It is May 31st and I still haven't written about my 5 week trip to France that ended April 22cd, so I had better get started.
I began planning for the trip in January. I decided to use couchsurfing.org to find people to host me during my stay. I am planning on starting a travel organizing business based on food and wine. So, I felt that staying with people who lived in the areas I was interested in traveling to would allow me to make better contacts in those areas. So, I searched couchsurfing for women over 50, since I am a woman who just turned 60. I discovered that there are 500 French women over 50 registered on the site who had a couch available for surfing. Of course, most of these had more than a couch to offer. Being a middle aged woman with a slightly impaired back, I needed a bed, at least most of the time.
I began emailing the people that I felt had something in common with me. After, a few emails back and forth with lots of very interesting French women, I found 7 hosts for 4 weeks. I would have three days in Paris, on my own, but other than that, I had a place to stay every night. I decided on staying in Paris for 6 days, 3 with a host, and three at a hotel. Then I was traveling to the Perigord area in Aquitaine. After that, I was staying in a small town near Angers in the Loire Valley. From there, I was going to another small town near Le Mans. Then, I planned to go to Marseilles, then Brignoles , then a small town in High Provence. I had arranged to stay three days with each host, except for the lady in the Perigord, where I had arranged to stay 5 nights. I was a little worried about that, because I was well aware that guests can get old in that amount of time, but I couldn't find another host in that area with whom I felt comfortable enough to stay. I was a lone woman in a foreign country staying with complete strangers, so I had to feel completely comfortable about the situation to stay with them. I do want to say that couchsurfing is not the only sight to match hosts with guests for travel, but I feel that it is the best when it comes to being able to learn enough about potential hosts to be comfortable. There is a system where travelers and hosts relate their experience with each other, and a system for members to vouch for other members. So I felt as safe as one could feel in these circumstances. I was both nervous and excited about my trip. I bought a French rail pass, and decided on March 20th as my departure date.
The first order of business was to decide what clothes to take. I knew that I had to carry everything I was taking on and off trains. buses, and subways. So I had to have what I needed but no more. I also had the added problem of not knowing what the weather would be. I looked at the average temperatures for the places I planned to visit and decided that I had to lean toward warm weather clothing with sweaters and jackets to layer. Then I had to have my net book, my phone, my adapter, my toiletries and cosmetics. and my travel guides. I settled on three pairs of shoes, a good walking shoe, a pair of heels, and nice flats. I was able to fit it all in one Samsonite carry on rolling bag and one small duffel bag. I bought a large tote bag with many pockets made by The Sharper Image to double as my purse, and my computer bag. I tried carrying all these things down stairs and down the sidewalk and felt that I could do it.
Now, all there was to do is get everything squared away at home, so I could leave without worrying about my responsibilities. I take care of my elderly parents finances, and am newly married. I knew that I had made the right choice of husbands when he was supportive of my planned trip. I didn't want him to have to eat packaged dinners and fast food, so I cooked and froze enough dinners for most of the time I would be gone. My wonderful husband was also willing to take care of my spoiled 3 pound chihuahua, so I didn't have to worry about her. I paid all my parents bills for the time I would be gone, and left my parents a checkbook for anything unexpected. I made sure I had all the addresses and phone numbers for my hosts, and felt I was ready to travel. I had also been learning French through the Rosetta Stone, and had advanced to halfway through the second level.
