Back in the Mode...

Paris, France

November 21, 2007
N48°51.581
E002°17.512

Our flight back to Paris was much easier than our flight home from Paris. We had better seats, a shorter layover and the entire trip took just a little over 14 hours as compared to 21 hours on the flight back to San Francisco. Yes, we’re back on the road, but this time I think we both have some mixed emotions.

Before we left Sacramento on Monday, Marc turned to me and said he now understood how I felt getting back on the plane for Saigon in early July. The emotions are mixed—we know we have a lot more to see and a lot more to be excited about; however, we just spent 12 days in comfortable surroundings with family and friends. To go back on the road, to more unknown areas, exiting our comfort zone, is hard to do right now. At least we’re coming back to Paris, a beautiful city, instead of Saigon where traffic, scooters and overall chaos reigns. The transition back to “travel mode” should be easier.

I think the lesson we have to take away from our trip back home is how important family and friends really are in our lives. We knew this before, but sometimes we take them for granted.

As I sit in our room in Paris, unable to sleep, our families are busy preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. We had ours early, on Sunday, with my Mom, sister and nephew, but today as we sit down to our Thanksgiving/Anniversary dinner in Paris we'll have to give special thanks to our terrific extended family and friends—you are all very important in our lives and we thank you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Marc and Laura