As I sit in an airplane, watching When Harry Met Sally for my second time, and sitting next to the sweetest older couple who are holding hands throughout the in-flight movie, I cannot help but think about Cale, my husband who I am leaving behind for a full week, and the last time we were on a plane together. It was a long trip home from our honeymoon in France. I realize that I was eager to tell the story of our wedding, but have lost my steam in telling the story of our two week long vacation in France. I grappled with how to tell the vacation story. Do I just load you with pictures and call it a day? That is one of the easier ways to blog lately, but now that I have three uninterrupted hours without internet, I figured writing it out would just have to do.

During the wedding reception, Cale proudly stated into the microphone that Surprise! We are going to France! Shock was an understatement. I never expected anything in Europe. I was ecstatic. Though I also had to welcome the long journey it would take to get there. Our first destination in France was St Pierre La Mer in the south of France. It took us about a full 24 hours to finally reach our destination. And after figuring out the fast-paced train station, battling language barriers while trying to get our rental car, and driving almost to Spain at one in the morning, we were exhausted, and well frankly, I was a mess. I was convinced we would have to sleep in the car on the side of the road since we could not find this little town by the sea. Heck we couldn’t find the sea! We sought some relief through Cherie FM, France’s soft rock station. After French song after French song, we listened and drove in the dark. And then I heard a song that reminded me exactly why we were in France. Everything by Michael Buble filled my ears with the comfort of the familiar. I cried and cried with relief. We soon after found our little apartment and went to sleep.

The first week was filled with walks to the beach, wines to drink, paninis and baguettes to eat, drives to the town to get on the internet because I was desperate to see any and all wedding pictures that I could. We did a lot of reading and relaxing, a perfect break after the stress of the wedding.

The week went by quickly, and before we knew it we were back on the train headed to our last week in France that would be spent in Paris. This time we were experienced in the train travel and were much more relaxed. Well I should say, it was really me who was terribly nervous during our traveling. It was something I had little experience in, and I was just terrified of being yelled at by French people. Cale was so wonderful at guiding me and trying to set my nerves at ease.

We arrived at our first hotel that was on the outskirts of Paris and decided to tackle their subway system and visit the mall. Well a short walk away from the mall, and we found ourselves at the Louvre. We spent the rest of the week at a hotel near the Arc de Triomphe and were busy walking around Paris and visiting all the must-sees: Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower. We treated ourselves to nice dinners, went shopping, and enjoyed seeing as much as we could. The city was so wonderful and historic. It was the perfect honeymoon.

And then the travel home. As you can tell, plane rides are not my favorite. After a long trip home, we got back and slept. And slept. And started our lives together as husband and wife. And now almost a year and a half later, I’m on another plane ride. Without him. And it makes me sad. But at least during my next plane ride on Friday I get to look forward to seeing him when he picks me up. While it won’t be the clichéd and romantic sweep me off my feet outside of the gate, it will be just as sweet. And my heart will be filled with that comfort and warmth when I’m back by his side.

Until then, I’ll just dream about it.

A recent post by Lorie completely brought back all these memories for me. I was starting to continue our story with our honeymoon in France when I remembered where I actually left off.. The Drive to Los Angeles.

Well Cale and I made our triumph return to our wedding to get my purse that I had forgotten, and our family had a couple laughs as we were probably the only couple to come back to their wedding after it was over. I went in, found my purse, and then we were off. Only to realize that we were almost out of gas. So there we were filling up at the Chevron on California and Oak in Bakersfield with “Just Married” written all over our car. Not conspicuous at all.

We got out of Bakersfield and made it to the Petro Travel Plaza before we realized we were STARVING. I had eaten a breakfast burrito that morning but didn’t eat hardly anything at the wedding and it was now dinnertime. So what do two just married people have for their first meal as husband and wife? Wendy’s. I was dying for some chicken nuggets, fries, and a frosty root beer float. Though it was our first instance in our marriage where Cale was indeed right, and I was not that hungry, having only eaten about half of it.

The rest of our drive was filled with “Oh my, we are really married.” “I can’t believe we’re married.” “Everyone keeps staring at our car.” and “We’re really going to France??” I had a one hour crash course in French through a podcast, where the only thing either of us remembered from it was il pleut (it is raining). And just because it was fun to say. The rest of the drive consisted of us copying Joey’s French. This may not have helped us much while we were in France, but was the ongoing joke the whole honeymoon and brought many many laughs.

I promise to share the good part of the honeymoon soon (No not that part. the France part!). But First: Married Folks. What was your first meal together (besides the reception)?