Gypsy Grub

My first flight took me to London, Heathrow where I had a five hour layover. And trust me, it was one of the hardest five hours of my life, not sure if the airport was on wheels sliding down a hilly terrain, and unsure if the people where actually turning into just body – less floating heads I wandered the airport waiting for the “departures’ screen to show the gate my plane would be at. And I waited… and waited, and then my worst enemy flashed on the screen – the word ‘delayed’. So now rainbows where popping out of trashcans and it was raining indoors and I had to wait longer. Plus the people who where suppose to take me home were going to be worried.

After what felt like weeks, but was actually five minutes the beautiful little number under the heading ‘Gate’ flashed to A8 and I was off. While waiting to enter the plane this very stylish woman approached me and began a conversation in French with me. I made it through the first minute simply by acting confident (or what I thought was confidence in a sleepy daze). I probably came off drunk, but she was kind and spoke English well. My seat was beside a very distinguished French couple who I am sure were talking about how drunk and disorderly I seemed. I swam in and out of consciousness until I saw on the old fashioned airplane TV screen that we were only 30 miles away from my destination. I quickly got myself together and prepared for landing. I dragged my thousand pound bags to customs and went to meet my people.

Driving through the streets of Paris I remembered what I wanted my life to be about. I wanted this – more than the comfort that home gives you I wanted to be uncomfortable in a very foreign place with people who did not know me. There is something in being so lost you have nothing to hold onto but who you think you are. And so even then you question who you really are without anything and you get down to the real raw you.

So let me bring you with me to France, let me take you through the charming streets, and introduce you to the people, and let me delight your taste buds and fill them with phantom flavor for a while.