We live in France! I can’t believe I can say that now. Our trip and the first few days have been tiresome and a little stressful, but things are getting better.
It took us about a full 24 hours to get to France. We flew out of Atlanta so we had to leave early enough to make the 2 1/2 hour drive and to arrive at the airport 3 hours before our flight as they suggested. We flew Bailey in the hold since we had enough to handle with Makenna and 3 carry ons. The flight to Paris wasn’t too bad; we sat in Premium Economy which gave us a little more leg room and the meal was a little nicer. We didn’t get much sleep and Makenna would sleep for about an hour at a time and then wake up for a little while. We had a 4 hour layover in Paris and then our flight was delayed almost 2 hours. We made it to Clermont around 7:30pm and our friends/fellow expats greeted us at the airport.
There is a wonderful community of expats here, and they were so kind and helpful to us before and when we arrived. We had some groceries, dinner, wine, toys and a gift for Makenna waiting for us. I can’t thank the Jones’ and Keefe’s enough for their help!
Our hotel room is about the size of our kitchen in our old house, I feel like we’re living in a closet! After a long, tiring trip I was about to cry when we walked into this room with 8 suitcases, a baby and a dog. There’s not many dishes so we wound up having to put Bailey’s water in a wine glass, he’s living the French lifestyle already!
The day after we arrived, we met our realtor and looked at several apartments in the city. We quickly made a decision so we can get out of the hotel as soon as possible. We should be able to move in in less than a week, however, we were told we probably won’t get our container until about a week after we’re supposed to move in. I just hope that we’re able to move in and get settled so we can decorate for Christmas!
We also went to the bank to open our French bank account and have unfortunately found out trying to transfer money from our US account is not a quick nor easy process. With trying to pay apartment fees, and buy a car (and have plenty of baguettes and wine) this has been a little bit of a headache.
I’m glad we made it here safe and we’re so excited for what’s to come!
The Pawlowski's Go To France 