What a long night! Our travels actually began late on Sunday, May 28. It was recital weekend and the performance wasn't over until around 10 PM. Fortunately, we packed up the van earlier in the day and were ready to go post recital. After a long week of recital AND trip preparation, John and I were tired and just wanted to fuel up with some coffee for the 3 hour road trip to mom and dad's in Gurnee. Do you know how hard it is to find an open coffee house in the Champaign-Urbana area after 10 PM? Ask John. He can tell you what a joy it was. After driving to two different go to spots, we finally settled for McDonald's coffee (which by the way is undrinkably hot for about 5 minutes) and headed to Gurnee.
With three hours of sleep and last minute paring down of luggage, we were off to O'Hare the next day to our first stop-Minneapolis. Traveling with the Pagapops (aka Pagadragons) is always an adventure or chaos, depending on which one of us you ask. When we initially booked our trip, John said, "This is going to be a nightmare." I asked, "Why?" He answered, incredulous, "Are you kidding? We have to switch in Paris...in Charles de Gaulle Airport...with FOUR kids and luggage!" "Oh, yeah, Charles de Gaulle." I remembered what a nightmare that airport is regardless of how much layover time you have. But then I also remembered that we traveled internationally with all of four of them a few years ago when the twins were not quite 3 and had to hoof if to the train station at some ungodly hour in the morning with all four kids and our luggage. We survived that...surely, we could survive this trip too. Right?
Right...sort of. Even though we booked our tickets through a travel agent who noted that we had four children, two of them only 6 years old, all of our seats were scattered throughout the flight with no grown up or older child near the twins. This was the case with all our flights (ORD to Minneapolis, Minneapolis to Paris/CDG). The only flight where we were sitting together was from Paris to Ajaccio, Corsica, the last leg. Try to explain that to Carolina who was already a little nervous about flying. The seats were somewhat straightened out except that when we got on the plane and made our way to our seats, we found out the flight was overbooked and one of our seats was given away to a toddler who was originally booked as a lap child. Remain calm and pleasant. Breathe in. Breathe out. "Don't worry. We'll get this straightened out. Just wait back here," said the Delta flight attendant. She booted out the person (a mother and her child), taking the blame even though it really had nothing to do with her, "Oh, I'm sorry. I had your seats down wrong in the system. Your seat is in _____." The lady and child moved without incident and we all avoided a repeat of the recent United Airlines overbooked seat fiasco. But I won't lie. I was wondering if we would be offered $10k!
The flight had more entertainment than we could ever need: individual tv screens with limitless movies, games and language lessons. Can you guess who took advantage of the French lessons and rocked the quizzes? Yes, he of the French spelled name, our very own Luc. He asked me to help him but he was doing just fine on his own. And because he naturally speaks with a nasal tone, he nailed the pronunciations! He was so proud and excited to learn. Yay!
Uneventful flight - no turbulence, no rowdy, drunk passengers, only children too excited to sleep. One was watching Moana (Carolina). Another was watching Gone with the Wind (Miia and then C after Moana was done). Another was watching Japanese animé and Hidden Figures (Analea). And Luc stuck to French lessons while periodically checking the flight map. We finally had to tell them to shut off the tvs to try to sleep. Visions of having to carry potato sack kids and their backpacks danced in our heads. They complied and got a little sleep just in time for our arrival in Paris. Thankfully, our bags were checked all the way through to Ajaccio and we didn't have to recheck them in. We ONLY had to go through Customs. We had two hours so in theory, that should have been enough time. But Charles de Gaulle airport is such a labyrinth, we had to QUICKLY walk there up and down escalators, across moving sidewalks, on trams. We make it to Customs with about 40 minutes and are faced with a line that wasn't long but was moving at a snail's pace. Another agent opened a line for people with U.S., Canadian and British passports and we made a beeline for that one. She was captivated by the children and put us through quickly. Then there was another dash to security where we realized that somewhere between Customs and security one of our boarding passes disappeared. How? What? We kept all of them together and managed to make it all the way to this point of leg 3 of our trip. The French TSA guy was very kind in explaining he couldn't let us through without it and John would have to get one reprinted. So off he runs to wherever it was while I waited for the children and got to listen to the two French TSA people talk about us...not in a bad way. One was just explaining what had happened and how we looked everywhere for it but to no avail. And the other kept talking about how cute the kids were. Thank goodness for the children!
John reappears and I have no idea how long before our flight leaves. All I know is we have to move it because that's what John was saying, "Ok. Let's go!" I've never seen Miia move so fast. Somehow she knew what gate we were supposed to be at and she led the way through the rest of the maze. I think she heard me say, "If we miss this flight, we'll have to fly out of Orly airport and that will truly be a nightmare." (Or maybe it wasn't quite that polite.)
So we rush to the gate with plenty of time to spare. We huff and puff to an empty spot where the children collapse on to their backpacks and we wait for the bus to take us to the plane. Once on the plane, we wait some more for another flight that was transferring to our flight to Ajaccio. Finally, we are off to Ajaccio and I can begin to practice my French on this flight with the attendants.
I don't remember how long this leg was - two hours maybe? I fell asleep for a bulk of it. I do remember flying into the airport and looking out the window. The view was incredible (sorry no pics. I always forget to take them from the plane.)! Corsica is an island with reddish cliffs covered with trees. Throughout the island, there are little towns dotted along the coasts and some in the mountains. Luc said it reminded him of the volcanos that died in that Disney Hawaiian short film and kept asking if Corsica used to be a volcano. I honestly don't know and will have to look it up. Walking on the tarmac after getting off the plane, the weather reminded me of San Diego and I did a happy dance inside. I can deal with a summer of upper 70s during the day and 60s at night. And so can everyone else it seems. The people here are so lovely and friendly and laidback. Must be the island, coastal life!
We retrieve our bags and there's only one casualty. One of the spinning wheels fell off the new luggage I just bought (more like fractured off). I suppose that's what I get for buying a set of 3 for $112. Otherwise, everything else arrived and was intact. Now it was on to getting to Villa Marinella. John looks for information about taxis while I call our Airbnb host Catherine. I speak to her in French and then she takes off at a mile (or should I say a km) a minute and I am almost lost. I tell her we are thinking of taking a taxi. She suggests we rent a car...that it's easier to get around the island that way. We'll be able to see more and have more freedom that way but it's up to us. We follow her suggestion, hoping there's one big enough for all six of us and one that I can drive (i.e. is automatic). Score! We found a European equivalent to the VW Touareg except with a trunk that could fit only a spare tire if it was standing up. We have three giant American luggages, only one of which can fit in said trunk. We jigsaw puzzled the others into the car and Miia, I'm sure, was grateful that it was only a 30 minute drive.
The pictures don't do the house justice. It looks even better in person and our host is so kind. If you happen to ever find yourself in Corsica, this is a must stay place. We are literally right across from the beach. And there are several restaurants within walking distance. My favorite place in the home is the terrace that looks out on to the sea. Once I get up in the morning, I throw open the sliding glass doors and they stay open until we leave the house. (No bugs! No humidity!) We've eaten, napped, read, and played out there. The kids are even doing their summer learning packets from school out there, without prompting from me. Is this all it takes to get them to do stuff - an outdoor patio that looks out on to the beach? Hmm...
This is getting long, so I'll leave you with a view from my favorite spot. Tomorrow, I'll share driving and grocery store experiences...and perhaps a teaser of a road trip we'll be taking where John's conference is having a special dinner reception...at the Calanques de Piana (Cliffs of Piana).
Bisous et à la prochaîne! (Kisses and until next time!)
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