Eve of my Trip to France

Dear Friends and Family, I leave for France tomorrow!  Yay!  I could not be more excited. 

It is close to 9pm and I’m checking the final items off my checklist.  I mean… checklists!  According to my Strengths Finder, I am an Achiever, which means, I LOVE checklists.  For this trip I had a checklist for my job deliverables, one for packing, one for errands, one for documentation…  I’m happy to report that 95% of the items are checked off.  🙂  Boy, I sure get pleasure from checking items off!  The only thing missing is calling my mom, my sisters, and my grandma tonight.  Yep, I even have a checklist for family members to call 😀

Health Pass… CHECK

In France, you must be vaccinated in order to do anything.  You have to be vaccinated to enter the country but also to sleep in a hotel, take the trains to other cities, eat at restaurants, go into shops, visit museums, and even climb the Eiffel Tower.  The French government introduced the Pass Sanitaire or Health Pass to make it easy for citizens to upload vaccine documents.  The Health Pass has a QR Code which you can scan when you enter shops and restaurants instead of carrying physical copies of your vaccine documentation.  Americans can get this health pass too by uploading their CDC vaccination records.  I began the process early October and until now I had not received my health pass.  I was afraid that it would not get here on time, but thankfully it did!  Yay!  Happy to check that item off.

Hotels and Trains… CHECK

All my hotels and trains are officially booked!  And I also have printouts of everything… just in case.  I even sent a copy of my itinerary to my parents including hotel contact information and train times.  Better safe than sorry!

Euros… CHECK

I prefer to arrive in any foreign country with a good amount of local currency.  You never know when or where you will find an ATM.  I got nervous when I stopped by at Wells Fargo to pick them up yesterday and to my surprise the branch was closed!  They had a COVID case so they closed the branch to assure employee safety.  Luckily the drive through was open and I was able to get my Euros.

Packing… CHECK?

So… I think I’m done with packing… maybe?  I’m usually pretty diligent when it comes to packing for a trip… however, this trip has a few constrains that have made it a bit tough.  First, I’m taking a small bag.  Because my trip involves a lot of trains, I need my bag to be small.  Second, it’s going to be cold in France.  Most days the temperature will be in the mid-low 50s.  This means bulkier clothes.  Third, need to leave room for WINE!!!!  I have a few wine tours scheduled and I want to bring back a few bottles, so need to leave plenty of room in my suitcase for some delicious French wine 😉

Time to make some calls to my family and check the last item off my list.

I will be posting periodically during the trip.  If you don’t want to miss out on the latest post, subscribe to the blog below.  I will also post pictures in Instagram @theafterfivetraveler.  Don’t forget to post comments or questions in the blog.  I’d love to read them as I go along.

Au Revoir!