From Baltimore to Paris.

I guess this is a good place to start: the flight that sparked my insatiable wanderlust.

WOW Airlines flight 404. Baltimore International to Charles de Gaulle airport with a connection in Keflavik.

The flight was scheduled to take off at 19:00, stop in Iceland for 50 minutes, then land in Paris at 11:20 the next day. I figured the overnight flight would be awesome because I could sleep through it and feel refreshed when I arrived to meet my new family and home for the following year. Well boy was I wrong. This voyage was a disaster from start to finish. First of all, the aircraft took off almost two hours late. And because of the late landing, the airport suspended the connection to Paris. So by the time I landed I had to wait three hours before getting back in the air. Because this was the middle of the night, there were no stores to buy food or coffee until 6:00 (an hour after my landing) But I suppose it was still a lot better than having to wait a full 24 hours to be booked on the next flight. By this point I couldn't decide if I should sleep because my body thought it was 2 in the morning and I hadn’t slept yet, or if I should stay awake because it was 8:00 in my new time zone… Against my intentions, I ended up not sleeping at all.

My lovely host family was there at the airport to pick me up and take me home. Although I hadn't slept, eaten or showered since the day before, they were still so happy to see me and welcome me into their lives! We made our way to the car and enjoyed warm baguette in the hot car. Seriously, it was a very hot day and we don’t use air conditioning in the car.

My first taste of the city was driving home at 14:00. Traffic thicker than oil. If you ever find yourself in Paris, I would seriously suggest walking or taking the train no matter how far you're going. Road rage takes on a whole new meaning for the locals. If you're not moving fast enough, you're wrong. If you're moving too fast, you're wrong. If you're driving an ugly car, you're wrong. And if you try to do something another driver isn't expecting you're wrong. Nobody uses their indicators and everyone uses the horn liberally.

We listened to the radio, which, to my surprise, played a lot of music I was used to hearing on the radio in my own town. Everyone knew the words (despite being in English) and sang along. I started to realize how misguided my impressions of this country were.

We left the big city and found ourselves driving through green, suburban towns. We drove into the cutest town and pulled up to the cutest house. Nothing special, nothing elegant, but to me it was my palace, located on the outskirts of Saint Germain en Laye and a stones throw from Fourqueux.