Au revoir Sydney, Paris - Here we come! We look back to when we first started travelling and simply don't recall nerves. Given our experience these days I wonder if I'm nervous when we head off simply because of extensive years of experience and a well baked in awareness of all that could go wrong. Or I can simply blame Covid, when the world came to a screeching stop and the borders slammed shut - enough to give anyone ongoing heebie jeebies about the great unknowns and the big what-ifs. Nevertheless, we made it out of the house and into a car and met a lovely driver from Pakistan who actually lost his wife to Covid prior to emigrating to Australia. Puts nerves into perspective.

It was a small world kind of day. When we checked in for our Sri Lankan flight, the gent on the counter was actually from the Cook Islands and we said how we'd never been there until we had the day in Raro and the day in Aitutaki coming back to Sydney on a cruise. Aitutaki is a tiny world - the guy we did the lagoon tour and snorkelling with was his cousin - quite literally a cuzzie-bro. Anyway - all checked in we tootled off to the Qantas Business lounge. Ahhhh… We were chatting with some lounge staff from the Philippines and mentioned we'd been there and done of fair bit of diving - 'lo and behold a gorgeous tray with treats and coffee arrived at the table. The lounge was initially packed but emptied out as flights boarded and we had a short delay 20 minutes? 40 minutes? Irrelevant when another glass of champagne just happens. Eventually we were onto the Sri Lankan Airways flight and off we went - 11+ hours up to Colombo.

With the multiple plans made and discarded and made again for our trip up to Paris, as it turns out, we made the absolute best choice. The catering out of Sydney was luscious (barramundi! lamb shank!) and the service was excellent, but the flight itself was as rough as guts (that's a technical aviation term) for seemingly the whole way - sometimes rougher and sometimes just grumbly - but I was not a happy camper by the time we landed - hadn't been sick but it was a very, very near run thing - seriously did not want a sequel to the glorious dinner, drinkies etc. Even with a pre-booked transfer to the hotel, by the time we bought the (damn) visas, queued again for immigration and waited for the driver to get the car, it was after midnight when we arrived at Jetwing Sea. Comfy bed thank god. A proper King size and comfy - so comfy. Which is lucky because the hotel's only other redeeming feature was the excellent food - fortunate as we'd booked the full board rate. There was a cemetery (yep - the dead centre of town) on one side, then the road, millions of crows and a huge expanse of sand to walk across to get to the ocean. Which was unswimmable. In fairness, we are very, very fussy with our beaches. It's great that they have every single staff member out at the crack of dawn picking up the trash so it looks nice in front of the hotel - but disgusting to think of all that crap still in the ocean. Pool was nice and we got up early to have a few laps before breakfast - always helps the jet lag - but still feeling bleh after the rough flight. Fortunately the bed was excellent (taking that win) and we snoozed as required in between swims and lunch and dinner. Couple of nice sunsets and before we knew it was time to pack up and put summer clothes away for good.

Our flight from Colombo to Paris was originally scheduled for around 3.30 am and we were going to leave the hotel at midnight - so barely worth trying to have a snooze after dinner. Thankfully, during dinner we had an email and text from the airline advising that our flight was delayed almost 3 hours due to a late arriving plane - woo hoo! We actually had a proper few hours of sleep before heading to the airport. We were still there a bit early but it was a silky smooth 'silk route' through the formalities, a bit of 'use up the rupiahs' shopping (tea of course) and lounge time, then off. Speaking of silky smooth - thanks be to god the flight was smooth - barely a jiggle. We had eaten great Sri Lankan food for 2 full days at the hotel and the trend continued with amazing vegetarian curries and breads on the flight - We watched movies, snoozed, had a couple of meals and a tea service (very Ceylon!) and made it to Paris in good time. It took forever to get through CDG as they were trialling e-gates. Hopefully they iron out the wrinkles in that system before they roll it out too far. We needed to stop on our way to the apartment to pickup keys from our host at her office - we are huges fans of rideshare, in this instance Uber, it all just happens - really didn't want to get clobbered by a Paris cabbie and trying to explain the stop and go strategy. Ended up with a lovely driver who actually was a taxi, managed to jam all the bags in and had the fastest run ever into the 18th - got the keys in a jiffy, back in the car and the traffic came to a standstill as we negotiated the run from the back end of Montmartre to the 3rd. He even helped with bags when we got there and parked outside the apartment. Laugh you might, but it's in an awkward spot and usually they boot you out at one end of the street or the other. I usually tip a bit on ride-share rids but this warranted actual cash - James almost fell over when I handed the driver €10. Reporters were damn near called and I was checked for a fever. But it was worth it and still cheaper than a taxi - we love ride share sooooo much.

So. We left this place and 'our' French dog Willie on 26 April and here we are back, 5 months to the day, to see him again. With keys in hand we whisked the bags up one floor and turned the key. Confusion reigned supreme. Willie has two jobs in life - love his mum and protect the house and his pack from all intruders. He gave a couple of wuffs and a half-hearted growl as he heard our voices coming up the hallway - whilst simultaneously wagging his tail off. "YOU GUYS!" he seemed to be saying "YOU IS BACK!" and essentially "why was't I informed in advance?". We are, most definitely, part of his pack. Just too funny - he was snuggling and cuddling and carrying on in no time flat - and we are a rarity - it's the first time our host has had people back for a second bite at the cherry. Given our full board at the hotel and the great food on the plane, we didn't have to worry too much about dinner - we had a snooze and James popped out to get a baguette, cheese and ham from a local supermarket. More than enough for a snuffle, had a catchup when our host returned from work and then hit the sack. With the 3 night/2 day stop on the way, we're hoping jet-lag won't hit too hard. Great to be back in Paris.