Tourist season is upon us, and I'm getting panicky e-mails, much like this one from my beloved couster (a cousin-sister, that is). It may come as no surprise upon reading this that she is a Manhattan-based psychoanalyst and, therefore, completely nuts:
"Now that my passport has arrived (along with my credit card bill for my flight), I am beginning to allow myself to get excited about my upcoming trip. Not that my mind had any choice: I have already started having the requisite anxiety dreams. Last night's involved my dad bringing me the wrong luggage, not being able to find my passport, not being sure what time my flight left, not being sure which shoes to bring (which is, truth be told, a grave concern of mine), and having you and some others leave me stranded in a gas station wondering if I will have enough time to go home and pack again myself. What say you, Dr. Freud?
"Now that my passport has arrived (along with my credit card bill for my flight), I am beginning to allow myself to get excited about my upcoming trip. Not that my mind had any choice: I have already started having the requisite anxiety dreams. Last night's involved my dad bringing me the wrong luggage, not being able to find my passport, not being sure what time my flight left, not being sure which shoes to bring (which is, truth be told, a grave concern of mine), and having you and some others leave me stranded in a gas station wondering if I will have enough time to go home and pack again myself. What say you, Dr. Freud?
And a last but very important question: what bag should I bring to tote around during the day? If I carry a hip-and-cool backpack, will I be stoned in a Parisian street? Will they arrest me for toting water around? Do I go for fashion and bing a sleek cross-body bag and risk having to stop every 5 minutes for refreshments? Yes, this is more than one question. But it is what I worry about instead of the important stuff....Sigh...."
So for my cousin, and all the rest of you visiting Paris:
1) You will not be stoned for wearing sneakers, or carrying backpacks. The sneakers won't even mark you as a tourist anymore, but the backpack will. It doesn't matter, because you ARE a tourist. And if you have to stop every five minutes to buy refreshments, because you can't carry around your water bottle and emergency snacks, you will go broke. As far as the sneakers go, I don't care if they're sneakers, boots, or custom-orthotic walking shoes, just make sure they're comfortable. There's lots to see and thousand-year old cobblestoned streets to wander.
2) If you are staying with us, you do not need plug converters. Or a hair dryer. If you are not staying with us, you are welcome to borrow our French hair dryer if your hotel doesn't have one. We may even have a plug converter for you to us, or bring one with you to be safe. One friend asked if she could just go buy a cheap hair dryer at the corner drug store, to which I replied, "No, because a) you can't buy it at the corner drug store but rather will have to walk to a far-away electronics store and b) it won't be cheap."
3) Will it rain? Quite likely, but usually not torrentially or incessantly. If you're at our place, we have many umbrellas, both big and travel-sized. Many of them are magenta colored, and one of them has fairy wings, just so you know. You can also buy touristy Paris-metro umbrellas pretty cheaply at the souvenir shops. But bring something waterproof or at least water-resistant. You may need it.
4) This is the winter that will never end, and it's supposed to be a cool, wet summer. Be warned. There will also be gorgeous days, if you forget to bring sunglasses. So bring sunglasses, though that ensures there will not be any gorgeous days.
5) And what can you bring us? That's very sweet of you to ask. At the moment, we are very well set on chocolate chips, vanilla, fish oil pills, and children's pain-killer, which are things we have wanted from the U.S. in the past. The one safe bet is always a box of plain (NOT honey-nut, NOT multigrain) Cheerios, or Joe's Os, or generic equivalent. Please, feel free to take them out of the box and use them as, essentially, packing peanuts. We still have many boxes/bags worth, but the girls do go through them quickly. Trader Joe's Candied Pecans are also a big house favorite, and nothing like it exists here.
5) My advice on packing, in short: Pack, take away half of it, then imagine me yelling in your ear, "You're bringing too much!" I'm just saying that you people are showing up with as much clothing as the average French person has in their wardrobe. And no, we don't have any empty drawers for you. That is an American luxury. You will live out of your suitcase. We have laundry facilities, though it will take 24-48 hours for your clothes to dry, and they will end up crunchy. But really, nobody minds seeing the same jeans or shirt on you a few times in a week; it's really very French of you.
So for my cousin, and all the rest of you visiting Paris:
1) You will not be stoned for wearing sneakers, or carrying backpacks. The sneakers won't even mark you as a tourist anymore, but the backpack will. It doesn't matter, because you ARE a tourist. And if you have to stop every five minutes to buy refreshments, because you can't carry around your water bottle and emergency snacks, you will go broke. As far as the sneakers go, I don't care if they're sneakers, boots, or custom-orthotic walking shoes, just make sure they're comfortable. There's lots to see and thousand-year old cobblestoned streets to wander.
2) If you are staying with us, you do not need plug converters. Or a hair dryer. If you are not staying with us, you are welcome to borrow our French hair dryer if your hotel doesn't have one. We may even have a plug converter for you to us, or bring one with you to be safe. One friend asked if she could just go buy a cheap hair dryer at the corner drug store, to which I replied, "No, because a) you can't buy it at the corner drug store but rather will have to walk to a far-away electronics store and b) it won't be cheap."
3) Will it rain? Quite likely, but usually not torrentially or incessantly. If you're at our place, we have many umbrellas, both big and travel-sized. Many of them are magenta colored, and one of them has fairy wings, just so you know. You can also buy touristy Paris-metro umbrellas pretty cheaply at the souvenir shops. But bring something waterproof or at least water-resistant. You may need it.
4) This is the winter that will never end, and it's supposed to be a cool, wet summer. Be warned. There will also be gorgeous days, if you forget to bring sunglasses. So bring sunglasses, though that ensures there will not be any gorgeous days.
5) And what can you bring us? That's very sweet of you to ask. At the moment, we are very well set on chocolate chips, vanilla, fish oil pills, and children's pain-killer, which are things we have wanted from the U.S. in the past. The one safe bet is always a box of plain (NOT honey-nut, NOT multigrain) Cheerios, or Joe's Os, or generic equivalent. Please, feel free to take them out of the box and use them as, essentially, packing peanuts. We still have many boxes/bags worth, but the girls do go through them quickly. Trader Joe's Candied Pecans are also a big house favorite, and nothing like it exists here.
5) My advice on packing, in short: Pack, take away half of it, then imagine me yelling in your ear, "You're bringing too much!" I'm just saying that you people are showing up with as much clothing as the average French person has in their wardrobe. And no, we don't have any empty drawers for you. That is an American luxury. You will live out of your suitcase. We have laundry facilities, though it will take 24-48 hours for your clothes to dry, and they will end up crunchy. But really, nobody minds seeing the same jeans or shirt on you a few times in a week; it's really very French of you.
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