“Ask anyone old enough to remember travel before Sept. 11, 2001, and you’re likely to get a gauzy recollection of what flying was like. There was security screening, but it wasn’t anywhere near as intrusive. There were no long checkpoint lines. Passengers and their families could walk right to the gate together, postponing goodbye hugs until the last possible moment…Two months after the attacks, President George W. Bush signed legislation creating the Transportation Security Administration…"

David Koenig, apnews.com

 To go or not to go? That was the question. On September 19th, 2001 our long-planned flight from Boston to Paris was canceled. Eight days earlier on September 11th, terrorist-flown planes crashed into the World Trade Center in New York, a field in Pennsylvania, and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. British Airways, due to the turmoil created by those traumatic, destructive, and deadly events. and the resulting uneasiness about flying, had consolidated many flights.  We were rescheduled for the next day, but our transatlantic flight rerouted us to London instead of Paris. My husband and I debated postponing the trip because of worry about more attacks and fears of being separated from our family at a time of crisis. However, we bought our first ever cell phone to keep in touch with loved ones and forged ahead with our plans hoping for the best.

 Because a London to Paris connection wasn’t available until the following morning, we stayed overnight at the Heathrow Hilton. We landed in Paris on the 21st, picked up a car (a Peugeot) that we had arranged to lease through "Europe by Car,” and drove from Paris to the South of France. Our destination was Seillans, one of the many villages perches (hill towns) where we had rented an apartment online.

Seillans looked like a fortress from a distance, its high walls spiraling up the hillside. A narrow road followed the spiral upward and our apartment on Rue du Presbytere was near the top. We followed the owner’s directions to a tiny resident parking space. At the edge of the parking area, we passed through an ancient archway and entered a narrow alley lugging our bags over cobblestones until we came to the compact but charming apartment we would use as a central location for day trips.

The following sixteen days consisted of forays to outdoor markets and explorations in other hill towns (Tourettes, Fayence, Mons, Cavalaire, St Cezaire, Bargemon, Draguignon, Callian, and Montauroux), and  to nearby coastal resorts (Hyeres, St Tropez, Cannes, Frejus, St Raphael, and Nice. We also hiked around a lake (Lac du St Cassien) and took a trip inland for another hike at Les Gorges du Verdon (France's grand canyon). We visited Grasse with its many perfume businesses, Fondation Maeght in St Paul de Vence for a special exhibit on Kandinsky, and Renoir's home in Cagnes sur Mer. Two ferry rides on separate days took us to two different islands in the Mediterranean—Ile St Honorat where we had a picnic and visited the Abbaye des Lerins & Monastiere and Ile St Marguerite where we did some hiking and swimming and had another picnic. The latter island has a sad memory for us. It was where we learned via our new cell phone that a friend was gravely ill.

When our stay at Seillans was over, we cleaned the apartment and headed west, stopping at an artisan fair and some markets in Aix en Provence.

Our next apartment rental was in southwest France in St Thibery on Rue De La Cave. On the following day, we went to a market in Bessan then to the beach (Vias Plage) in Cap D'Agde and a flea market (Marche aux Puces) in nearby Marseillan Place. Other day trips were made to Beziers, Pezenas, Narbonne,  another beach (Portiragnes Plage), and the lovely university city of Montpellier.

After a week in St Thibery, we cleaned that apartment and headed north. We visited Nimes and spent two nights at the bucolic Logis Hôtel Résidence Les Cèdres in Villeneuve lez Avignon. Day trips from there were to a large antique market on L'ile sur la Sorgue and to Avignon, a medieval city with papal history.

Heading north again,  we visited Vaison-la-Romaine before making two one-night hotel stops—in Vieux Talant and Montceaux.

Our drive ended in Paris where we returned our leased car and boarded a flight to London. From there, we flew to Boston, thankful to have three terror-free weeks and to find our family in the U.S. safe and sound.