Three Months in France March 31 – June 28, 2007

We had a nice drive today from Vernon to Canmore. Sunny weather, good roads, and great scenery, and kids were in a good mood. Here’s a link to a few photos we took today:

• Today’s Photos.
  
• Google Map of our location
  

Good night from Canmore.

We spent the weekend getting somewhat organized and at this point I think we’re about 90% packed. Between the five of us we currently have 8 pieces of luggage to check in. Due to the mounting costs of this trip we just decided that we’re going to bring along our tent and sleeping bags. We’re hoping that the use of the camping equipment on a few of the excursions away from the home base (near Toulouse) will help keep expenses in check. To date we’ve spent about $16,000 CA and that covers flights, vehicle rental, and our main accommodation. Spread out over 3 months that comes to about $5333 CA per month for the basics, which is not unreasonable for what we are getting, but it is still a lot of money and our bank account will be hurting for a while as a result. I can make myself feel a little bit better by understanding that I’ll be saving money on the following items:

• shaw cable – i put it on hold while we’re away. Net savings, about $150, or $50 per month
  
• car insurance – we downgraded to just storage insurance on our accord for a net savings of about $250, or $83 per month
  
• electricity and gas on our Vernon house – estimated net savings of $552 or $184 per month

Well, on another note Emma seems quite excited to be going on this adventure, while Liam is a little apprehensive about it. Those reactions are typical and are representative of their personalities: Emma is always ready to jump in while Liam is more cautious at first but then always ends up having a great time. As for me, I’m really starting to dread the long flight. For the last few days I’ve been telling myself that the kids will be ok and that they will sleep on the plane. Then it occured to me today that if they do sleep they will end up being wide awake by the time we arrive in Toulouse and thus that will prevent us (the adults) from being able to sleep and adjust to the local time. So either the flight will be a “challenge” or the first day or two upong arrival will be a “challenge”. Either way, a little wine and some humour will hopefully help us prevail.

We’re all nervous and excited. On March 30th we’re going to drive from Vernon, BC to Canmore, AB. And on the following day we’ll drive from Canmore to Calgary airport where we’ll board a flight that will take us to Frankfurt where, after a 4 hour layover, we will board a flight bound for Toulouse. Keeping Liam and Emma occupied and happy will be our most important and difficult task during the long flight to Frankfurt and during the layover. To make this task as painless as possible, Marissa has asssembled an assortment of toys and books carefully designed to be dispensed at regular intervals to keep the children entertained. I’m somewhat confident that it will work. Yes, of course it will work!!

On March 31st, 2007 my family and I will be travelling to the south of France for a 3-month adventure and we intend to use this blog as a means to document our travels so that our friends and family may follow along with us on our journey.

Stay tuned…