Oh, no!

Here I am drinking delectable Breton cider  at a cute Creperie near our hotel in Paris.  Part of me still can't believe we made it to France, so complicated, confusing, and risky was this trip. Before departure, I contacted five French embassies and got five different answers to my question about entering France from Poland.  The reality of the trip felt relatively easy, and everyone was kind along the way.

We did encounter a few, "Oh. no." situations  in Paris. The Bus Direct into Paris posted a suspended service  sign due to the health crisis. We spent at least an hour  figuring out alternative transportation.  It felt harder to get out of Charles de Gaulle Airport than to get into France.  The next morning we proceeded to the train station with our Ouigo train tickets in hand. Alas, we did not go because due to remodeling and lack of signage at the Gare Montparnasse, we missed our train. I cannot remember the last time I missed a train. We bought new  more expensive tickets  and fell exhausted into our seats.

Once at our house in Monflanquin came the biggest "Oh, no!" of all. No  functioning Internet,  telephone, or television. Even my French cell phone  wouldn't work. Cut off from the world, we drove over to the Orange boutique in Villeneuve-sur-lot the next day. Thus began the painful process of explaining, testing equipment, more explaining, more testing until finally one long week later, Orange sent out a technician who resolved the problem in five minutes.  

On the flight to Krakow, I noticed a little toddler boy. He seemed the male equivalent of the "Hey, Lady" toddler on the flight to Chicago. Every few minutes, he would cry out, "Oh, no!" until he finally conked out. I dedicate this blog post to him and hope our "Oh, no" experiences are over for now.

 

Hey, Lady!

 Where do you think you're going? To France, via Poland. Sometime in August I formulated the plan to get to our house in France with the help of my Polish passport. Daniel applied first for a Polish passport at least three or four years ago. I followed suit. It took an enormous amount of patience, documentation, and a significant  amount of money to receive the Polish passport. Luckily, Poland does not require proficiency in Polish to acquire a passport  or I would have been toast. Have you seen how many consonants are in the average Polish word?   

Armed with my Polish passport and marriage license, we flew to Chicago from Portland.  We pulled down our masks for TSA at PDX but aside from that, all proceeded as usual. Bill and I shared a row with an empty seat between us.  Diagonally across from me sat an adorable toddler.  I watched her in fascination the entire flight. She distracted me from my worry about entry into Poland,  etc etc.  She insisted on showing another passenger behind me her video game, her shoe, her ballet moves. To get this person's attention, she repeatedly cried out, "Hey, lady." Reminded me of what a New York City toddler might say.  Now, I have taken to calling all toddler girls, "hey, ladies". Surprisingly, a lot of "hey, ladies" are traveling at this time. 

Before boarding the plane to Warsaw, I presented my Polish passport and my marriage license to prove Bill is my  legal husband of almost forty years.  I actually took an original copy which looked more official encased in a plastic sleeve.  The Lot Airline agent took a copy of the license and then we were good to go. Whew!!!

Our temperature was taken as we boarded the plane to Warsaw. A comic moment ensued as the agent struggled to take my temperature behind my shield.  Bill and I each enjoyed a row to ourselves. I stretched out and slept.

I repeated the same drill to board our connecting flight to Krakow: Polish passport, marriage license, agent photocopy.  No  Covid testing, no questions, no problem.  The taxi driver reserved in advance greeted us  as we entered Arrivals with a sign bearing my name. I felt a little like crying.  Thanks to my Polish passport, I succeeded in traveling to my father's homeland. I consider the passport a gift from my father without which   a trip to  France during these crazy times could never be imaginable.