Recently there was a trend called #metmyyoungerselfforcoffee, of course I couldn’t resist and jumped right on it. The process made me reflect on my past and the older version of me. I realised how spontaneous, carefree and adventurous I used to be in my younger days. Somewhere along the way, I naturally lost parts of me. Only to find a new version of myself, which I realised was still spontaneous but perhaps a little more risk averse, but a whole lot more resilient and appreciative. I guess that happens when you become a mother, it happens when you’re faced with anxiety and other life responsibilities. I digress, the point being that this little trend reminded me of that young woman full of life, hopes and dreams. I’m pleased to see that 10 years later I still hold onto those parts of me.

We’re getting there, don’t worry. Just before the new year, I was chatting to my friend about the prospect of doing a “Day trip” abroad. Of course she was completely up for it and we wasted no time before booking a cheap £50 return flight from Manchester to Paris. All we needed now was to get our husbands to have the children so we didn’t need to worry about arranging childcare. Now to me, this is pretty spontaneous and I love that neither of us hesitated to make the most of this opportunity.

I can’t quite believe I am saying this, but we had zero plans! This was a first for me as I usually always go with an itinerary but on this trip, I was just really looking forward to having no plans and no pressure. All we knew was that we wanted to see the Eiffel Tower and eat pastry.

My friend stayed over at mine and we woke up bright and early (3.30am) to catch our flight at 6.55. Getting through security and to our gate was a breeze. A very short flight to Paris (Beauvais) and we were ready to travel another hour or so into Paris. We headed out straight to the bus stop to catch a bus to the town centre to get the train into Paris. You can be more organised than us and book the train in advance from an app called “Omio”. I can’t write about our journey without mentioning the lovely Jordan. He was waiting to get on the bus and we started chatting about our plans. He reassured us that we were at the right stop as he had done lots of research before coming. Unlike us, his mum told him he can’t leave until he had booked everything and organised all the transport! Jordan explained this was his first solo trip and he was hoping watch a football game in Paris and do a Vlog about it. He kept us company all the way into Paris. Meeting people like Jordan is always one of my favourite part of travelling. He was so polite, considerate and kind. His mama’s raised him well!

The only plan we had was to go to Carrett for their famous hot choc. There are two Carrett branches and we ended up at 25 place des Vosges, which is around an hours walk from Eiffel tower! I am kind of glad we accidentally ended up here as the architecture and setting was just beautiful.  We ordered the famous hot choc and French onion soup, both of which were amazing. 

We decided to get an uber to Eiffel Tower as we didn’t want to spend time walking due to it being a day trip. It was a fabulous decision as we got to see Notre-Dame from the comfort of the car (it was pouring it down outside). We got dropped off right next to Eiffel Tower! We took some photos and bought some Eiffel Tower key rings and carried on walking towards Montmartre. Once we got there, we popped into the local book shop, bought an umbrella from a pharmacy and enjoyed walking around the beautiful streets, full of character. We walked up lots of steps to check out Sacré-Cœur Basilica which has panoramic views of the city.

From there we decided to check out the Louvre and ended up getting another Uber. At this point, it really was chucking it down so we ended up at a café. We spent over an hour drinking tea, eating crepes and reading/sketching. This was probably my favourite part of the day as it was everything I had imagined Paris to be. We were sat watching strangers dance in the rain as the live music was playing next to them.

We got so lost in the moment that we realised that getting an Uber to the airport would be the quickest way. But we couldn’t go back without grabbing some pastries. So we found a cosy little bakery, grabbed some pastries and enjoyed them when we got to the airport!

Sorry no hacks or tips other than; don’t let the rain spoil it for you, uber it if it makes your life easier. Eat the pastry and soak in your surroundings. Dress for comfort not show as Paris is HUGE and you’ll be doing A LOT of walking! 

PS, this is your reminder to be spontaneous and that it is possible to do a ‘day trip to Paris’.

We also made everything mega easy by using just one bank card and used the ‘split’ option on Monzo. That way there was no confusion and we split everything in the middle. If you don’t already have a Monzo account, go get it! It’s honestly been so easy to transfer to friends and split bills. Here’s a referral code which can get you and me some money:

https://join.monzo.com/c/6rv8jl3