Wow, I never realized how much money this trip would actually cost me. One of the reasons why I decided to be an au pair was because I thought it would be the cheapest way to get to live in a new country and travel. Okay, maybe it still is since I don't have to pay for food or rent, but I never really realized how many other expenses I would have, and these expenses are just to GET there...imagine how much more I'm going to spend once I'm there?
I think I'm going to make a special page on this blog for au pairs (or whoever is thinking of becoming an au pair) where I'm going to write down all the expenses I've had so far, just so they can take all this into consideration before they take their decision of becoming an au pair. I wish I could've found a site before that could tell me how much it was going to cost me to do all the paperwork and stuff, so I could've maybe saved up for that.
I will do that page as soon as I figure out how to do it hehe.
Besides that, I've been making a list of the essentials I need to bring to Paris, I think this will help me when I pack. But there's so many (okay maybe not that many, a few) things that I need to buy before I leave. They're small things like power adaptors, a new toothbrush, face wash etc, but the money starts accumulating.
Wow I sound so cheap! It's not that I'm cheap, in fact my dad always tell me "You have an expensive taste", it's just that I've been money conscious since I don't want my parents spending too much money on my trip and well I want to save my money for once I'm there. Also my dollars don't buy too many euros. For example, if I want 200 euros I need to take out 280 dollars! So therefore I want to spend my money wisely since I know it won't buy me much once I'm there (sad face).
Anyways, I have to go pack (yes I have been procrastinating telling myself "Oh you can do it tomorrow, you have time!") and get it over with. Even if this rainy weather is making me want to stay in bed and watch movies all day long.
Showing posts with label au pair. Show all posts
Showing posts with label au pair. Show all posts
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Visa...check!
So my visa arrived yesterday thank God! I'm so happy that it only took ONE week, yes ladies and gentlemen one week compared to the 7 weeks I waited for the au pair contract,which personally I think requires less work than processing a visa. I mean the contract was the simplest thing ever and the stamp wasn't even clear enough! But that doesn't matter anymore because I'M GOING TO PARIS!!
Wow, I can't believe this is actually happening! I have my host family, my ticket, my visa all I need now is to pack and I'm ready to go!
Today I kinda had a small panic attack about me going, well it was more like me telling myself" What are you doing?!You're going to go crazy watching kids 5 times a week!". I actually started having second thoughts, I started doubting my patience for kids (I love kids, but well we all know how energy-draining they can get!) and wondering if I would even survive that long. But don't worry I'm going through with it, it's too late to back out now, besides I know it's normal to have those second thoughts/worries.
I actually can't wait to see the kids, they look so cute in pictures and the mom keeps telling me how they're always talking about me, which makes me want to see them even more.
One thing I am not excited about leaving, and that I am dreading, is packing, oh how I hate packing. I also hate 2 other things that come with packing: the feeling you get when you think you forgot something and can't stop thinking about it the whole trip & unpacking.
Urgh unpacking, I get so lazy just thinking about it. I'm not joking, every time I come back from a trip my luggage remains untouched for like a week. It just lays in my room and I know I only have to take the clothes out and put them away, but for some reason I get too lazy to do it. I eventually do it either because the luggage is taking up too much space in my room or because my mom has started nagging me about putting it away.
Worst part of all of this is that these 2 weeks are going to be FULL of packing and unpacking. On friday we're moving to our new house so we have to pack everything that's in the apartment (I should already have started packing but obviously I have procrastinated). Then we have to unpack our clothes PLUS all of the boxes that were in storage for 4 months.
Then I have to pack 7 months worth of clothes for Paris and I have no idea how to do that. I did a terrible job at packing for 4 months (from Canada to Texas) since I didn't wear half the stuff and I didn't bring enough "light" sweaters" making me wear the same 2 sweaters all the time when it got cold. To my defense I really thought it was going to be hot all the time, but it actually got quite chilly.
Then I have to pack for Houston (we're spending Christmas over there) and then once I'm back from Houston I have to unpack and then I have to unpack once again when I'm in Paris.
Packing is some kind of science, no really. I mean everybody says "Pack half as much clothing as you think you'll need..." but I'm going to Paris! One of the world's fashion capitals! I don't want to be wearing the same things over and over again. I mean I get it I will have to because I can't bring my whole closet with me (if only I could) but I mean I already got tired of not having a lot of variety of clothing here in Texas and it's only been 4 months, imagine 7? I know I can always buy stuff there, but I'm expecting myself to be poor since that's what every au pair seems to say. Besides I want to spend my money on traveling.
Also I think it's going to be hard to pack for Paris because I need to bring clothes for 2 different kinds of weathers hot and cold. It's going to be cold maybe like half the time I'm there, but the other half is going to be summer! So I have to find the perfect balance.
Then there's the fact of the weight limit, stupid weight limit! This means I can't stuff my luggage until it's about to explode. So even if I don't bring a lot of clothes, I can't bring a lot of heavy stuff ( I was thinking on bringing body lotions, shampoos etc. so I wouldn't have to spend on that over there, I figured it'd be cheaper here in the States). I also want to bring some picture frames for those moments where I'll feel home sick, but 1-they take up space 2-they weight more than clothes.
I think it's going to take me a week to pack for Paris. I'm sure there's a strategy for packing, and I am determined to find it! I will let you know how it goes and share my strategy with you (if I manage to find one). It's probably going to involve a lot of planning and taking out all my clothes to see what comes and what doesn't (not that it'll be a problem since I already have to put everything into my new closet either way). And I got a secret weapon....my dad. My dad is so good at packing and making things fit. I have no idea how he does it, but he manages to find a way to make everything fit. I can pack and unpack and pack and unpack as many times as I can't trying different ways of putting everything in and I will still not manage to get everything to fit, but my dad does.
Well it's late, I'm off to bed. One last thing... Countdown: 15 days!
Wow, I can't believe this is actually happening! I have my host family, my ticket, my visa all I need now is to pack and I'm ready to go!
Today I kinda had a small panic attack about me going, well it was more like me telling myself" What are you doing?!You're going to go crazy watching kids 5 times a week!". I actually started having second thoughts, I started doubting my patience for kids (I love kids, but well we all know how energy-draining they can get!) and wondering if I would even survive that long. But don't worry I'm going through with it, it's too late to back out now, besides I know it's normal to have those second thoughts/worries.
I actually can't wait to see the kids, they look so cute in pictures and the mom keeps telling me how they're always talking about me, which makes me want to see them even more.
One thing I am not excited about leaving, and that I am dreading, is packing, oh how I hate packing. I also hate 2 other things that come with packing: the feeling you get when you think you forgot something and can't stop thinking about it the whole trip & unpacking.
Urgh unpacking, I get so lazy just thinking about it. I'm not joking, every time I come back from a trip my luggage remains untouched for like a week. It just lays in my room and I know I only have to take the clothes out and put them away, but for some reason I get too lazy to do it. I eventually do it either because the luggage is taking up too much space in my room or because my mom has started nagging me about putting it away.
Worst part of all of this is that these 2 weeks are going to be FULL of packing and unpacking. On friday we're moving to our new house so we have to pack everything that's in the apartment (I should already have started packing but obviously I have procrastinated). Then we have to unpack our clothes PLUS all of the boxes that were in storage for 4 months.
Then I have to pack 7 months worth of clothes for Paris and I have no idea how to do that. I did a terrible job at packing for 4 months (from Canada to Texas) since I didn't wear half the stuff and I didn't bring enough "light" sweaters" making me wear the same 2 sweaters all the time when it got cold. To my defense I really thought it was going to be hot all the time, but it actually got quite chilly.
Then I have to pack for Houston (we're spending Christmas over there) and then once I'm back from Houston I have to unpack and then I have to unpack once again when I'm in Paris.
Packing is some kind of science, no really. I mean everybody says "Pack half as much clothing as you think you'll need..." but I'm going to Paris! One of the world's fashion capitals! I don't want to be wearing the same things over and over again. I mean I get it I will have to because I can't bring my whole closet with me (if only I could) but I mean I already got tired of not having a lot of variety of clothing here in Texas and it's only been 4 months, imagine 7? I know I can always buy stuff there, but I'm expecting myself to be poor since that's what every au pair seems to say. Besides I want to spend my money on traveling.
Also I think it's going to be hard to pack for Paris because I need to bring clothes for 2 different kinds of weathers hot and cold. It's going to be cold maybe like half the time I'm there, but the other half is going to be summer! So I have to find the perfect balance.
Then there's the fact of the weight limit, stupid weight limit! This means I can't stuff my luggage until it's about to explode. So even if I don't bring a lot of clothes, I can't bring a lot of heavy stuff ( I was thinking on bringing body lotions, shampoos etc. so I wouldn't have to spend on that over there, I figured it'd be cheaper here in the States). I also want to bring some picture frames for those moments where I'll feel home sick, but 1-they take up space 2-they weight more than clothes.
I think it's going to take me a week to pack for Paris. I'm sure there's a strategy for packing, and I am determined to find it! I will let you know how it goes and share my strategy with you (if I manage to find one). It's probably going to involve a lot of planning and taking out all my clothes to see what comes and what doesn't (not that it'll be a problem since I already have to put everything into my new closet either way). And I got a secret weapon....my dad. My dad is so good at packing and making things fit. I have no idea how he does it, but he manages to find a way to make everything fit. I can pack and unpack and pack and unpack as many times as I can't trying different ways of putting everything in and I will still not manage to get everything to fit, but my dad does.
Well it's late, I'm off to bed. One last thing... Countdown: 15 days!
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Flight...check!
SO I finally made a decision after what seemed to be forever! Wow, I know I'm terrible at making decisions but I never thought it would take me so long to decide on something so simple like this! When I finally told my dad my decision about going to Montreal for the summer (and therefore I would have to arrive to Montreal before going to Paris to have a round-trip from Montreal-Paris), I thought the rest would be a piece of cake, that we only needed to select the flights and that's it. I was so wrong.
I am not joking, I think it took us 2 HOURS to pick a flight! I never thought booking your flight would be so complicated! I don't know if it was because of my indecisiveness or because my dad just likes to make things complicated (he would probably argue against this comment, but I assure you my dad likes doing things in a specific way). In the end, we ended up buying 3 separate flights! (now you can see it got complicated huh?) I'll try to just briefly tell you how we ended up buying 3 separate flights, but short-story telling has never been my forte....
Since my dad travels a lot for his work ( when we lived in Montreal, here not so much, but he's starting to travel more now) he gets a lot of air miles, one of the perks about traveling for work I guess. He had air miles with 3 different companies : Air Canada, American Airlines and Delta. We compared prices/air miles (if you didn't know, when you book your flight with air miles you also have to pay something extra, how much depends on the flight. I think it's for taxes of something like that), and in a way it was better if we separated my flights. Okay, maybe one of the flights was unnecessary, but I really wanted one in specific because I would fly to Montreal non-stop on the 27th (arrive around 7pm), and I would get more time in Montreal before I left to Paris on the 28th. So my awesome dad said okay, but that I had to pay the difference (because there was another option where I could have a round trip from Montreal and Texas, and it would've been cheaper, than 2 separate flights). But I think it will be worth it, I know it will be worth it, so I said yes.
In a way, this decision about taking so many different flights ended up being more expensive on the money side, but on the air miles side we saved up around 10,000 air miles AND we ended up using air miles from different companies instead of using up all the air miles from one, so we still have some air miles in all of them which I think is good.
So I will be traveling to Montreal with American Airlines, from Montreal to Paris (and back) with Air France (Delta) and from Montreal to Texas with Air Canada.
I am so excited to get to go to Montreal before I leave to Paris. I feel like I need to be in a familiar environment, back to the place where I lived for so long,because I miss my old life so much. It feels like that life was so long ago.... I don't know why but it feels weird when I think about how I lived in Montreal... I can't really explain the feeling and I don't know why I feel that way since I've only been away for 4 months (then again those 4 months felt like forever).
I can wait to get off the plane and out of the airport to feel that cold winter air. I can already see the snow sparkle at night, hear the quietness that can only be found in the winter... Words cannot describe how amazing those things are and how beautiful it is if you stop and just look around. I get happy just thinking about it.
That's one of my favorite things about traveling back to places you call home, the feeling you get when you finally step on soil and smell that familiar air, see familiar surroundings. You might ask yourself what is up with her and air? Well, it might sound weird but I think that air from different places have a different smell (I know it's weird). For example when I used to travel back to Mexico for the summer and Christmas, once I stepped out of the air port and saw all those mountains that I grew up surrounded with and breathed in the air, I knew I was back home.
I think I'll be getting the same feeling when I get to Montreal and I can't wait to be back home....
I am not joking, I think it took us 2 HOURS to pick a flight! I never thought booking your flight would be so complicated! I don't know if it was because of my indecisiveness or because my dad just likes to make things complicated (he would probably argue against this comment, but I assure you my dad likes doing things in a specific way). In the end, we ended up buying 3 separate flights! (now you can see it got complicated huh?) I'll try to just briefly tell you how we ended up buying 3 separate flights, but short-story telling has never been my forte....
Since my dad travels a lot for his work ( when we lived in Montreal, here not so much, but he's starting to travel more now) he gets a lot of air miles, one of the perks about traveling for work I guess. He had air miles with 3 different companies : Air Canada, American Airlines and Delta. We compared prices/air miles (if you didn't know, when you book your flight with air miles you also have to pay something extra, how much depends on the flight. I think it's for taxes of something like that), and in a way it was better if we separated my flights. Okay, maybe one of the flights was unnecessary, but I really wanted one in specific because I would fly to Montreal non-stop on the 27th (arrive around 7pm), and I would get more time in Montreal before I left to Paris on the 28th. So my awesome dad said okay, but that I had to pay the difference (because there was another option where I could have a round trip from Montreal and Texas, and it would've been cheaper, than 2 separate flights). But I think it will be worth it, I know it will be worth it, so I said yes.
In a way, this decision about taking so many different flights ended up being more expensive on the money side, but on the air miles side we saved up around 10,000 air miles AND we ended up using air miles from different companies instead of using up all the air miles from one, so we still have some air miles in all of them which I think is good.
So I will be traveling to Montreal with American Airlines, from Montreal to Paris (and back) with Air France (Delta) and from Montreal to Texas with Air Canada.
I am so excited to get to go to Montreal before I leave to Paris. I feel like I need to be in a familiar environment, back to the place where I lived for so long,because I miss my old life so much. It feels like that life was so long ago.... I don't know why but it feels weird when I think about how I lived in Montreal... I can't really explain the feeling and I don't know why I feel that way since I've only been away for 4 months (then again those 4 months felt like forever).
I can wait to get off the plane and out of the airport to feel that cold winter air. I can already see the snow sparkle at night, hear the quietness that can only be found in the winter... Words cannot describe how amazing those things are and how beautiful it is if you stop and just look around. I get happy just thinking about it.
That's one of my favorite things about traveling back to places you call home, the feeling you get when you finally step on soil and smell that familiar air, see familiar surroundings. You might ask yourself what is up with her and air? Well, it might sound weird but I think that air from different places have a different smell (I know it's weird). For example when I used to travel back to Mexico for the summer and Christmas, once I stepped out of the air port and saw all those mountains that I grew up surrounded with and breathed in the air, I knew I was back home.
I think I'll be getting the same feeling when I get to Montreal and I can't wait to be back home....
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