Paris's Père Lachaise Cemetery

It's no secret that I adore a good cemetery and if there's one at my destination, I'm going to go out of my way to check it out. It's been 16 years since we've visited Paris for our honeymoon (as part of a larger London trip) and strolled through Père Lachaise Cemetery. It's the largest cemetery in Paris and is the final resting place of famous people like Gertrude Stein, Oscar Wilde, and Jim Morrison.

The cemetery is so large that you can get a map, as it also has streets with names to find your way around. Many of the tombs are large family tombs that are ornate and have their own space for familial visitors to pay their respects. Many have stained glass and other embellishments that make them unique and beautiful. 

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Oddly, every day of vacation was sunny and warm, except for the morning we visited the cemetery, where it was overcast and rainy. Perfect tomb-viewing weather in my opinion. 

Père Lachaise opened in 1804, as a solution to all the Paris cemeteries being full. Unfortunately, it was situated too far from the city and also wasn't blessed by the church, so many people refused burial there. To combat this problem, two prominent French poets' remains were moved to Père Lachaise. This proved to do the trick and it became more and more popular to bury your loved ones there. In fact, it has been expanded 5 times since it first opened.

Over the years, Paris grew larger until Père Lachaise was situated well within the city, along with the other 3 cemeteries (Montparnasse, Montmartre, and the smaller Passy, which came a bit later) that were opened around the same time for the same reason. Of course now it can be extremely difficult to get a space in Père Lachaise, though there are quite a few newer plots there at this time. It doesn't take away from the historical feel though. 

There are over 1,000,000 "residents" in the cemetery and that doesn't include all the people who were cremated and call the columbarium their home in death. You can visit the crematorium, though we didn't do it on this trip. We've probably spent a combined total of 5 hours at Père Lachaise and haven't even seen 10% of the graves there - at least not in depth. 

I feel like the dead should have their final resting places appreciated by more than just their family members and I tend to spend extra time really taking in the details. Many of their relatives who tend to the upkeep of their tombs and religiously bring flowers may have never met them either, but I have the opportunity of viewing it for the first time. 

Oscar Wilde's tombstone, which is unusual as he was

If you ever find yourself in Paris and can spare a few hours, I highly suggest a stroll around Père Lachaise. It's a wonderfully gothic, romantic (or creepy) way to spend your time, and if there are any ghosts lingering around, think of how happy you'll make them by stopping by their home in the afterlife and appreciating the architecture.

Unfortunately, we didn't have enough time on our trip to also visit Montparnasse and Montmartre as planned, but hopefully will on a future visit. We were able to visit the tombs at the Panthéon and the plot of Edgar Allen Poe in Baltimore at the Westminster Burying Grounds in the Westminster churchyard. 

Do you enjoy visiting graveyards, crypts, catacombs, or cemeteries on your travels?

How to Prepare for Longer Travel Trips

There are many fantastic benefits to traveling. It's an excellent way to take your mind off everyday stresses, discover new things about the world and expand your horizons in general. However, an extended trip can be extremely taxing on your body, mind, and spirit if you don't plan accordingly. While there can be some challenging aspects of traveling -- like being away from home or adjusting to different cultures -- with the proper preparation beforehand, it can be a life-enriching experience rather than an exhausting one.

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Here are some tips that can help you prepare for long-term travel and make the most of your trip:

Research the area(s) you're visiting.

The more you know about a new place, the better you'll be able to navigate it. This includes researching the area, the culture, and the climate. Regarding the climate, you'll want to know the average temperatures. You'll also want to know what the weather patterns are like and whether there are any natural disasters in the area that you should be aware of. The culture of the area will also be essential to understand. You'll want to know about their customs and norms. This will help you avoid embarrassing faux pas and make for more enriching interactions with the area's people.

Ensure your physical and mental health is in tip-top shape

You're less likely to become exhausted during your trip when you're in good health. Make sure you visit a doctor for the appropriate vaccinations and that your vaccinations are valid for at least the time you travel. When you're at the doctor, ask for a physical check-up to determine if your vitals (such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels) need to be adjusted. You may consider conversing with a therapist online to keep costs low and allow easy access.

Learn some essential words in the native language of your destination(s)

You can find a free online language-learning program to help you master a few useful phrases. This doesn't have to take up much of your time, but it can make a big difference. It can be a great icebreaker and show you're interested in your surroundings.

Set aside emergency funds

While there's no telling what will happen on your trip, having a backup plan is always helpful. If you get sick on your trip, there may be no affordable way to get treatment from a doctor. If you get robbed, your belongings may be gone forever. You may have to pay for repairs out of pocket if you get into a car accident. It's never a bad idea to set aside an emergency fund just in case something goes wrong unexpectedly.

Take care of any loose ends in advance, such as putting your stuff in storage.

You must ensure your home is safe and secure for your trip to avoid burglaries while you are away. Arrange for your pets to be taken care of if you have any, and inform your bank and credit card company that you will be away so they know to expect transactions from your destinations too. Finding storage for your valuables using StorageArea can help you locate a suitable unit, as can installing home security systems.

Conclusion

Traveling is a fantastic way to get out of your comfort zone and experience new cultures. But it can be daunting to travel for extended periods because you have to pack everything up, deal with jet lag, and find a way to make ends meet when you're abroad. Preparing in advance can increase your chances of success and make the most out of your trip.

(Literal) Travel Nightmares

Happy Spooky Season! I have decided to kick this month off with a thematic post:

A lot of things can go wrong when you travel, and learning to roll with the punches is a valuable skill, but what if the problems you have are literal nightmares and not real at all, because you have weird anxiety? I know it's not just me, but I'm the first to raise my hand and admit that when my anxiety is climbing, I have travel nightmares or inconvenient travel scenario dreams. 

The second I feel like something in my life is out of my control, I have weird travel dreams. Like, anything that can go wrong on a trip will and there's nothing I can do about it. I often have reoccurring dreams in this category, so I know where I am, but still can't fix my own issues. Here are my most common:

Where's my boarding pass?

I have this dream a lot. I'm at the airport, in line at security - which I can't get out of - and I don't have a boarding pass. I know I have a ticket for a flight I'm about to get on. I know it's an international flight. I know I'm in the right line. Somewhere along the way I've either never printed my boarding pass, lost it, or never gotten it and now I'm in a line and have to explain to some stranger that I'm an idiot. 

Why didn't I pack?

I wake up, realize I'm headed on a trip, I'm late, and I grab my carry-on, only to realize that I haven't packed. I throw in everything I can find, which isn't much. I end up with 3 mismatched shoes, a shirt, a pair of shorts, and no underwear or phone charger. How tf am I supposed to survive for any amount of time with these things and what I'm wearing? I don't know, but I freak out the entire time I'm leaving, because I can't do anything about it. This dream might be the reason I pack and repack 3 times before any trip and make packing lists and also start packing a month before my travel date.

You're going to ask why I can't just buy what I need when I get to where I'm going, but this dream usually coincides with the next one:

Where's my money?

I'm on my way to a trip of varying length and my bank account has, literally, $12 in it. Sometimes I don't even have a bank account and I'm just relegated to the 3 one-dollar bills in my pocket or purse. Why didn't I prep at all for this trip? Sometimes I know I planned it myself and other times the trip is a total surprise, but I always have pretty much no money to sustain me more than the trip through the airport. 

So, now I have no money and no stuff. 

None of these things have ever happened to me when taking a trip, but I continually subconsciously worry about them anyway for some reason. Maybe it's not about being prepared for a trip at all, but a metaphor for life in general, but easier for me to understand in dream form. Usually, I figure out that something in life is stressing me out and address that, then I move on with my day. 

Other nightmare scenarios:

On our trip to France, I was so tired most days that I just fell into bed and slept the second my eyes closed and had dreamless sleeps, but near the end, probably because we had a few snafus with checking in online with our airline and me low-key freaking out about nothing important, like buying a metro ticket for our ride from Paris to Disney, I had a travel dream with all new problems all in one night:

• My phone developed a virus and was unusable. Hilarious, since I have extra virus protection and a VPN on it. 
• Eric got bitten by a snake and we had to go to the ER in a foreign country. This took much too long to do and we never actually got there in my dream and in real life he would have died if the snake had been venomous.
• Our flight home got cancelled and we had no options. Well, I'm not sure if we didn't have any options, but none were presented to me. I just got an alert, apparently on my unusable virus-having phone, while we were trying to figure out how to get to the ER. 

Waking up, I realized how stupid it all was and I didn't feel like I was stressing too hard about anything, except getting up on time to get to Disney early for our Extra Magic Hour, but it may have been because this was the first time in a long time that I didn't plan out our Disney days. I just made reservations for dinner and decided to see how things looked and figure out what to do in the moment. 

It turned out fine, because we were there for 3 days and the Paris parks are smaller than Disneyland at home, so we basically did everything we wanted and ate all the food and did all the walking and were more than happy when it was time to head out. 

Of course, maybe some of it was a bit of foreshadowing, because on our trip back I had a fight with the lady at check-in for our flight and unexpectedly had to check a bag (for free, at least) and then had to go to the counter during our short layover to get our next set of boarding passes printed, and our bag, which did make it to Baltimore with us, came out on the wrong carousel. But again, none of it was a big deal and everything was fine in the end and now we're home and still have everything we left with.

I know my brain likes to keep me guessing and give me a little extra anxiety from time to time. The key to it is to not let it get to you and learn to breathe and assess the situation.

Do you also get stress dreams? Are they travel-related? Please share so I know I'm not entirely alone.