Today was all about preparations and errands for our road trip! Buffer time is crucial here. For your trip (or anything about your life here in France) to go smoothly, you must understand how long things take. Most of my pains in this department have been due to assumptions or procrastinations.
Here are 3 of my top travel buffers while living in France:
DELIVERIES – Unless I paid for specific expediting (even then, that’s a risk) or via Amazon Prime, I stop orders 2 to 3 weeks out if it’s coming from an EU country (for example, this is important for me as I have specific dog food for the girls). Bottom line – Stop ordering things by delivery about 3-4 weeks in advance of your departure.
MAIL – The postal service here in France is awesome. You can have mail forwarded internationally or, like I do, subscribe to annual plans that will allow the mail to follow you around the country. The challenge is that every time you make a change of address, you have to remember this and start the process about two weeks in advance. La Poste sends a unique code to your mailbox, and you must use this to activate a request. A bit inconvenient if you’ve already left!
PHARMACIE – Prescriptions here are renewed on a monthly basis. Here is how that works:
1. I print my prescription using my home printer (this is not a special Rx, it’s just normal BC pills!!).
2. Because they will only give me a month’s supply at a time (typical), I take my prescription into the pharmacy every two weeks (BUFFER). They order it.
3. I return the next day or two.
4. Rinse and repeat every two weeks.
Annnnnnd if you are traveling, you can see how this might be a problem. Keeping a printed copy of your Rx’s with you is essential.
Annnnnnd no, there is no central service or online anything for tracking your health records or prescriptions.
What do you think about all of that? Yay or nay?
TODAY’S SWIPE AND SAVE: MORE TERRACES!!!
Bisous and big 🤗 hugs and from France,
Shannon