A Little Background . . .

33 days from now I'll be on my way to Paris. Solo. My first trip overseas alone. "What? You're going by yourself?!" is most people's reaction, although I don't know why that should be so shocking. Many people travel abroad alone (my good friend Jen is a huge inspiration), so I'm certainly not breaking any ground in that regard. Perhaps it's because I'm not going with my husband to "one of the most romantic cites on earth" and that's what makes people scratch their heads more than anything. And I get that so perhaps a little bit of background is in order.

The end of 2013 marked a significant milestone for my husband, earning his MBA. One of our shared passions is travel and as we hadn't taken a significant vacation in awhile, we planned to rectify that in early 2014 by going overseas to celebrate his accomplishment. Africa was pretty much at the top of our list and, perhaps selfishly, I had some very specific visions of visiting Johannesburg or Cape Town in South Africa and then going on safari in Kenya, Tanzania or Botswana. As it turns out, we happen to have some extended family living in Ethiopia so it certainly made sense to include that as part of our itinerary. As my husband's MBA is in Sustainable Business, he became increasingly interested in learning about our extended family's work with perma-gardening through the Peace Corps in Ethiopia. Well, this was not exactly my vision of an African adventure, although I'm sure the country has a lot to offer. For many years my husband has also wanted to travel to Dubai which has held little appeal to me. As we discussed our options, eventually my husband asked if it would be okay if he traveled to Dubai and Ethiopia by himself. "Of course!" was my response. I would much rather him enjoy the trip solo than have a less-than-enthusiastic spouse along for the ride. (As I'm sure he would agree!) "You should go somewhere, too!" he said and the first place that came to mind was Paris.

I've only been to Paris once and that was for 5 short days in 2006:

Moi à la Tour Eiffel ~ September 2006

The experience was simply the "Joie de vivre!" that so many people speak of after visiting the City of Light. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to return to a city that I had immediately fallen in love with and which I have some familiarity with. I quickly booked my flight (frequent flier miles - wahoo!) and a 10 night stay in an apartment in the St. Germain des Près neighborhood of Paris.

33 days and counting! More about my plans in the next post.