Aero: Kelsey Castro – France 2015 – Travel

Aero: Kelsey Castro – France 2015 – Travel
Creative Commons Image via The LEAF Project

Aero: Kelsey Castro – France 2015 – Travel

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Kelsey Castro

I had not had much experience with traveling prior to this trip. My first time on a plane was only in 2013, and the longest flight I had ever been on was to Florida. I had also never traveled internationally, other than Canada and touring some Islands on a Caribbean cruise. Although the travel process can be slow, painful, and exhausting, the experience you gain is definitely worth it. I think the biggest mistake that I made was over packing. I had no idea how much stuff I would need, and ended up bringing way too much. It was lesson worth learning, and I will be better prepared for the next time I travel internationally. I had a very difficult time maneuvering my suitcase because of its weight, particularly on the way back after I had bought souvenirs! Another important lesson I learned is that you should always get to the airport at least two hours before your flight leaves. You never know how long security will take and it is better to be left with extra time, rather than scramble to make your flight on time. It was interesting to see the differences between the two planes we were on (the flight to Philadelphia vs. the transatlantic flight to Paris). I had only been on relatively small planes before this trip. The plane to Paris was huge in my eyes. I was happy to see that we had the ability to watch movies on a screen behind the seat in front of us. I tried to sleep on the plane multiple times on the flight there and back, but never succeeded. It was nice to have the movies so I didn’t drain the battery on my phone.

Once we arrived in France, we utilized various different modes of transportation. We took a train from the airport to the metro, and then took the metro to our hotel. I remember it being a whirlwind of a process, it was extremely chaotic in the train station and it was difficult to keep up with everyone with my heavy suitcase, cross-body bag, and backpack. I was extremely sore the first night in the hotel, but as I said before, I learned my lesson about packing too heavily! We used the metro a lot to get around Paris. At first I found it kind of intimidating, but eventually started to get the hang of how the system works. I think that if we had a bit more time in the city, I would have eventually became comfortable enough to try to navigate on my own (even more so if I learned the language).

ML@FLCC France 2015 Flickr Photo Gallery

We took the TGV, which is France’s high-speed train, from Paris to Vitré. Traveling by train is much more common in France than it is in the United States, and much more convenient. We certainly have railroads here in the U.S., but not anything nearly as efficient as the TGV. Rennes is about the size of Rochester, and Vitré is about the size of Canandaigua. It would be really cool if we could travel by train to Rochester, the way people easily move between Vitré and Rennes. One night, my host sisters went to a concert in Rennes and they took the train instead of having their parents drive them. Outside of large cities in the United States, we really don’t have much exposure to efficient public transportation.

After traveling to France, I feel like I have gained a significant amount of travel experience, and I feel much more confident about going through the whole process again someday.

Kelsey Castro
LEAF Contributor