Paris Bound!!!!

May 30, 2024 

Our travel days are upon us. Building on previous experience we will be taking 3 days to reach the starting point of the Camino; with stops in Paris and Bayonne, France. Hopefully this will help with the jet lag that comes with traveling to a different time zone.

The weather in Indianapolis was cool and rainy on departure day. We came up to Indy from home yesterday evening so there would be less rush to reach the airport.Our flight path will take us from Indy to JFK. Then a flight to Paris, arriving in the morning due to the time change.

During check in I discovered to my dismay that I had the heaviest backpack at 29.5lbs!  Some of the things I’m carrying are heavy. Fortunately, the plan is to have bags transported each day, so I will be carrying water and essentials only in my pack on the walk. 

We use one of the transport services, called Jacotrans, to transport a bag to our next destination. We carry duffle bags to load the things we don’t wish to walk with. We set them out, make arrangements on an app, place payment in an envelope attached to the bag. Then off we go. Arriving at our accommodation that afternoon and the bag is waiting for us! This has been a seamless and convenient process.

During the wait time at the airport before boarding, we decided to purchase the train tickets to get us from Paris to St Jean Peid du Port. This is the traditional starting point for the Camino Frances, 820km from the ending point in Santiago de Compostela. We discovered that many trains were already fully booked. This is for 2 reasons: the popularity of the Camino, and day of the week (Friday). We were able to find tickets but it took some time. 

Train travel France is awesome and convenient! This will be Jacob’s first time traveling on a high speed train. First time out of the USA as well. I’m really glad to be sharing this experience with him.