Leaving home for our family trip around the world and our first few days in Paris

There it is, the long-awaited departure has finally come for our one-year trip around the world.

We locked the keys on June 29th, but took off for our first destination only on July 4th, so we visited family members during those few days.

We had a big week to prepare ourselves for our long departure and to say our goodbyes to family and friends.

Then we finally took off to explore the world.

Our first destination was Paris; one-way tickets were just under $900 for 3 seats and a “baby on your knees” seat— Ély wasn’t yet 2 years old at the time.

We’re very happy to have started our adventure in Paris, the city of love, as it has a significant meaning for us. You’ll understand. ?

It’s where my sweetheart asked for my hand more than 5 years ago. It was one of those evenings where Paris became magical, with delicious food and tasty wine.

We took the opportunity to trace back our steps to this old (and unforgettable) journey, now with our 2 little boys.

OUR FIRST FEW DAYS AROUND THE WORLD WITH OUR FAMILY

Day 1 Montreal to Paris—July 5th

We flew out of Montreal at night with a company called Level, which was fine. Téo slept on the ground, under our benches almost all the way through the flight, so did Ely. We ended up having a 4-seat row to ourselves as the plane wasn’t full. Ély was able to sleep on two seats. It was harder for the parents who were drowsing the whole flight.

We landed in Paris at around noon, gathered our things and took the Orlybus from the airport to the subway, then we hopped on the subway—which isn’t #StrollerFriendly yet. We had a hard time with the stroller and the 2 baby car seats. Yep, we rented cars for the first few weeks of the trip and it was cheaper for us to drag our own seats, which we’ll get rid of along the way—I’ll tell you more about it in a blog post later.

We arrived at Paris’ 2nd arrondissement, where we had a free accommodation, found on HomeExchange—for more details I wrote a post about it here.

The accommodation chosen on HomeExchange was perfect. We felt at home thanks to the convenience of home exchange, as the family we rented the home from also had young children, therefore, we had toys and childcare equipment. It has greatly helped us to be comfortable and to find a little bit of our home, mostly after long days out in the beautiful city of Paris. If you would like to know more about home exchange, here is the link to the platform we used!

Day 2 Paris—July 6th

We had lunch in Montmartre at the famous restaurant where my loved one asked me to marry me!

Montmartre isn’t stroller-friendly, so we had to carry them around while it was 35 degrees outside. Then we chilled, had dinner at the place we rented and went out for ice cream—everyone was a little jet lag, so we kept it easy!

Day 3 Paris—July 7th

A day to (re) visit the Eiffel Tower! This time in a stroller. The Eiffel Tower was a good 4 miles from our accommodation. We prefer to walk when possible, even if it’s a good distance. For us, it’s part of the #SlowTravel that we like to enjoy. Crossing neighbourhoods helps understand the rhythm of the city and its character, plus we save money and stay active all at once! ?

We also ran into the Carnaval Tropical de Paris, which took place on the Champs-Élysées.

Time was flying by, we took a walk by the scene and enjoyed a picnic near the Eiffel Tower, on Champs-de-Mars, with good wine, some cheese, cold cuts and a baguette found in local shops.

Day 4 Paris—July 8

A mild early morning at home. We played games with the children. Then we went for a walk to see Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral. We stopped at the park, had street food on the way (which we ate at home) and it was already time to pack again for our next destination: Spain!

Day 5 Paris to Barcelona—July 9th

We woke up really early to catch our flight from Paris-Orly to Barcelona. Not to mention the awful night we had after we told Téo that we would be waking him up in the middle of the night to catch a plane—Téo loves to fly. So he came to wake us up several times between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. to tell us that it was time to take our flight. Lol! Now I’m laughing about it, but that night I found it all less funny.

We flew with Transavia, which cost us $390 for 3 seats and 1 baby on our knees. The flight was fine. But as soon as we landed and got off the plane, we experienced our first episode.

We forgot to check behind us before getting off the plane and we lost one of the two sticks that go on our double stroller. We usually remove those sticks before giving our stroller to the carrier and getting on the plane, as these parts tend to get tangled and we didn’t want to break them. We brought them with us on the plane and stored them in our carry-on bags…

But we forgot one of them when picking up our backpacks and exiting the plane. The moment we found out we had left something behind, I ran back through the airport to get back to the plane we had just unboarded, but it was already gone. As I am writing those lines, I laugh quite bitter as it was an adventure to leave the airport with our now “single” stroller. Losing that part meant that our stroller could no longer adapt to two seats. And remember that we have to take care of 2 children, 2 car seats and all of our backpacks. We quickly realized that without our double stroller, we were helpless.

We had no choice but to find a replacement part for our Baby Jogger stroller. Not an easy task, one that would impact our schedule and our mood for the next few days. #Lolilol

I will tell you how the story ends in a next blog post about our family’s round-the-world trip.?

I’m wondering, have you ever had a problem while travelling? What was it and how did you get through it?

This post was translated from French to English by: