Planning our trip to Paris

 

One of my favourite parts of travelling isn’t always the trip itself. It’s the planning stage.

 

That moment when an idea starts to take shape – a conversation over coffee, a date pencilled into the diary, a few searches online that slowly turn into something real.

Suddenly, you find yourself imagining the streets you’ll walk, the cafés you might sit in, and the pace of the days ahead. Right now, that excitement is centred around a trip to Paris this July.

 

 

Planning our trip to Paris

 

A trip just for us

 

This one feels a little different.

For years our trips have mostly revolved around family holidays, which we absolutely love – but last year we decided to change that. We visited Rome, just us for a few days. This time it’s just us again, this time in Paris. A few days away together, wandering a city we both love the sound of, with no real agenda other than enjoying it.

George is older now, and finding his own rhythm with friends, football and teenage life. That shift has quietly opened up a little space for us to start planning trips like this again.

It feels like a new chapter.

 

 

The excitement before you go

 

At the moment, we’re in that lovely early stage of planning. Looking up neighbourhoods we might want to wander through. Talking about cafés we’d like to try. Imagining slow mornings with coffee and pastries before heading out to explore.

It’s not about building a packed itinerary – if anything, it’s the opposite. The best trips always seem to leave space for wandering, getting slightly lost, and discovering places you hadn’t planned at all.

 

 

Imagining the little moments

 

When I picture the trip, it’s not the big landmarks that come to mind first. It’s the smaller moments.

Sitting outside a café watching the city go by. Walking along the river in the evening light. Finding a restaurant tucked down a quiet street and deciding to stay longer than planned.

Those are the things that tend to stay with you long after a trip ends.

 

 

Something to look forward to

 

I think that’s why planning a trip brings so much joy.

Even months before you go, it adds a little spark of anticipation to everyday life. A conversation about where to eat turns into an evening spent looking up restaurants. A casual thought about where to stay becomes a whole evening of dreaming about the neighbourhood you might call home for a few days.

Right now, Paris is sitting quietly in the background of our summer plans.

And sometimes just knowing it’s there to look forward to is enough.

 

 

 

 

Planning our trip to Paris