Hey all!
Paris is one of my favorite cities in Europe, 
"The best preparation for tomorrow, is doing your best today"
H. Jackson Brown, Junior.
Last-minute planning, how do we do it?
Planning a trip can cost you some time if you want to nail it. I'm lucky I'm so used to squeezing a few days into one due to client budgets. I've learned my ways to be as efficient as well as productive at the same time with this.
My 10 steps
- Make a list of top priorities
- Make a list of must-see locations
- Location & Mobility
- Calculate with a little imagination
- Setting up a timetable, it's Puzzling time!
- Ordering Tickets and downloading Apps
- Browsing Google Maps Street View
- Setting up rules
- The Sun is setting... where? (for photographers)
- Learning a bit of French in a few days
1) Make a list of top priorities
The top priority of this trip is to capture Hidden's work. If I end up making photographs I'm not satisfied with, I wouldn't be able to face myself or hiddenblade. So, a soft-pre is to capture it as if she is wandering around the exhibition herself. Anything else is just a bonus. This includes sightseeing and getting a bit of the atmosphere of Paris. Even though I called it a soft-pre, these are very hard-preferred requirements for me as a person. This is based on how I deal with situations that tend to be always different in practical situations. It allows me to have some bleed and flexibility in the way how I plan.
You might think the next priority should be the first, but if it wasn't for Hiddenblade's job offer, we wouldn't be going at all. The second priority that we need to deal with, is Lackofcolor's eating disorder, which is kind of trying to get a bit louder. This motivated me to make this plan even more, as it is very important to have very little stress. She has a very structured eating plan with specific times. This can be a puzzle, but I'm super positive that we can manage and create a plan.
The last priority is to have fun. LOL. Well, without having balance in the above, there will be no long-term fun. I can ensure you of that. This isn't a priority, since I'm always having fun, even if things tend to become a bit dark or difficult to handle. I've tried for a long time to remove my ego.
2) Make a list of must-see locations
Paris is a stunning city. Whenever I dive back into my memories, it is certainly one of the most romantic cities in the world. My memories are quite active. I love having a photographic memory that I can tap into whenever I want. You can't simply go to Paris and not see the Eiffel Tower or the Arc de Triomphe. Even though I've seen these historical landmarks, I want to make sure Lackofcolor is collecting these memories while visiting Paris as well. So she has something to look back to and will know that even when times are harsh, you can still experience love, joy, happiness, and make positive powerful memories.
We both made a list of what we wanted to see. My only hard request to her was that I wanted a Sunset photograph of the Louvre Pyramide. While one or two things didn't match, I still made a list of -everything- we wanted to see in Paris.
- Eiffel Tower
- Arc de Triomphe
- Notre Dame
- Louvre
- Sainte-Chapelle
- Petit-Palais
- Pont-Alexandre III
- Panthéon
- Palais Luxembourg
- Le Marais
3) Location & Mobility
Because I have a foot infection for almost a year now (it slightly is getting better), it would be important for me to be located close to the Louvre. This is mostly because I'm on a mission and have a job to do! Furthermore, mobility is one of the most important things in a crowded city like Paris. We found a cheap Air BNB located 5 minutes away from the Louvre. This is something different than the hotel I stayed in that took about 30 minutes just to get to the city. A great location will have its benefits. Time, flexibility, and if things go South, whether it be something I'd forget bringing, or Lackofcolor isn't feeling well, it would be less stressful as we can easily go back to the Airbnb in less than 15 minutes by bike. Lackofcolor found a service that's "new" in Paris, Velib, a bike-rental service that allows you to rent a bike and park it at places. Helpful, and it will save a lot of time (plus, I won't have to walk), double benefits.
4) Calculate with a little imagination
A technique that I always use when I have to plan ahead is to use my imagination based on previous experiences and memories. I either picture something in my head or repeat a memory over and over again, trying to calculate how long something would take. It also helps me to foresee potential challenges and deal with them beforehand. This gives me a pretty accurate result, because every time I miscalculated, I take notes. From experience, I usually take 45-60 minutes at the bare minimum to photograph. While this is kind of tricky/risky because we have no control over how many people will be there at the various landmarks, it is always good to have a plan and be ready for potential challenges along the way.
Now that we have the location, and the places we'd like to see, we can just calculate the travel distance, and get some roughly estimated travel time by bike. The longest trip takes about 20 minutes by bike to the Arc de Triomphe. Traveling to the rest is about 10-15 minutes.
I've added all the locations in Google Maps to see which landmark is where and to see which ones were close to each other. This helps out as you are literally mapping out your plan. This helped me a lot in making a plan and determining where and in what order to go. Even though we have to keep in mind that Sunsets are around 8 PM, so we have like two potential Sunsets to watch.
5) Setting up a timetable, it's Puzzling time!
I've made a timetable with planning to go by. While most of the set times just serve as an indication, it kind of helps to make decisions when we're really there on the spot. If we're running late to the next stop, can we still make it? Or, if we are running early, or leaving earlier because of the weather, too many people, or expectations, what should we do next?
The timetable is pretty convenient in many ways. You have a plan. And you can do a check with all the things you have seen, want to see, and how much time you have. This can help you to decide whether you have to take a chill pill or not. I like to chill and relax. That's why I spend (too) much time making a plan. Furthermore, I am 100% positive this will help Lackofcolor as well, as she is pretty excited and have both good and bad tensions about the trip.
I've created a 3-day timetable, from waking up to going to bed, that gives enough room for flexibility. It also kind of includes my stress level for the 2nd day, when I have to be on time at the Louvre for Hiddenblade's exhibition! I'm so excited about that.
6) Ordering Tickets and downloading Apps
From all the landmarks we'd like to see, it would be good to make up a decision to see which one to go to. Ordering tickets and printing tickets beforehand may be something you want to do. We got our train tickets, VIP tickets for the exhibition, and Apps.
You can get an estimated amount of money you probably will spend on tickets. If you're traveling on a budget, this might help you reserve some of the things you really want to see. I really think that entering a landmark is really worth your time and experience of the city. We've chosen to go in two, as the Eiffel Tower and Arc de Triomphe are just impressive already to look at.
7) Browsing Google Maps Street View
So, what else could we do to prepare? As a photographer, I like to check out Google Street View. I just walk around, to see if I can remember where to go or to lock in potential compositions. It is super awesome to see how Google has developed its Street View. Next-level stuff and very convenient to plan a trip.
8) Setting up rules
Because we are dealing with a photographer that easily gets distracted and lost in time, and a girlfriend who wants to make sure everyone around her is having a great time and often forgets herself or pushes herself, we've come up with a set of rules. One of the rules is that I only have 45 minutes to photograph a location... dumb rules.
I honestly think that when you're traveling together, having a few rules for each other is good. Especially if you're both finding it hard to share your boundaries and do what's best for the other. It kind of creates this unspoken promise that you'll have to keep. It certainly will prevent a discussion or two.
9) The Sun is setting... where?
I have a super useful application on my phone called "Magic Hour", it allows me to see when, where, and for how long the Sun is rising and setting. I've used the application and made some screenshots to know for sure to be on "the good side".
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10) Learning a bit of French in a few days
Lol... YEAH... well... I bet these conversations will be one for in the books! While I'm not planning to have a lot of conversations during my trip, I've made a quick list of some words/sentences... 
Bonjour
Bonsoir
Excusez moi
Je suis desolee
Je ne parler pas Francais
Combien?
D'accord
Merci Beaucoup
S'il vous plaît
**Vous allez bien?
Je voudrais commander de la nourriture
Je voudrais
Je voudrais deux croissants s'il vous plait
Merci beaucoup et à bientôt
De Rien
I've translated them and written "how" to pronounce them... oh man, this will be so funny! Lackofcolor is using her "being sick" as an excuse to not talk and engage with people. "It will give me too much stress", yeah right.. she just wants to see me struggle... It'll be fine.
Let the fun begin!
And there is that, nothing else to prepare for. But it surely allows me to roam Paris way more freely and calmly knowing we have a plan, a backup plan, and a backup-backup plan to rely on.
How do you plan for a trip?
Oh man... Look at this list! I'm proud of doing my own research. Always people... DYOR! If I were planning a trip for myself, I probably do some pre-research about locations, and just backpack it up and go with the flow. How do you plan for a last-minute trip? For this specific planning, I think we spend about 3 days on it. Let's hope everything goes according to "plan".
Cheers,
Ruben
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