My first trip to Paris (Part 1)

The year was 2016, I was a City Councillor and was pretty jazzed about giving back to my community. One day I was having lunch with some friends who started talking about going on trips for Spring Break. I thought in a bit of a pouty voice "Well I wanna go somewhere for Spring Break!" (I don't have kids so Spring Break has never been a thing....)

I took out my phone, opened the browser and typed "Cheap flights to Paris" just as a joke. I didn't actually think I would be able to afford to go to Paris which had been my top dream destination my whole life and in fact, I always thought I would live in Paris some day but here I was in my 40's and I still had not even been to Paris!

I stumbled onto a cheap flights page and typed in some dates in March that were in between Council meetings (because I was such a nerd that I didn't want to miss a single meeting!) which meant I had 8 days available to be in Paris with travel days on either end and not miss a meeting. Some flight options popped up with the first one having only one stop at Dallas airport for $463 US RETURN!!!

WHAT?!?! So I got a little bit excited but then quickly squashed the excitement as I thought "Oh yeah, but I've heard hotels in Paris are super expensive!" But I remembered this new app called AirBnB for short-term rentals so I thought I would download it and check it out. I found a tiny apartment in the heart of Paris for $80 per night!!! Mind you, when I say it was tiny, I mean someone renovated a large 3 or 4 bedroom Paris apartment into multiple tiny short-term rental apartments (which I now realize is so sad and I don't condone this) and it was the size of a small bedroom with a tiny squishy bathroom tagged onto it but I could afford it! So I held my breath and hit "Reserve Now!" and I booked my flights! Augh!!! I was going to Paris!!!

The excitement of having this short trip in my future only 6 weeks or so away really kept me going! I would research places to go see; I booked a ticket for the show at the Moulin Rouge with champagne at my table (because duh!) and I booked a tourist pass that included the Hop-on-Hop-off bus tour and a museum pass as well as a reserved spot to go to the top of the Eiffel Tower! I kept track of everything in a fashionable journal that had 'La Tour Eiffel' on the cover. Such a nerd!

When the day finally arrived, I packed fairly light so I could go shopping!! And I made my way to Paris! I had a stop in Dallas where I had to change planes, which let's be honest was a shitshow even then! I got held up at customs trying to get my carry-on through and they were checking all my bags as though I was an international drug smuggler and I almost missed my connecting plane which would have SUCKED! But sprinting through the airport, I made it wheezing and coughing just before they were closing the doors to depart!

The flight was basically a red eye flight for me as Paris was 8 hours ahead of my time zone so when I arrived it would be 8am Paris time and boy were my eyes red! I had tried to sleep on the plane but I was so wired and excited for Paris that I couldn't really sleep. I also had a window seat as I always do and had two people beside me so I held my bladder for the entire flight.

When we landed in Paris and they finally let me off the plane, I could hardly contain my excitement, although I was also very aware of "Paris Syndrome" so I didn't want to set my expectations too high. I was giddy as I got through customs (much quicker and easier than the US) and headed towards the train that takes you from Charles de Gaulle Airport to Gard du Nord where I would flag down a taxi to take me to my rental appartement.

Stay tuned for Part 2 when I start exploring Paris for the first time!