perfect."

As we stood on our tiny little Parisian balcony overlooking the Eiffel tower, I could almost hear the stereotypical french accordion playing in the background. Something was changing, I no longer felt out of place in this strange land, after all, this was our first trip alone, we were incredibly far from home and everything would prove to be completely new and completely different than what we had expected Europe to be, but in that moment, all of the sudden, I couldn't care less about the sunny beaches of the French riviera. I was perfectly happy to stay right there, on that balcony, forever. Parisian roof tops, iconic monuments, and the girl of my dreams. Life was perfect.

Over the next three months we would continue our journey through Europe. We had planned only the first 10 days in Paris, the rest, well, we'd figured all that out as we went along from sleeping in the car to driving 16 hrs straight (because we thought the 7hr route would have been too long) Join with us as we walk through our once-in-a-life-time adventure. What better way for us to relive all the beautiful, exciting, trying, and death-defying memories we were blessed enough to experience on this journey. We will be sharing our tips and tricks on longer-term, budget traveling, including places to go, attractions to see, foods to try, the best car rental options,  apartment tips and ways to save and stretch your dollar. Feel free to comment or ask questions!