Soar-Dream-France: HOME

There is always so much happiness and gratefulness at being home. This return is particularly profound. When people tell me they are going to Paris and thought they'd make a "day trip" to see me, I have to tell them that while possible...it isn't a very good idea. Do you really want to spend two full days on the train or road to spend a night and then get up and leave again in the morning? Most people don't.

As I also say...this place is heaven, but you must really want to come to get here.

Hmmm, maybe not unlike that religious heaven many aspire to.

Me, I have my heaven on earth.

And, I believe we do go on beyond this life and continue to live on in the places we've loved.

The trick is...you gotta love them so that they can love you back.

Mine do!

So, I am home by the hardest.

Imagine 31 hours of straight through travel, wearing a mask in the heat except for when you are eating or drinking, airport terminals, airplanes, taxis, train, train stations, and now home to quarantine for 14 days from arrival. This trip had a 5 hour layover at Dallas Fort Worth and a four hour layover at the Gare d'Austerlitz.

Add in the additional requirements beyond the mask, those which were required to travel to and enter France.

I was fortunate to be able to receive a negative COVID-19 test that was required within the 72 hours prior to travel.

In New Orleans, AA checked the date on my test and my passport and I was good to go.

In Dallas, everyone checked-in at the gate to provide their test results and was given three more forms to complete on the plane. Fortunately for me, I had already completed two similar forms that I had received from the French Consulate in New Orleans.

There was a third form required for contact tracing. The French Department of Health was at our plane before the doors opened in Paris to collect those forms as we got off. Without proof of a negative COVID test within the designated time frame you were not allowed on any of the planes.

It is good to be home.

It is good to be in heaven.