So… on another topic… I’m so anal. There’s six days left before the girlfriend and I leave for Paris… I’m already packed. Got one medium sized piece of roll around luggage for check in, and a Man Bag (yes, that’s a real product) as my “purse” for carry on.

The check in luggage is really sized right to be usable as a carry on, but CGD airport has some long walks from the gate to the curb where I get the city bus, and the luggage carousels are just inside the doors from the bus, so it’s really much easier to check the bag and let the baggage system bring you bag almost to the front door.

My girlfriend is getting excited about the trip, for a number of different reasons. One, she’s never been to France. She studied Spanish in Spain, and has been to Germany, but never Paris. The other reason she’s excited is because she’s “rattled” by the fact that I am an expert is bad French. I can bring the “english” out of the most stoic French person.

I’ve always taken the Rick Steves approach to communicating in a foreign country. Use few descriptive words to say whole paragraphs, use your hands and body english to convey your thoughts and jump in feet first… go ahead and talk, they will correct you and they will appreciate the fact that you are trying to communicate in their language.