Flight path

Okay, we have a destination. Now we need a place to stay.

Have a look at AirBnB. (Yes, yes, I know it’s an evil fucking organisation which is partly responsible for the dearth of affordable rental properties around the world, but what are you going to do?) Discover that there can be a pretty substantial discount on monthly rentals. Find one which is a good price. It’s a studio and the “bed” is a fold out Murphy in the corner of the one room, but as I said, good price. Forward link to my travelling companion.

Keep looking and find another one, which I forward with this message: “$400 more, but look at this view!”

Yes, this is the view from the kitchen window (when the village isn’t above the clouds). He immediately agrees that the view (and the real bed) are easily worth $400.

The original plan was to head to France via the UK to have a couple of days in London and get up to Cheshire to visit my aging cousin. This plan has been abandoned. It would make the trip five weeks long and Krys can only stay here with Maisie for a month. So, four weeks in France with a short trip to UK later in the year.

Set about booking what we already consider to be our flat in Cordes.

We will leave Vancouver on April 1, arrive in Cordes the next day and stay until April 30. An email response from AirBnb to inform me that the booking has been requested and the host will confirm within 24 hours. Wait until next morning, only to receive a notification that, because the host has not responded, the reservation has been cancelled. Oh, no! Share bad news. Gutted because I’ve already fallen in love with the view.

Oh, but wait! Now there’s a message from Sylvie, the host. She’d been away for the weekend and hadn’t checked her email. Yes, the apartment is available in April, but… She doesn’t normally rent it before the beginning of May, because that would involve heating and cost more. Would we agree to paying for this separately at the end of our stay? (Heating in the south of France? What? Do a quick Google search and discover average temperature in the area during the day in April is the high teens and the high tens at night. Hmm. Okay, we will probably want a bit of heat in the evenings. Oh, and it’s the rainiest month. Guess I won’t need to worry about a sun hat.) Email back to say, yes, we will pay for the heating when we leave. We have the flat!

Spent a portion of his birthday weekend looking at flights. I had been thinking that we would need to get from the airport in Paris to some train station to get a high speed train, but a conversation with Krys reminded me that there are a lot of regional airports in France. That’s how she and her husband used to get to Vias. Okay, nearest airport to Cordes seems to be Toulouse. Check flights. Yes, we can fly Vancouver/Pairs/Toulouse and still arrive at a reasonable time. Great. Return flight next. What? We have to leave Toulouse at six in the morning? Oh, no, no, no. Have another look to see what happens if we depart and return a day earlier. Yes! Flight from Toulouse at 11am. Check with Sylvie that changing the booking by one day is okay. Certainement, she says. Book flights.

WE’RE GOING TO FRANCE!