The Trip to France

Description

If someone were to suggest a trip to France a year ago, I'd probably turn them down or thought they were out of their mind. It would be a trip my parents would have taken during their traveling days, but something that never crossed my mind. But with a little cash from my inheritance, a little coaxing from our matchmaker and her husband, and the fact that I was now retired, I decided it would be the best way to finally celebrate 30 plus years of marriage with Marlene.

For Marlene and me the last trip was with the family to Hawaii back in 2006. The last trip taken with just the two of us was a Princess cruise along the Mexico coast in 1990. And the last trip taken by me which lasted at least two weeks was in 1973 when attending the Boy Scout Jamboree in Idaho with a bus tour of the Canadian Rockies. Going on this trip to France would become the longest amount of time spent away from home and my first trip overseas.

The France experience included a 13 day Rick Steves South of France tour with a tour of Paris a few days before and after the Rick Steves tour. It all began after my brother-in-law Philip dropped off the four vacationers (Marlene, our matchmaker Nina, her husband Michael, and me) at the San Francisco Airport Thursday afternoon on the 23rd of May.