July 26 found Phyllis and I at the Roanoke Airport waiting for a flight to Cincinnati and then on to Paris. We managed to get the kids all packed to go with Grandma Gayle and Aunt Sharon to Augusta for a week long folk crafts camp. We managed to haul all three dogs off to the kennel and get all of our own stuff together and geared up for travel. We were meticulous in packing to take as little as we could so that we could carry on everything. I still brought one pair of shorts too many and two shirts too many since our apartment had a washer and we were able to re-wear so much of our wardrobe. We also used older non-frame backpacks to carry all of our clothes- these were nice for fitting in the overhead bins but, being both in our 40s now, it would have been much nicer to have small roller suit cases.
Flying from Roanoke to Cincinnati on Delta went smoothly and the Cincinnati airport is perfect- large, clean but not the bustle of Atlanta. We saw Lou Holtz strolling through the International terminal too! The airport has a small duty free, but we didn’t care, we wanted to travel light and live off the land. I was surprised at how nice it is to fly transatlantic on a 767. It has seats of 2, 3 then 2 so we had a couple just to ourselves and Delta puts in leather seats so it was very comfortable. Enough of mundane travel details, but here are some initial nice to know items:
- Do not exchange money from dollars to Euros at the airport- the rate I got was $1.71 for a Euro. At the ATM in Paris right off the plane it was $1.57 plus a 1% fee from my credit union making the actual rate $1.59.
- Always take a good book- not a heavy one (subject wise) but one you want to read, even if it is junk. Airplane entertainment is horrible and unreliable.
- Neck pillows are great and absolutely worth taking.
- Carry on. If you are travelling, you can carry on. Do it. Coming and going. Follow the old trick of laying out all the clothes you think you will need on your bed, put half of each item back and pack the rest.
- Learn all you can about the neighborhood you are staying in. More on this later.
1 comment:
I remember the backpack I used for the 2nd trip to Scotland..much better than the big suitcase the 1st time. I took 1 tissue for each day..a tribute to Puffs!
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