You know, paperwork stuff!

We woke early, and Brian made some tea whilst I went and washed my hair. We needed to leave at 8.15am for Troyes, which is where I was going to catch the train from for my trip to the UK. I was a little anxious, which Brian noticed. “What are you worried about?”, he asked softly. “Just the journey, and the paperwork stuff, you know. “ He calmly said “Jo, you spent yesterday ensuring you had what you needed, some people do that the day they travel, you have everything covered”.

He was right, yesterday I had spent the morning collecting everything together. With the reduced travel requirements now, as I am double vaccinated and France is not a red country, there are only two requirements I have to fulfill. Firstly, complete my ‘travel locator’ form, which can be done easily on line and downloaded onto your phone, as you also need to show this when starting the journey to cross the border. I preferred to also print a copy. And secondly, to book a day 2 test, to be taken in the UK. You need to book it because you need the reference number to include on the travel locator form. The pack arrived at Sharon’s on Monday, so I will pick it up from her later. I then just need to complete it on day 2, and mail it back to the lab.

So he was right, I really am ready for my journey. I’ve always enjoyed travel, but somehow it feels like the excitement has been taken out of it, maybe there are just too many reasons to be anxious now.

It’s turning into a beautiful bright morning, the sky is a vivid blue, it’s warm, and despite a few roadworks, like completely re-laying the road just outside Bar-sur-Seine, we had a very calm journey to Troyes. My train was due to leave at 9.47, we arrived at about 9.15. As the train was in, I boarded it, chose my seat and settled down, ready for my 90 minute train journey to Paris Gare de l’est.

maybe it is exciting…..

Leaving Troyes by train