Paris Day 3

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So, nothing really went as planned today. We were supposed to do 2 walking tours. I really enjoy walking tours because I like to hear the little stories and details behind what I’m looking at. Well, we woke up this morning and it was raining. Plus, we are still a bit jet laggy and moving slowly in the morning. It was easier to just skip it. The weather was supposed to clear up so we figured that we could just hit up the second one in the afternoon. It also gave Justin more time to pick up the rental car since we leave for Champagne tomorrow.

I hung out at the hotel while he got the car. Luckily, I was there because the rental place needed to see the credit card that was used to book the reservation. Now, Justin has alot of credit cards. He doesn’t carry them all with him at once. Luckily, modern technology let me get into the safe and into his “backup wallet (?)” that contained the correct card. Apparently, they also tried to give him a manual rather than automatic car, and he had to pull up the reservation and show them that he indeed booked an automatic car. If you have rented a car in Europe, you know what I’m talking about. These things just don’t go smoothly.

While I was hanging out in the room, I worked out (yes, I’m one of those people) and took a shower.

Well, I mentioned in an earlier post that I forgot about the voltage issue when in comes to electrical devices ie my blow dryer brush. But, I had a plan in place. I was going to use the hotel blow dryer and my dryer brush as a round brush. What I didn’t prepare for was the blow dryer overhearing after 5 minutes of use and then needed 5 minutes to cool down before working again. We were on a time crunch to make our second tour. After alot of drama and a call to the front desk, I got my hair reasonably dry and blown out before we flew out the door for a brisk walk to our tour

What we didn’t plan for was the (what I believe was) protest blocking many streets that we needed to go down. Long story short, we missed the tour. My mood was….. sour.

The tour was of the Montmarte area of Paris. I was really interested in hearing the story of the neighborhood, but maybe next time. We did get to walk up to the Sacre Coeur Church and saw a beautiful panoramic view of the city.

After that we had an unbelievable meal at Kei. This was a 7 course tasting. The chef is Japanese so, it has many Asian influences while still being primarily French based.

caviar with sour apple mousse and sorbet
This is a salad with smoked salmon and one of our favorite dishes of the night.
Sea bass with the scales still on. First time for everything.
Lobster
100 day aged Spanish beef
Meringue with chestnut ice cream and lemon. My other favorite of the night

It was such an amazing meal!

Tomorrow, we get up and moving early to get to Champagne. It’s about a 2 hour drive, and we have a tasting at 11am.

A few things I’ve noticed:

The people in Paris wear long sleeves, long pants, boots etc. They are very covered up. It’s not that cold out here. I’m used to the people in New Orleans wearing flip flops in the winter. I haven’t seen an open toe shoe yet.

Our toilet hasn’t worked since we got here. It’s a situation is rather not elaborate on.

Justin does not know how to take a flattering selfie of the 2 of us. If he tells me “that’s just what you look like” one more time…..

I still haven’t seen Cardi B

Anyway, off to Champagne tomorrow!

Paris day 2

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Today we had a multi-course lunch and dinner planned. This is one of our “big dining” days. Most of the other days we just have one meal planned per day.

So, for lunch we went to a restaurant called Septime. Through Justin’s research, he heard that this place is very highly regarded and tough to get into. We had a fantastic meal. It has a much more casual atmosphere than L’Orangerie, where we are last night. It’s sort of like an upscale bistro with very high quality food.

The menu was a 5 course tasting menu. Each dish was extremely flavourful and creative (without sacrificing taste).

I can elaborate on the food if anyone is interested, but I (generally) think it comes off kinda obnoxious and pretentious sounding and that’s just not my thing. Also, we didn’t get a menu so I only have a vague idea of what everything is.

After lunch, we decided to go to the Louvre. Yesterday, we just walked around the outside. I’m so glad that we went in today. The building alone is so gorgeous. I spend most of the time looking at the elaborate ceilings. We caught a glimpse of the Mona Lisa, but there was a mob/ line around her so we kept walking.

I enjoyed seeing the crown jewels and incredible chandeliers. I think we missed that last time.

It was a beautiful day today, so we decided to walk back to the hotel rather than take the subway.

Dinner was at Alleno Paris at Ledoyen (hotel). It is a 3 Michelin Star restaurant (if you are into that kind of thing), and it was everything it should have been. The service, presentation, and atmosphere were impeccable. It was many courses and there wasn’t one in the bunch that missed the mark. I mean, it started with a champagne cart. So, how could it go wrong.

Everything was perfection. It even ended with a tour of the kitchen and a meeting with the chef (who is not much older than us and Italian….. surprising for a traditional French restaurant).

After a nice walk back to the hotel, we are stuffed and ready for bed

Tomorrow brings 2 walking tours and our last day in Paris then off to Champagne.

Bonjour to post-Covid travel

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So, obviously, many things have changed in the past 18 months. Travel has changed. I’m not going to go into all of that right now, but traveling has become significantly more complicated. But, here we are.

Our itinerary for this trip is as follows:

Paris to champagne to Burgundy to Rhone to Nice then home (about 2 weeks total). Honestly, I’m not even sure how many nights we are in each place. I know that we will be moving. ALOT. Justin has prepared me for that. We did not bring James on this trip. Besides the fact that he is in school, this is a more “adult” trip than we have taken in a while. Lots of wining and dining.

Our travel to Paris went extremely smoothly, considering all the extraneous factors that have made international travel more complicated. To enter France, you have to be vaccinated (I’m pretty sure. I’ll have to confirm with Justin, but he’s sleeping). This was not a problem for us. We also had to get an app on our phone with our vaccine information that is used in France. This “safe travel” passport gives a QR code that needs to be presented at restaurants and museums etc. Justin can speak more about this because, from what he told me, it was a pain in the butt.

Anyway, we flew Delta from New Orleans to Atlanta and then Air France from Atlanta to Paris. There were no issues at all. Business class to Paris was nice and we were able to get a few hours of sleep before landing.

We landed around 6:30 am Paris time. It was dark and rainy. Luckily, we were able to check into out hotel right away. We are staying at the Park Hyatt Vendome. It is super fancy. We have stayed here before (about 7 years ago…I was pregnant for James). We got a status upgrade with points and have a beautiful suite.

Per the leader of the anti-jet lag task force (aka Justin), we should not go to sleep right away. Blah blah blah. We went to have a quick hotel breakfast (included in the room) and around 11am took a 3 hour nap….but no longer 🙃

After that, we did a whirl wind tour of Paris highlights. The Paris Opera House, The Lourve, the Arc de Triumph (which is covered in wrapping for some unknown reason), and the Eiffel Tower.

After many steps and Subway rides, it was time to do a quick change for dinner.

For dinner, we ate at the Four Seasons at a restaurant called L’Orangerie. It was outstanding. It was a 7 course tasting menu. Each course was better than the next.

I’m not going to elaborate on each one because half the time, I didn’t know what I was eating.

With full bellies, we headed back to the hotel.

A couple of things to add: It is Paris Fashion week right now. I know you are surprised, but that’s not why we placed this trip. It has caused some issues getting around because some areas are blocked off.

It’s rumored that Cardi B was staying in our hotel.

I forgot that my blowdryer brush is the wrong voltage so expect my hair to get significantly worse as the week goes by unless I can find a reasonable solution.

And, lastly, I’m trying to post Instagram stories. I’ve never done it before. I feel like my mom when I was trying to teach her how to copy and paste. 🤪

I’m doing my best and hopefully they improve throughout the trip.

Alyce

The House

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The house…it’s been alluded to on here numerous times.  If you know us, you’ve likely at least heard about it.  If you us well, you’ve likely been several times during/after the project. 

From March 2017 when we started looking into the possibility of buying the house to March 2019 when we moved in, it consumed most of our free time.  I had to organize the financing, plans, permits, acted as contractor, and physically did a ton of the work too.  Alyce had to double up on everything at home since I was always busy; she also helped do some work too when available.

In this post, I’ll try to go over purchasing the house and making plans, the things we did, before/after, and thoughts after living in it for nearly two years.

Buying the house

We liked our old house, but we knew we would prefer a little more space.  I also had always wanted to design and build a house.  Additionally, we did not want to leave our neighborhood.  The last two items did not line up with each other as lot prices (really tear-downs) were high and going higher.

With that in mind, we started to expand our search to houses that would need renovation.  I don’t know we had in mind the full scope of renovations we’d eventually do, but we were looking for potential.

There was a house or two we looked at, but saw people working on the house at the end of the block for the first time in a while as I was walking James.  This was notable for several reasons…

This particular house was vacant since Katrina (12 years).  This was very odd, as the lot alone was worth a whole lot as it was an oversized corner lot and faced the lakefront and the Canal boulevard neutral ground.  The house had the potential for good curb appeal.  And while not a major factor, it did have some history to it in that New Orleans musician Al Hirt lived in it for a long time.

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2021 Planned Travel

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I write this half-way through January with high hopes for the year.  But I also know that things could be all over the place.

Alyce has already been vaccinated.  I’d expect that makes it easier for her to travel as things open back up.  I have not, and I’m likely several months out (at a minimum) from being eligible.

We had to cancel Japan and Napa in 2020.  I’m looking to load up 2021 to make up for the lack of 2020 travel, combined with the fact that we were already behind on travel for the last several years with all the house related stuff.

Roatan (March) – This is a family trip with my parents and brother/his fiancé.  It will be the first trip we’ve taken like this in a long time (2005 was our last family trip – to Grand Cayman and without significant others).  I feel confident this one will happen.  Roatan has remained open since the fall and will likely do what they can to accept tourist.  We are currently experiencing a post-holiday uptick in Covid, but I’m hopeful that will settle down as we move away from the holidays and more people are vaccinated.

Hawaii (May) – We plan on spending 10 days in Hawaii with James: 5 in Maui and 5 in Kauai.  I looked into Hawaii a good bit for our fall 2020 trip, but it didn’t work out.  I wanted to get it in this year.  We will stay at a couple Hyatts, taking advantage of my status.  James should enjoy himself.  It’s technically a domestic trip, so I think it is more likely to happen.  It also fits in well with our longer term travel plans, which will have us more likely focusing on one longer trip a year.

Fort Morgan, AL (June) – This is an extended family beach trip.  We drive and were able to do it in 2020.  I’d rate it at likely to happen.

Japan (September/October) – Got this one scheduled for two weeks.  We currently have business class booked in both directions.  I may upgrade to First class if it becomes available on Japan Airlines.  We have stays booked on points at a number of nice Hyatts.  I’ll likely start working on restaurant reservations in a couple months. 

I’m also not that confident this one will happen.  With the vaccine, I give it a much better shot than I did a couple months back, but I’d think it’s still 50/50.  Good news is we’ve got 9+ months to go and things could be very different by then.  Bad news is Japan has been very restrictive on international travel with no plans to relax the restrictions.  We’ll see, as we really would like to go to Japan.

If not, the next place I’d look would be Europe (likely France) if open for international travel.  Should that fail, we’d look back at the national parks in the US.

Other – We have paid for a good portion of a Napa VRBO for the wedding we were supposed to attend in 2020.  I know our group would like to try to make that work at some point.

I currently have a promotional Southwest Companion Pass – not sure why.  It seems like it would be a waste to not use that.

That’s the plan.  As is the case with everything these days, it’s all up in the air as to what actually happens.

Disney – December 2020

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Before I start, let me pat myself on the back and say how nice it is to write a trip report only a month removed from the trip.  Hooray for remembering details!

Disney….

Let’s start with a refresher.  We’ve done some extravagant travel.  Look no farther than my previous report where our 8 nights in hotels would have cost nearly $25,000.  And that’s cheap compared to some of the first class flights we’ve taken.

The key missing detail is we paid $0 for that.  Nothing.  Additionally, I think we are extremely efficient with our day to day travel expenses.  They matter, and I track them excessively – I’m sure I can find the cost of a cab ride from Thailand nearly a decade ago in my master travel excel book.  That’s how we pull it off.

Disney on the other hand is legit expensive.  And there are really no workarounds to it. 

Point being, I can go to Europe for 3 weeks for what it costs to spend a week at Disney on a monorail resort with the mealplan.  That’s always been a holdup for me.  Still, I said I had one trip in me.  The question was when to take it.

Decemberish 2019, our good friends informed us of their plans to do Disney the week after Thanksgiving 2020.  That week is supposed to be one of the best to go.  It would also be great to have friends (both ours and James) there as well.  James would be at a good age – old enough to ride the rides, but young enough to still experience some of the Disney magic.  We didn’t make any firm plans, but Alyce blocked the week for vacation.

Meanwhile…Covid and all that.  First thought: no way we’re going to Disney World in a pandemic.  However, reports seemed to be nothing but positive from Disney – manageable crowds, shorter than usual lines, and no widespread reports of Covid spreading.  As the time got closer, we made the decision to go for it.

To be clear, we ended up staying off site (a Hyatt on points that included breakfast), skipped lunch everyday, ate nice (but not obscene) dinners, and generally did Disney about as frugally as you could.  It still was one of the more expensive trips on a per day basis we have done.  A major, unescapable cost is park tickets.

Still, I’m glad we did the one trip.  This was a good time for James.

Day 1

We hit the road early from home but not absurdly so.  The flight there was Southwest non-stop.  We left December 1, which was the day they started filling planes again.  Still, we had no trouble getting a good boarding group and seats next to each other.

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California and Texas – September 2020

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And now we’re getting into Covid times…

This trip was supposed to be to Japan.  I had held out hope we would be able to make the trip, but it was pretty clear that wasn’t happening not too long after the pandemic started.  We also had to cancel a trip to Napa in March with friends for a wedding.  That was a big bummer on many accounts.

Mid to late summer, things were looking up on the Covid front.  Some travel had started back up.  Our vacation time is use it or lose it, so we’d be taking time off either way.  I was interested in finding something for Alyce and I to do that was more outdoor focused and preferably not in a big city.  We had about two weeks to work with.  Just the two of us had not gone on a vacation since our 2017 South America trip, so we were due.

My first plan was Hawaii.  They were set to reopen to American tourism on September 1, and it seemed like a good Covid option.  Not to mention, they have some nice Hyatts at which I’d be able to put my globalist status and points stash to use.

But mid-August, it became apparent that they were unlikely to re-open for September.  [They did not.]

Back to the drawing board.  I looked at Alaska, but it would be late in the year for that trip.  I considered some combination of Yellowstone, Jackson Hole, and Glacier National Park.  Those too were later than ideal in the year (though less so than Alaska) and had some Covid closures.  Plus they were an easier trip that we may want to bring James to one day.

California seemed like the answer.  We could do Big Sur, Yosemite, and Lake Tahoe.  They were good options in consideration of Covid, and again we could stay in nice Hyatt resorts.

Next…bring on the wildfires!  Let me clarify, rescheduling a vacation is nothing compared to the devastation caused to Californians by the fires.  I absolutely do not intend to give even the slightest indication otherwise.  Still, rescheduling the vacation yet again was getting old by this point.  We weren’t sure which – if any – of the destinations would be available or worthwhile to go to.  Additionally, it could vary greatly week to week.  So all we could do was monitor closely.

A week or so out, it became obvious that Yosemite was not happening – and Lake Tahoe too.  We were holding out hope to still do Big Sur with something else but had back up plans as well.

Things worked in our favor, and it looked like Big Sur would be ok to travel to.  It was, and smoke was a complete non issue.  

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Cancun – November 2019

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This trip came about because I had expiring frequent flyer miles (Singapore Airlines if I remember correctly) that I just noticed the night they were set to expire – I get an email notice…when it’s working.  Not wanting to let that happen, I searched for something in North America to book with the miles that was appropriate for November.  Mexico was one of the few options with availability for 3.  Also, there is a really nice all-inclusive Hyatt there.  Mexican all-inclusives are not usually our style, but this one sounded good.   Worst case, it is way better than nothing.

For this wrap up, I’m going to give a general overview.  Not much use in doing the day to day.  If interested, I can sum it up in a sentence: get up, eat, James goes to the kids club, we hang out and drink margaritas by the beach, get James for a little bit, snorkel, maybe pool, sometimes James went to dinner at the kids club, sometimes he’d eat with us….and if he was at the club, we’d make our way to the tequila bar.  Mix in some evening shows and multiple stops at the café, and you have it.  We did not leave the property, and that was fine.

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