Saturday, August 16, 2008

Trains, Planes, Buses and Automobiles

Payments and deposits have been made and the schedule is finally set.

I enjoy the planning for trips: imagining the possibilities, checking options, reading reviews and stories, discovering new things all accompanied by anticipation mixed with a tiny bit of apprehension. The Internet makes this more fun and a potentially endless process. Eventually, though, I just want to have the travel arrangements made and know (or think I know) where I'll be, when I'll be there and how I will get there. Finally when Lufthansa said they would fly me to Paris for under $900 I could wait no longer and took their offer. With the flights set, everything else was arranged in a flurry of clicks and keyboard entries. The results:

Sept 16 - Trip begins in the afternoon
  • By car to Dulles Airport
  • By plane to Paris
Sept 17 - A day in transit
Assuming everything goes as scheduled, the trip to the French Alps should be about 24 hours from home until arrival at the Lodge.

Sept 18-21 - Biking, photography and relaxing at the Lodge
Sept 22 - Back to Paris
  • Bus to Grenoble
  • TGV to Paris
  • Walk from Gare de Lyon to B&B Daumesnil
Sept 23 - One day in Paris - Activities TBD but expect lots of walking, a Metro (subway) ride or two and just maybe some biking.
Sept 24 - Time to return home...walk to station then:
  • By bus to airport
  • Return to Dulles by plane
  • By car and home
And of course there will be lots of walking in and around the airports and train stations. Have enough modes of transportation been included?

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Jim,
I am delighted to see you are once again raising the bar for the rest of us. Bravo! I will definitely be following your progress and enjoy a vicarious trip to la belle France.

Maude