One Week to go!!!

Only 7 more days to departure.  This time next week we will be 2 hours in the air with 6 to go.  Hopefully, London will settle down during flight.

Clothes on the rack to be packed

We are making progress.  Clothes are on the rack ready for packing.  I think that this is a must.  Get the clothes out and organize them before packing.  Of course, this is Sherry's idea.  She is amazing at getting us ready to go AND learning French at the same time.

 

10 Days and Counting!!

We are now at 10 days to departure. Everything is in place, except for purchasing our backpack, and we are now trying to wrap up loose ends. In the spirit of trying to provide more information about where we are going and staying I am including a link to the location in Chalon sur Saone - http://www.kasteliades.com/en/1/lans-castle/

We arrive in Paris on Saturday and are then driving from Paris to Chalon sur Saone. Should be an interesting drive of about 3 hours. At least they drive on the correct side of the road. More to come..............

Easter Sunday

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday with friends and family.  I slow smoked a 18 pound turkey over 10 hours.  We had ham, turkey, sides, etc.  Seemed like a Christmas or Thanksgiving.  Last gathering before leaving.

 

Two weeks to go!!!

The title says it all.........we are getting very excited. Working out the details on cell phones, data plans, etc. It appears that boingo.com is the way to go when traveling. They cover Europe with 325k hotspots. AT&T charges will bankrupt us.

Doctors Visits

Getting our Doctors' visits completed. London today, I am going Monday. London seems to always get a respiratory issue when flying so we asked for a prescription to counter that. Hoping we don't have to use it.

Next week - the big event...........Packing.

At the airport headed to Arizona. Last visit before Europe.

Three Weeks to Go!!

In past years this would be Tax Due Day, but in 2011 we are the graces of Mr. Obama so boys and girls we can pay our taxes on Monday.  Yippee..........

On a more personal and getting ready for France front - Tonight we simply got some cheese, meats and drank a bottle of wine. We have three weeks to flight time. Seems like it was just yesterday when we started planning this and May was months away. Oh well, I think we are ready. Only a few details left. Car to rent, clothes, supplies to pack. Sherry is getting so good at French. She stays up watching French movies. The other day I found her watching a French subtitle movie about Corporate life - weird stuff.

Just spoke with my niece. My sister Donna was in for a potential stent.......fortunately not needed. Seems like all is good for a good person.

If you guys have any ideas please comment on this entry.

Finally, I almost forgot to inform our loyal followers that our Google account has earned us a staggering $.91.  Yes that is 91 cents.  Keep the clicks on the ads coming.  We will be up to 5 bucks before we know it.

Finally, Sherry has asked me to include at least one most interesting man in the world quote per post so here we go with number one - His personality is so magnetic, he is unable to carry credit cards!!

Car Rental

I found out that if you rent a card with AMEX the insurance that the rental agencies try to sell you is covered by an AMEX policy, excluding a few countries (France is covered). Pretty cool savings!!

Also, google has placed ads on the site so click away.

24 Days and Counting

We haven't really done anything - a quote from Sherry. We will be doing things in the next day. The only thing we really have left is the car rental. We decided......take a car from Paris to Chalon sur Saone.

Also, I guess that I am on a European clothing shopping trip. Speedos, tight pants, skinny shirts......nothing Nike or lululemon. All is not well on this front tonight. Sacrificing comfort for style (per Sherry).

That is all for today.

27 Days to Go

Over the last few days we have had a few of our guests over to the house. Mike and Jean, Lindsey and Carolyn and Marcella. We have discussed their travel plans, what we are going to do while they are with us and most of all just have been generally excited about sharing our time with them.

Huck and wife are coming over tonight and sharing a meal with us. Huck is using his connections and is arranging a few winery visits for all of us.

All good........watching the Masters later today. I am predicting a Tiger win.

28 Days to Go

I spoke with Sherry yesterday about how we are going to organize and get ready. She let me know that she has "started" packing for London. I am not sure what that means but I think multiple suitcases......lets hope not.

We are having a neighborhood "Friday Night" no stress night at our house. Pizza and pot luck. I am looking forward to seeing our neighbors. I know this has nothing to do with our trip.

This weekend should be interesting. Packing, talking about what to take, etc.

29 Days to Go

Beginning to think about what we are taking with us. We will be in May temps and then July temps. Went to REI and purchased some multi purpose lightweight long sleeve clothes. Of course, Sherry and London are a different story. Their requirements are 2 costume changes per day.

I am glad we will have a washer and dryer.

French Experience - 30 day Countdown

We are now a month away from our French experience.  For those of you who are considering spending time in the countryside of France as we are, we hope that by documenting our experience you will benefit.   We are traveling from Dallas to Paris and then on to Chalon sur Saone.  By car or train is the big question?  Nobody seems to be definitive on this issue.

We are going to start in May in or around Beaune, in the Burgundy region.  We are spending around 4 weeks in a rented chateau before moving along to Paris.  After a week in Paris we are staying in Laval, in the Loire Valley region, for the remainder of June and most of July.

We hope to provide daily updates of our experiences and how we are integrating in our 2 year old daughter.