It's time to settle the final bill with the travel agency, and somewhere in that process I was sent a copy of the dossier the agency has compiled on each of us so that the crew can prepare for us in advance of our arrival.
Most of this information came from the booking forms you all sent in (thank you!), and a big chunk of that form was dedicated to special requests, dietary needs and interests you have.
What struck me as interesting is that, other than me, only one of you had any special requests at all, and that request was sooo modest--that the boat be stocked with plenty of Cokes and Sprites. I'm sure this would have been taken care of anyway, and I suspect the real request should have been that the boat be stocked with plenty of ice. Cokes can be had pretty easily in France, but that's not always true with ice that we take for granted.
Don't worry, I'm sure there will be glaciers full of ice on the barge--they know they're catering to a boatload of Americans and won't want to disappoint us.
But here's the deal: don't you realize that in filling out this booking form you all had a once in a lifetime opportunity to become divas and instead chose to continue to behave like the happy, well-balanced and easygoing people I know?
What a waste! Where's that spirit of entitlement? Where is that whole Ugly American vibe?
Just think of the things you could have insisted on in the special requests section. To help you, I'll give you some ideas of things you could have asked for, but didn't:
1. That the crew addresses you as Your Eminence at all times. If tney insist on addressing you by name, they should call you Lord Cromwell.
2. Your bed should be repositioned so that its head points to magnetic north each day when the bed is made. This is both a medical request and insisted upon by your feng shui master for your spiritual well being.
3. The barge crew needs to play only Lithuanian folk music over its stereo system, and if they try to substitute any Latvian folk songs, there will be hell to pay.
4. There must be a crew member designated as the official taster of the group to prevent intentional poisoning of the guests.
5. All white lights on the boat must be removed and substituted with light blue lights because they make for the best looking skintones at night.
6. And continuing with the blue theme, Blue Jello must be one of the dessert offerings each night.
7. Two words: toga night.
I could go on and on, but you get the idea. Hey, the next time you get a chance to unleash your inner diva, I hope you take advantage of it.
5 comments:
What diva?
This diva!
I have a question. Did we decide to but museum passes at the airport kiosk when we get there. I tried to buy on line and it will only come up for the 4 day pass plus there is a 13.5 Euro fee atttached. I just wanted to make sure. I know Beau and I wanted to buy one and I think you addressed this in an old blog.
We are starating to pack and Beau is taking coffee break French. WATCH out Paris.
Kathy,
Don't buy your museum pass in advance or from any travel operator. The cheapest way to buy them is to get them directly at the airport. I think you can also buy them at any of the museums.
The 4 day pass is 48 Euros.
The 2 day pass is 32 Euros.
Entry at Most Paris sites average about 9 Euros. Versailles is 15 Euros.
You might consider doing the two day pass and using it at Versailles and the really popular museums with long lines (Orsay, Louvre) since the pass allows you to skip the line. Then on the third day, if you're not museumed out, you can just pay the admission.
I'm looking forward to getting my museum pass at the airport. I looked on line too, but the add ons were steep!
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