Sunday, the Day before Heading across the Pond

Good Morning!  What a nice, calm, peaceful Sunday morning today is.  Alexa is still sleeping, a little odd at this late hour in the morning of 7:30am.  This extra sleep is good since we will be embarking on a long, long journey tomorrow to South of France.  I’m finishing laundry, packing, and last minute trip provisioning today, plus a few extra home lock-down preparations for hurricane season …and then, of course, planning to have a little outdoor fun with the munchkin before we are stuck in a mostly seated position for 16 hours tomorrow jumping ahead 6 time zones.  Our carry-on bag will consist of organic cheddar bunnies, “Yummy Earth Organic” lollipops, a portable DVD player, DVDs, laptop, iPhone loaded with toddler apps and cartoons, diapers, wipes, kitten blanket, coloring books, sticker books, crayons, washable markers and activity books like matching, connecting the dots, tracing, mazes, and number and alphabet games.  Oh and of course, passports and an optimistic drawing pad for mommy.  We leave the house Monday morning about 10am (my good friend Nathalie is kind enough to take us to the airport) to catch our flight at 12:20 from FLL to JFK.  Then, after a 3 hour lay over, we jump on our flight from JFK to Nice, France arriving in Nice at 8:20am.  Our friend Kevin will pick us up from the airport to take us the 30 mins drive to our chateau in Antibes / Juan les Pin in the French Riviera.  We will be greeted at the gate by a most generous British woman called Kim who has already stocked the villa with a couple of essentials I asked for… fresh fruit, OJ, fresh baked French bread, salad ingredients, fresh French olive oil, and a package of diapers and wipes.  She is so kind for setting us up like that.

Flying over to France is time is kind of bitter sweet.  George won’t be there to great us like he was in the past.  He isn’t due to arrive until June 18^th or somewhere around there depending on weather.  So, that is a real bummer.  We miss him!  Secondly, I’m going to miss all my friends in Florida.  We love traveling so much, but it is starting to get harder and harder to leave my friends and family.  I’m not complaining about our lifestyle by any means, I mean, getting to spend summers in the Med and winters in the Caribbean is nothing to complain about… but imagine being me in this reality for a second.  I’m flying to a place far, far away alone, 4 and a half months pregnant with my 2 year old daughter.  We arrive in country I barely speak the language and I know no one, but George’s friend Kevin who actually lives in Italy and I actually don’t know him very well.  I am leaving all my friends and family behind and won’t be able speak to them very often via phone since it costs to much.  Thank God for Skype, but I can only do that every so often because of schedules and time differences.  Once Alexa and I arrive in France, I have to find my way around to the grocery store, out door markets, beaches, parks and a place to get a local phone.  On one hand, it is all very exciting.  On another hand, it’s a bit stressful and lonely.  It usually takes us a week to get fully adjusted in a new place to figure out where things are and get into a new routine.  Alexa and I are both great adjusting to the new 6 hour time difference.  Jet lag is only about 24 hours for us because it is really just extreme exhaustion at first since we force ourselves into immediate adjusting by staying awake the first day taking naps, meals and night time sleep on France time.  Yeah, we don’t mess around.  It is full on the second we step off that plane.  Although I am one to value alone time, I do miss my friends and family more and more as my family grows.  I never thought this free-spirited nomad would say this, but as my family grows, my own roots long to grow begging to stay planted for longer and longer periods of time.  Don’t get me wrong… I am definitely still a free-spirited nomad, just one who wants a real home base now too.

I figure by the time George arrives, Alexa and I will be adoring morning bike rides along the French Rivera coast to a fresh French bakery where we devour our daily croissant frais, jus, et cappuccino de déca.  Then maybe we will head to la plage, or maybe le parc, or maybe we will have already made some French amis and have some Frenchie playdates.  The best part about being 6 time zones ahead of Florida is I am 6 hours ahead of my job schedule too.  So, I get to enjoy my mornings with Alexa in France without hounding emails of emergency projects.  As soon as she goes down for her afternoon nap, the emails start and my work day begins.  While she sleeps peacefully, I create graphic design and websites for companies back in the states on their time with no interference in either of our days.

Well, must get back to packing.  My biggest dilemma… how the crap am I going to fit 3 months worth of mine and Alexa’s stuff into two carry-on sized suit cases?!?!?