We're heading back to France! Effective June 9, France will finally allow entry for touristic reasons for Americans who are fully vaccinated against COVID and have a negative COVID test prior to departure. The first announcement about a June 9 opening came from the French government at the end of April, and very shortly thereafter we had our airline tickets booked for a June 16 departure from Tampa International Airport.
Because we are still "in the Age of COVID", this boating summer will be shorter than our 2019 season. We were not able to get a long stay tourist visa this year, so we will be limited to a maximum of 90 days in the European Schengen countries. (The Schengen Area comprises 26 European countries that have abolished passport and other border controls at their mutual borders. Their common visa policy is that U.S. travelers may visit Schengen countries visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180 day period. France, Belgium, and the Netherlands are all part of the Schengen Area.) This will affect how we approach cruising and how far we can potentially travel.
The main impact of COVID for us, and the reason for the blog title, is a significantly enhanced awareness that circumstances can change without much warning, e.g., lockdowns and border closures. This is in addition to the "normal" events that have always impacted boaters, like low water levels in canals due to limited rainfall or boat mechanical problems. So, while our hoped-for "Plan A" summer is described in the following paragraphs, we are fully aware that this can only be a "sort of" plan, and are already mulling Plan B, Plan C, and Plan "OK, we give up, time to punt".
In our "perfect" summer, we will arrive in Paris on June 17 and rejoin C.A.R.I.B. III in Port Royal, Auxonne. After 2 weeks of clearing out spider webs and getting the mechanics of the boat ready for cruising, we will depart Auxonne and head toward the Netherlands via the route shown below. There is work we want done on the boat, and the boatyards in the Netherlands are both more numerous and generally less expensive than in France, hence, the choice of the Netherlands as our destination for the year.
Our route begins with the Petite Saone River, then the Canal des Vosges, and then a variety of rivers and canals before ending 6-to-8 weeks later in the Dutch city of Maasbracht. The route encompasses 715 km (429 miles), 201 locks, and an estimated 160 hours of cruising. It passes by the city of Verdun, France, which has significant WWI importance and is of great interest to us.
After getting the boat situated in Maasbracht we will need to get out of the Schengen Area for a period of time. Our return flight to the U.S. isn't until early October and if we stayed in France and/or the Netherlands for the entire time we would run afoul of the 90 day maximum. So our plan is to travel to the UK, visit friends in Bath, and use 3+ weeks to explore the southwest and southern counties in England. About 2 weeks prior to our return to the U.S. we'll head back to the boat in Maasbracht to finalize whatever arrangements need to be done for work and winter storage, then go to the Amsterdam/Haarlem area for a few days with friends before our return flight to the U.S. from Amsterdam on October 6.
So that is our "sort of" plan for the summer. Will it change? Probably, in some form or another. We've built flexibility into our trip arrangements wherever possible. The best we can do is have the mindset--and the $$$$$--to expect the unexpected and deal with whatever happens. Since it's a boat in France, "c'est la vie, go with the flow" sums it up perfectly.
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