Following the last post we made about some of our favorite places in Provence, two different friends called to say “We want to hear the story of how you got back!”. So, as we continue to think about our next blog posts, here is the story of our return.
After the French government announced le confinement on March 14, it was clear that our decision had been made for us! Luckily, we were in Granville, France. Philippe and Armelle had assured us that the apartment was ours for as long as we needed it. They did not have guests coming until May – and surely this wouldn’t last THAT long! Ha! So we were very happy to consider that we were staying in a beautiful part of France, a country with excellent health care. And living downstairs from some lovely friends. The circumstances seemed ideal for what was a very obscure situation.
And then, on March 19, we received the following memo from the American Embassy in Paris:
Travel Advisory: Level 4 – The Department of State advises U.S. citizens to avoid all international travel due to the global impact of #COVID19. In countries where commercial departure options remain available, U.S. citizens who live in the US should arrange for immediate return.
Wow! We promptly commenced trying to figure out how to get home, and more than that, where to go once we got (spoiler alert) here!
Because our flights had been arranged by CorpTravel for Volvo as part of the overseas delivery package with the new car, we called them first. Their search for new flights was hampered by the hordes of people leaving Europe. So even getting the same itinerary we had scheduled for May on a date in March was impossible. SAS – Scandinavian Airlines – was a) originating flights only from Scandinavian cities and b) was no longer flying to San Francisco. They would take us only as far as Newark. And in order to take the Volvo-subsidized flight, we would have to get to Stockholm from Paris. So it took a couple of days for the great folks at CorpTravel to even come up with an itinerary and we would not be able to leave Paris until March 26th.
Next hurdle: Getting to Paris. Easy Peasy, right? Take a train from Granville to Caen to Paris. It would be a three and a half hour trip that would go right to CDG Airport. Except… Two trains got cancelled! It became apparent that there was not going to be a train that we could count on from Caen to Paris. So Philippe suggested that he drive us to Rennes and we could take the TGV from there to Paris. We apprehensively made a reservation on the TGV for March 25th, and kept our fingers crossed that we would not get an announce d’annulation – announcement of cancellation.
Thus commenced three days of packing and preparing. Our wonderful friend Laurie, an Airbnb host herself, took it upon herself to find us a place to stay in Oakland. And the lovely host, Clarice, agreed to take on 2 possibly corona-compromised travelers and a dog! So all we had to do was Get There!
Upon arrival at the TGV station in Rennes, we discovered that we had left LuLu’s carry-on in Granville! So as soon as we got to the hotel in Paris, we set about searching one out. Donna took a fruitless trip on the AirTrain to CDG trying to find an AirFrance desk open to see what could be done. Finally a man in the Odd Size Baggage department told her that the pet stores were still open, being considered an essential service. Formidable! A 130€ taxi ride later and 86€ for the carry-on and we were all set! Whew….
This is identical to the bag we left in Granville, except it cost twice as much! And that doesn’t even take into account the taxi ride!
We were up early the next morning and at the AirFrance counter in plenty of time for our flight to Stockholm. Because of the scheduling – due to fewer flights the AirFrance flight would land in Stockholm after the SAS flight to Newark had departed – we would have to stay overnight in Stockholm. So we had reservations in a hotel near the airport. But, as we were standing at the counter, word came that only persons with Swedish passports would be permitted to leave the airport! Not looking forward to a night in an airport, but not having any other options – despite Sam’s 3% portion of Swedish genes – we resigned ourselves to the inevitable. Then, within minutes, we were told that Sweden was now not allowing anyone who did not have a Swedish passport to even fly into Sweden! So that flight was a no-go for us! We had to start from scratch!
After several more possibilities were found to be unsuitable – including one flight that disappeared off the computer as she was booking us on it – the Air France check-in staffer sent us to another terminal to the AirFrance sales office.
Nerves were fraught here. Everyone including passengers and AirFrance staff were a little on edge. Security guards enforcing social distancing, tape and tables and plexi-glass screens that prevented one from getting too close, masks that impaired hearing what was said in French (like a game of Telephone). It all felt designed to make Donna, and the clerk, more nervous. But finally we had a direct flight to Los Angeles from Paris departing that evening at 6:10 pm. But – little hiccup here – LuLu could not be Donna’s emotional support animal. She would have to stay in the crate for the entire flight! Eleven hours! We asked why. Well, one would have to notify the airline 48 hours in advance! When asked if a décision exceptionelle could be made, Donna was met with a sharp “Non!” It seemed we might not be able to go that night! And anxiety was rising about possible border closures and more cancelled flights! Then, happily, Donna recalled that LuLu was scheduled on the flight to Stockholm as an emotional support animal! After more consultations and phone calls, that changed things, an unexceptional decision was made and they booked us on the flight!
What remained of the day was about 8 hours in an airport that we were sure was a veritable petri dish of viral droplets! Although there were amazingly few people in the terminal, there were a lot of apparently homeless people seemingly living there! We managed to find seats where we could distance ourselves from others while we waited to board the aircraft. Happily there was a Presse open which had newspapers and books in English, sandwiches and drinks. All the other restaurants, cafés and food vendors were closed and a guard recommended that we take advantage of what was available before we went through security, as there was not much available on the boarding gate side. And there was a pharmacie open also where hand sanitizer, disinfecting wipes and thermometers were available! We hadn’t seen any of that in France for over a month! Donna spent the last of the Euros on French creams and serums that she had come to like very much!
There is more than one happy ending here! The flight was AMAZINGLY empty. Sam estimates it was only 25% full – with a full flight crew! Social distancing was great! We each had our own row and other passengers were several rows away from us. The attendants were wonderful. They were very happy to be dealing with a nearly empty flight. The pre-packaged meals were pas mal. The entertainment was bi-lingual so we watched Once Upon A Time in Hollywood by syncing the screens in separate seats And then Donna got to watch a French comedy she had missed when it was in St. Rémy – Joyeuse Retrait. We could stretch out to sleep. LuLu was a very popular passenger with the flight crew, who came by every so often to say hi and give her a little caresse. She slept a lot and managed to hold her bladder until we were through Customs and ALMOST out of the building–two long hallways to go, but she, we confess, went. It was a great flight overall!
We were a bit hampered arriving in LA by not having cell phones that worked. Our Orange cell phone account wanted us to pay $15 for coverage in the US, which we declined. But a very nice LAPD officer let us use his phone to call the hotel to get the shuttle, and soon we were collapsed in a heap in the LAX Westin!
Next happy ending – Benjamin came over the next morning to take a socially distanced walk with us. He had been very concerned about the virus exposure we experienced while traveling and suggested that we cancel our flight to SFO and rent a one-way car to drive to Oakland. Which we did. We were both still tired from the trip, but we took turns driving and napping and made it to our Airbnb by about the time we would have arrived if we had flown. And far less exposed to bugs! (Thanks to Benjamin for great thinking!)
So we woke up the next morning in our Quarantine Retreat. Clarice is our thoughtful host at a lovely small Airbnb space a little under 2 miles from our house.
We finished our 14 days with no signs of illness – no fever (varied temps but all below normal–98.6 F or 37 C), no coughs, no difficulty breathing. Donna spent part of each day walking with LuLu. Sam got caught up on politics. We had a couple of Instacart deliveries and our friends Shelley and Beamie brought food by when they made a trip to the market. Peggy brought us raw frozen dog food and yummy cupcakes. Our lovely neighbor Jan made some fabulous pot stickers and is now perfecting her burrito recipe! Thank you Jan! We’re glad to be on your beta test team. Rainey sent cool homemade masks! We cannot begin to thank our friends enough for all the kind care we have received.
So – our house is still rented out until August, although we hear that the tenants may decide to leave earlier. But we are vagabonds for the next few weeks at least. Now that we are out of quarantine, we are trying to take socially distanced walks with folks and catch up on their last 10 months! And there are several blog posts still to be made – including and amazing drive from Digne-les-Bains to Nice and trying to cover a month in Paris! Also hoping to capture Sam’s photo collection of Doors of the European Union and Shengen countries! Doors just popped into our cameras everywhere we went it seems.
Please let us know how you are doing! We will be excited to be in touch.
Love to you all,
Sam, Donna & LuLu
April 14, 2020
LuLu's Outta Town 