After hastily organising our trip to Paris we were all quite relieved to board the plane and head off into the night. Little did we know that our experience was already starting. We were greeted at the airport by Etihad Airlines and met by their special services ground staff in AbuDhabi and Paris to make our transiting and arrival as smooth as possible. Pippa and the boys were treated to a tour of the plane and cockpit and Pippa was welcomed on the Paris leg with a gift from Etihad purchased especially for her and the crew from Melbourne to Abu Dhabi made her the most gorgeous French card. The excitement was building and we weren’t even in Paris yet!
Our hotel on the first night was perfectly French and perfectly located a stone’s throw from the Arch de Triomphe. A stroll down the Champs Elysses for dinner was just in order before we all fell into bed to sleep for Australia.
Our thoughts at that time were also with the thousands of runners back in Melbourne preparing for Connor’s Run to raise money for research into brain cancer.
Thank you to so many friends for various forms of help in the past week and to those who were able to roll up their sleeves to help get our bookings of flights and accommodation done so quickly in such a busy time. The good wishes from everyone both in person, online and via text for our trip, along with all the tips and advice on visiting Paris, has helped transfer the focus to become a wonderful time of excitement and anticipation.
Pippa Rea 