It strikes me that one of the greatest contradictions of the human experience is travel. On the one hand, it offers sensations of adventure, discovery, culinary treats and memories we will cherish forever. This is especially the case when we travel with family or long time beloved friends. But, at the other end of the spectrum, travel offers up wonderful opportunities for stress, discomfort, anger and a host of other emotions and experiences we would just as soon avoid. The dark side here often involves getting from one place to another.
So it was with our splendid group of eight following through on a long planned barge cruise in Southern France. We had Maggie and Ellen starting off in New York, Vernon and Leslie from Washington D.C., Gordy and Janie from upstate South Carolina, and Lily and I from Charleston. As you would expect, there had been much planning to coordinate our flights to arrive in Toulouse about the same time and all be ready to be picked up by our barge crew which had all the promise of a fabulous experience.
But then, our dear friend the travel monster made an appearance. And, it came with a wide variety of pinpricks and back stabs. First, Gordy and Janie's flight reservation was cancelled and the airline never even notified them of this decision! Maggie and Ellen's flight out of New York was cancelled and when advised that they were booked on another airline, that airline said they had no record of it when they went to check in. Vernon and Leslie got their initial flight to Brussels and got within a few hundred feet of the gate for their flight to Toulouse only to realize they were too late too make the connection. Instead, they had to backtrack through London (!) to get to their final destination. Lily and I made it to Brussels and got to a spot in the terminal where we could actually see the gate for our connecting flight to Toulouse only to realize that there was a line in front of us of at least a hundred people all waiting to get through passport control where there were only two agents at work. The line moved in a similar fashion to a severely impaired centipede. 94 percent of our thoughts were focused on whether we'd make it through the line to catch our flight or would we enjoy the same stress level as Vernon and Leslie by needing to find another flight through some other random country. So relaxing!
But, we all made it...finally. With all of us in Toulouse, we were bussed to the barge, Rosa, and met our incredible crew: Julien, our captain, his wife Nicole, energy bunny Agatha, and Martha our chef who had just been flown in from Paris to replace a Covid infected chef originally assigned to this cruise. And, then a day later, Ellen tested positive for Covid! When does this craziness end?!?! Well, happy to say it did end there. Martha's work in the kitchen was spectacular and Ellen's illness subsided. Let the fun begin!
And did it ever! The Rosa is a 100 foot barge with four guest rooms each with a bathroom ensuite. The crew's quarters were aft with a salon in the middle for inside dining and hanging out. On top there was a beautiful deck with table and chairs providing a perfect spot for taking in the landscape. And, a hot tub, of course. Julien was exactly what you want in a captain: dedicated, helpful and gracious. And, a wonderful teller of jokes. Nicole was as close to a walking encyclopedia as I have ever met. She pretty much knew everything about local history, wines and wine making, local cuisine, architecture, goats and pretty much everything else that would come up in our conversations. Agatha was likely the most cheerful and energetic person we had ever met, constantly seeking to increase our comfort or asking if she could get us anything from the bar seemingly every nineteen seconds, or so it seemed. The fact that all this food and drinks were included in the package provided a serious challenge to our common sense. Clearly, the gods of moderation were nowhere to be seen. And, Dominique and Martha were chefs who constantly gobsmacked us with the three crazily delicious meals they provided daily whether it was duck, veal, seafood, or something with a lip smacking puree or a creme brulee, a tiramisu, or a chocolate mousse or fondu. At each meal, Martha would serve the food and patiently explain how she prepared each dish while we resisted every possible urge to dive in and start eating our culinary treasure before the tutorial was finished. Seriously, in all our world travels I don't believe I ever had a better sense of what it feels like to be royalty. Although when we finished our stay on the Rosa, each of us needed to put the "wide load" sign on since we were all taking up considerably more space than when we first boarded.
The daily routine was wonderfully predictable. A multi-dish super breakfast followed by an off board outing to a range of places like a visit to a countess in her chateau where she could share her family's history with us. Or, a trip to the distillery where Armagnac, a cognac-like "digestif" is made. Or, a visit to a goat farm where amazing cheese is made. Or, a stop at the one-time chateau of Henri IV for a history tutorial. Or, a visit to a cork museum which explained to us how this area used to serve the wine industry. Or, a separate boat trip up the Garonne River. Or, a winery visit. And, all this interspersed with sublimely relaxing barge rides down the Canal Garonne. Sitting on the deck gazing at the verdant panorama framing the canal with our feet propped up gave us pretty much namaste moments. Ommm!
Yes, this is the joy of travel; the shared experience with dear friends which will fill our memories forever. And, now the trip home! May it be burp free!
