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.September 25th, Paris. Our grand plan for this trip involves skiing. John has been feeling time watching from the periphery of his awareness, bringing aches to joints where there was none, pressing his heart through the loss of friends. His dream of spending a season skiing in the Alps before time eroded his strength or left him unable to merged with our shared dream of experiencing places we did not know. The first leg of the trip seemed the most likely. We would arrive heavy with gear or ship it ahead, and send our bags home at the end of the season, to travel lighter.
Two days before leaving on our adventure, in the midst of short nights and over-scheduled days, we packed our ski gear into bags that could hold the four of us, and took them to FedEx. I had picked up forms a few days before, and had a conversation with the agent about how they should be filled out. So, between a follow up meeting with the teacher and speech and reading specialists at Marlie’s school, and picking up more plastic storage bags at Target, and changing out my PacSafe travel bag at AAA, the girls helped me schlep these four large bags to the local FedEx office.
This time, the agent told me I needed to go through the bags and write a line item for every object. The forms I had were, of course, far too short, and would need to complete all new ones with every item included. Their description would need to include the country of origin and the value, naturally. And, for those items which came from Asia, I would also need to fill out an individual form for every one of them and take it to the chamber of commerce and get a stamp from them on each sheet.
Now, I tend to shove stuff in when I pack. Whenever I am getting ready to travel, people ask me if I have started to pack yet. Even for a short trip with just a few nights from home. Not only is the answer always “no,” but I really don’t get the question. For this trip I did start a pile early, but the real packing, and picking out clothes, for that matter, happened a few hours before leaving. So, these bags we had packed early were crammed full of helmets, boots, ski clothes, skis, and poles. Not only did I not have time before the school meeting, this meant unpacking everything, reading the labels of things, many of which, ironically, come from France or Austria, making a trip to the Bend Chamber and explaining the situation to secure their approval, repacking, and dragging the bags back to the local FedEx office.
I understand countries need to control imports, but used ski equipment that will ultimately be shipped back home? To a country that does not even have us fill out an immigration or customs form when we arrive with luggage?
Online, I found a FedEx office two subway stops from our hotel in Paris, and decided it would be easier to drag them with us and ship them from Paris before we take a train to the Southeast.
This is how we found ourselves each pulling two bags with wheels and carrying at least one other backpack through train and metro stations, and dragging them through subway doors and up and down stairs. One stop, Marlie and I did not manage to get out the door before it closed, and we made a detour through the next station and multiple stairways to the return line. No ADA here…
I will say that people were very helpful and lent us a hand wherever they could. Helping the girls haul bags up or down stairs, sending us to the other metro entrance where the stoller/ wheelchair gate was so we could get our bags through.
Upon reaching our hotel, I found that their internet is down. I swear I printed the directions to the FedEx office, but can’t find them. The woman at the front desk called to ask about a pick up here at the hotel, but tells me FedEx does not do that here, and there is no way to ship bags to another location in France. Marlie and I went on a little exploration, to see if I could get there from memory of the Google map, but the rain and fatigue discouraged us and sent us back to the room.
I know they say the best way to overcome jetlag is to stay up this first day. That is under normal circumstances, not at the end of our preparations marathon. Once we were not standing, we slept like we were headed in for surgery. It’s evening. We’ll head to dinner now, and worry about the extra bags later.
