More Croissants, Please!

Twelve hours from now, I’ll be at the Newark airport waiting to board my flight to France!  My leave has officially started and I am almost done packing.  And yep.. I packed everything in a carry-on + personal item.  I’ll be doing a lot of travel by train (especially when Andrew comes out) so I don’t want to be pulling or carrying a giant bag around France with me.  Also, the Parisians hate tourists.  I can just picture myself dragging a giant roller board down the cobblestone streets of Paris (bump bump bump) while some local shop owner watches and laughs.  So carry-on it is!

It’s sort of hard to see in the photo, but my strategy is layers.  I have a very faint idea of what the weather is going to be like while I’m there – I did some googling it looks like temperatures will range from 40 – 70 degrees (Fahrenheit).  So I packed:

• A pair of jeans
• Two dresses (the school mentioned we will have some nice dinners, and Andrew and I may or may not go to a Michelin Star restaurant in Champagne)
• Four t-shirts, A flannel shirt + 3 sweaters
• 2 pairs of running shorts + 2 pairs of leggings (could use for running, Yoga, lounging, hiking, etc.)
• 4 running shirts + 1 long sleeve
• Windproof pants/jacket (for my trekking through the Alps.. more on that later)

I’m also wearing another pair of hiking pants, my running shoes, and a long sleeve on the plane tomorrow.  I packed 4 other pairs of shoes – flip flops, nicer sandals, flats, and these really awesome Cole Haan’s that look like Oxfords but are built on a tennis shoe sole (thanks to Allison for introducing them to me!).  Last time I went to Paris – 14 years ago with my dance company – one of the “tips” we were given was to roll your clothing so it took up less space.  Other notes about last time I was there: I packed for a 10-day European trip in a giant checked bag even though I was about half of my current size; I had a broken leg and a bright orange cast that was a spectacle to the Europeans; I loved Austria but hated Paris; We spent our last night in Europe getting dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe in Paris – ketchup and ranch dressing never tasted so good.

I was initially planning to use the red bag you see below on the left, but I couldn’t find space for my orange hiking backpack.  By the way, I am obsessed with this backpack – it is made for hiking (or in my case, trail running), so it has a separate pocket for a bladder and lots of space for extra layers.  It also has a special padded pocket for my DSLR camera so it doesn’t get damaged while I traverse the Alps.  My tripod fits perfectly into the water bottle pocket and you can cinch the sides down so it doesn’t bounce around.

So I resorted to the old backpack within a backpack, and am stuffing the red bag into my roller board.  Oh, hi Willow!  Unfortunately, he isn’t coming with me.  But isn’t he SO CUTE?!
Off to finish packing, clean the house, and spend some quality time with those cute little kittens.  And Andrew, of course.