Are We There Yet?

We have been planning this trip for quite some time. Years, in fact. There was quite a lot more to it than just waking up one morning and driving to the airport. A few months ago, we started selling everything we owned. Literally, everything. We sold our bed, furniture, computer, appliances, decorations, car, souls, and clothes.

While Marcus may tout that he is not a materialistic person, there were a few things that he was obstinately unwilling to part with: his precious guitar (and the truckful of music paraphernalia that accumulates when you’re a musician). Marcus decided to leave all of his musical gear with his brother, who only lived 1,436 miles away. The first official leg of our journey was from Scottsdale, AZ to American Fork, UT caravanning with Marcus’ parents and staying with them in a hotel for the night. The next day, we drove to Pendleton, OR and stayed the night there. On our third day driving we got to the beautiful city of Portland, OR just in time to catch Marcus’ brother’s band play at a local club. On June 9th, we finally completed the last leg of driving, landing in Seattle, WA where Marcus’ brother lives and where he could leave his gear in safe hands for a year.

On the morning of June 10th, we drove to the SeaTac airport, readily equipped with our backpacks, nervous smiles, and probably some misguided sense of confidence. After a 9 hour flight from Seattle to London and then a 2 hour flight from London to Paris, we were finally there!!

Hungry, exhausted, and running on the fumes of caffeine and adrenaline, we took the Paris subway to the neighborhood where our Airbnb was. The final stretch of our long journey we took on foot. At this point, our Hydro Flasks were long empty. We were happy to see that we had less than a mile to go. Then it appeared. The biggest, longest, tallest hill in all of Paris.

Being the millenials that we are, coupled with the fact that we were in a foreign country where neither of us spoke the language, we were completely reliant on our phones for directions. Unfortunately, Marcus’ phone was dead, and my phone’s battery had about 2% power left. Needless to say, the stakes had never been higher (cue intense cinematic orchestra). We needed to climb this enormous hill before my battery went out so we could have a place to sleep that night. This proved difficult under the circumstances. As the situation became more dire, Marcus, being the chivalrous man that he is, took my backpack and carried ALL of our earthly belongings up that hill so we could go faster. And then the craziest thing of all happened. We made it! Our adventure had begun.