2022 Paris Trip - A Return to Normalcy

On May 13, I boarded a plane to finally return to Paris for the first time since November 2019. This trip to Paris had originally been scheduled for May 2020. It was going to be a week in Paris after a week in Copenhagen for work. Of course, in March 2020, all hell broke loose and the world shutdown due to COVID.

Fast forward to mid-2021, things were starting to open up, so I rescheduled this trip to coincide with my birthday on the 10th of January in early 2022. I was going to fly into London, spend two days with friends, then on my birthday, would take the train to Paris, stay in Paris for a week, then train back to London on the following Monday or Tuesday and work from London for the week. I had a number of good friends who were planning to join me for a long weekend in Paris on the second weekend as well. I booked an apartment near the Palais Royal in Paris' 1st Arrondissement via Marriott Homes & Villas, and we all held out hope that we were finally coming out of this thing.

Then in November 2021, Omicron reared its ugly head. Very quickly things went off the rails. I, like many New Yorkers, came down with COVID right before Christmas. I was vaccinated (Pfizer) and boosted (again, Pfizer), and yet, Omicron slipped through. I had very mild symptoms, never felt ill, and recovered in about five days. During my isolation period (the US was still requiring 10 days of self-isolation), I changed the apartment booking to hotels as they allowed for more flexibility when it came to cancellations.

Then the news came that France was to begin disallowing non-essential travel from the UK. In addition to France effectively closing its border to the UK, Paris started announcing closures of nightclubs, so I made the call to postpone again. With a massive work deadline of April 30th, I rescheduled the trip for mid-May. I would still fly in and out of London, but I would not be spending any time in London, only transiting landside. One of my friends was still able to make the trip, but she would only join me on Saturday, May 21st, and we would train back together on Monday AM and have a nice tea before I had to head to Heathrow.

Then more chaos, my work deadline slipped, and I almost postponed again. However, I was encouraged to keep my plans, and so I did. So, on Friday, May 13, I packed my things and headed to JFK to catch my flight. The next number of posts will cover my trip, the restaurants, activities, shopping, etc... I am still writing everything up, so I plan on posting every 2-3 days for the foreseeable future.