Within the fall of 2020, I obtained a prognosis of CLL, the most typical type of leukemia. As an expert journey author, I believed my globetrotting days have been over. Nevertheless, after three years of focused remedy, my oncologist gave me my wings again.

“Your labs are regular. You possibly can journey once more,” she stated. “Keep away from heavy alcohol consumption, which may have an adversarial impact on drugs, and select well-cooked meals to keep away from sickness.”

I knew precisely the place I might go: Provence, one of many few areas of France I had but to go to. I used to be elated however apprehensive. Wholesome pals who had traveled overseas lately introduced COVID-19 house as a memento. For them, it was only a unhealthy chilly. For me, it may imply ending up in an ICU in a rustic the place my skill to talk the language was restricted to ordering a cheese sandwich.

I ready for my journey as if going into battle. I stuffed my suitcase with COVID check kits, N95 facemasks, a digital thermometer and day by day meds. I stocked up on particular person hand sanitizers as a result of airways restrict liquids onboard. I purchased journey insurance coverage and acquired the newest vaccines.

Alongside the best way, I realized much more about wholesome touring. For the primary time, I checked my small suitcase on the airport as a substitute of heaving it into the overhead compartment and risking a shoulder harm. You might need to think about this except your journey accomplice is an NFL linebacker.

I selected resorts inside strolling distance of retailers, eating places, museums, and many others., to keep away from the crowded subways and lengthy walks of my extra energetic, more healthy youth. My first evening in Paris was on the 5-star Cour des Vosges, constructed by Henri IV in 1605.

Nevertheless, there was nothing seventeenth century about my luxurious room with floor-to-ceiling views of Place des Vosges, the oldest sq. in Paris. Nestled within the stylish Marais district, that is the place Victor Hugo penned “Les Miserables.” As we speak, it is the place Parisians and vacationers dine in cafes sheltered in its arcades.

Do not converse French? Pas de downside! Most restaurant and lodge employees converse English. I subscribed to an internet language app to brush up on my dismal highschool French. The occasional bonjour and merci beaucoup are appreciated.

The next day, I headed to Gare de Lyon to catch the TGV, the high-speed prepare to Provence, facemask firmly in place. The TGV provided the choice of choosing a seat for a nominal payment. Properly value it. I reserved a seat on the decrease stage to keep away from carrying baggage to the higher deck.

The view of the French countryside, dotted with white Charolais cattle, wasn’t the one pleasure. I additionally appreciated that passengers on French trains hardly ever converse above a whisper and do not whine on cellphones.

My first cease was Nimes, which, technically, just isn’t in Provence however in Occitanie, an adjoining area. I checked into the 3-star Sq. Lodge, a brief stroll from the station. That night, on the suggestion of the Nimes Tourism Workplace, I visited the Musee de la Romanite, a futuristic construction designed by French-Brazilian architect Elizabeth de Portzamparc.

Life as a Vacationer

The museum incorporates one of many world’s largest collections of Roman antiquities, however I wasn’t there for the artifacts. I had a reservation at Desk du 2, the brasserie on the museum’s high flooring that provides terrace seating, Michelin-ranked delicacies, and a jaw-dropping view of Nimes’ 2000-year-old Roman amphitheater. This known as for a celebratory Champagne cocktail. Heeding my physician’s recommendation, this was simply considered one of two alcoholic drinks on my journey.

The next morning, the Nimes Tourism Workplace organized for a tour of the museum’s treasures with an English-speaking information and a tour of Nimes’ 18th century Fountain Gardens and the Maison Caree, a wonderfully preserved Roman Temple constructed 4-7A.D. I realized that the Romans settled in Nimes in 24 B.C. Nonetheless, the French gave town its Nineteenth-century architectural class, paying homage to Paris, with huge boulevards and expansive parks.

From there, it was a brief prepare journey to Avignon, within the coronary heart of Provence, greatest identified for its 14th-century Popes’ Palace and medieval stone ramparts. The Avignon Tourism Workplace offered a map and confirmed me the place to purchase pappalines and natural liquor-filled candies distinctive to Avignon. It additionally directed me to Les Halles d’Avignon market.

On a Saturday afternoon, it was buzzing with customers, vacationers, and an assortment of tempting eateries specializing in contemporary oysters and regional wines (Avignon is only a 40-minute drive to the Sea). The next day, one other brief prepare journey took me to Arles. Upon arriving within the metropolis’s central sq., Place de la Republique, I used to be greeted by a brass band in snappy crimson and gold outfits. For me? Hardly.

The band was saying a bullfight competition. Hundreds flooded into the traditional enviornment close to my lodge, the 3-star lodge de l’Ampitheatre, a former personal mansion tucked right into a slim cobblestone avenue, unchanged since Van Gogh’s time.

Whereas I did not attend the bullfight, I used to be thrilled at seeing ladies sporting the normal lace shawls and floor-length robes and males sporting jaunty black hats. In Arles, they do not kill the bull. Nevertheless, it does seem on restaurant menus.

I handed on that and, for dinner, that evening, had one other regional specialty, a succulent lamb shank at L’Escaladou, a family-run restaurant identified for its Provencal delicacies, together with bouillabaisse and a creme brulee that curled my toes. The evening was heat, so I dined al fresco, which is all the time more healthy.

The subsequent day, I adopted the Van Gogh Path to many websites the artist immortalized, together with the hospital courtyard backyard the place he usually stayed within the late Nineteenth century, Lodge-Dieu, also called Espace Van Gogh.

An surprising deal with was LUMA, a up to date artwork museum designed by Frank Gehry situated exterior the city’s medieval fortress partitions. LUMA is constructed of 11,000 towering stainless-steel bricks that shimmer by day and glow by evening. The museum affords panoramic views from its ninth-floor terrace and, for the adventurous, a four-story, cylindrical steel slide. A lady by age flew down the chute. Not me!

I checked into the 4-star Trianon Rive Gauche on the Left Financial institution after I returned to Paris. If a view of the Eiffel Tower is in your want checklist – that is the place! Additionally it is a super location for many who, like me, choose strolling to public transportation.

I used to be half a block from Place de la Sorbonne and a brief stroll to Les Jardin du Luxembourg the place, in unseasonably heat temperatures, college students sunbathed on the garden, kids floated toy boats within the Grand Basin, and lovers canoodled on benches underneath chestnut timber.

A Few Regrets

In some ways, it was the identical Paris I’ve all the time identified. In different methods, it was miraculous. I had rediscovered the thrill of journey with out ever needing to make use of my COVID check kits. Nevertheless, not like Edith Piaf, I had regrets. My flights to and from Paris included a two-hour stopover in Dublin, which I had chosen for decrease airfare.

On reflection, continuous flights are more healthy, with far much less time in congested airports and planes. Regardless of my a few years as a journey author, I made one other newbie’s mistake. I assumed all resorts had elevators — not in France. I additionally forgot that the bottom flooring there’s not the primary flooring.

With no elevator, my room on the “first” flooring in Arles required carrying my suitcase up two flights of marble stairs. One other blunder? I attempted to squeeze 4 locations right into a ten-day journey. I credit score my poor decisions to “magical considering,” a standard phenomenon when adjusting to new well being points. Subsequent time, I’ll select only one vacation spot.

Studying to adapt to your altering well being is vital to a profitable journey. Now, the place did I put these candies?