My countdown to Paris is just starting to get interesting. I don’t know about you, but the lead up to any solo trip is part of the adventure.
For me, the whole process of travel is addictive:
- the adrenaline rush trying when you hit book on your flights
- the anticipation of a new (if not temporary) life
- the purchasing of new toys (and clothes too of course)
- the scheming with friends you haven’t seen for years
- and of course the daily countdown, creeping every so closer to departure.
It has been almost a decade since I took my first steps on the cobbled streets of Paris. Less than a year later I was back soaking in the city, relishing in every moment. And now, almost nine years on, I am boarding a flight to Paris in a couple of months. So excited!
There’s something special about this time.
I will be spending two whole weeks in the city, immersing myself in the culture and language. No longer a cheap backpacker, I have my museum tickets booked and ready to go. And I can’t wait for what Paris will give to a decade older me.
Why are you going to Paris?
– Says everyone
This time around I have found the response to my trip to be quite different from the first. In my early twenties, no one questioned my decision to pack up my life and fly to Europe indefinitely. It was accepted. But at 32, the idea of me travelling to Paris solo has stumped so many of my family and friends. So many in fact I now respond with the classic sarcastic “why not?”.
Paris beckons me, intrigues me and excites me. There is so much for me that I am yet to explore. And if you subscribe to my channel over on YouTube you would also know I am learning French. And in Paris I will be able to practice and perfect my pronunciation and reflexes. An opportunity not readily available here in Australia.
But also, I love to travel.
So I booked my flights, found the cutest AirBNB and notified my good friend Nora in Switzerland. Together we will reunite and explore the streets of Paris together.
The anticipation is almost all consuming. It probably doesn’t help that I love making a good list or two (and checking them, once, twice, thrice… well who’s counting). I have my things to do before Paris list. My things to buy before Paris list. And of course, my every growing things to pack before Paris list. And the thrill I get each time I cross off an item… oh boy! Like I said everything about travel is addictive.
So let the countdown to Paris begin.