Nantes hasn’t changed. In today’s world, I find it extremely comforting. Sure, there’s a war going on next door, there are political and economic issues, and COVID is still around but it doesn’t feel like it’s the end of the world every morning. Europe has been through much worse and darker times.

“I can’t believe it’s been a year!” my mum said when she picked us up at the airport.

“I can’t believe it’s the third pandemic summer,” I replied.

I still remember when Mark and I flew to Paris in the summer of 2020 after the first wave, the first lockdown, and the first hope that maybe the virus could just conveniently disappear. It felt like we had just gone through a surreal experience.

Three years later, we’re nowhere close to being “back to normal”—and it’s not just because of a virus, it’s… well, there’s that, and everything else.

On the bright side, the Montreal-Nantes flight wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.

Air Transat has resumed flights to cities other than European capitals, for a start. No need to fly to Paris and then take the train, I booked a flight to Nantes. That’s an improvement already. The only remaining COVID measures for a trip to France are proof of vaccination (3 doses) for adults, and Canada requires masks during the flight and through security.

Feng drove us to Montreal and we arrived around 8 p.m. We joined the long lineup to check in with Air Transat and finally got our boarding pass an hour later.

We said goodbye. Feng wasn’t coming, it’s just Mark and me again this summer.

“Aren’t you sad, mommy?”

“I am. I’ll miss Daddy. But I have years of experience saying goodbye to people I love… it gets easier, trust me.”

“When was the last time you cried?”

“When we said goodbye in Brazil.”

“But you said it was getting easier with time?”

“Yeah, well, it’s not an exact science.”

I wanted to go through security early because of potential airport chaos but the process was quick enough. It was late in the day, there were only a handful of flights scheduled between 10 p.m. and midnight.

We should have boarded at 10:25 p.m. but passengers were only called at the gate around midnight and everybody was exhausted by then. Flights to Europe are full of binational families with young kids, and half of them were in meltdown mode after the long wait.

It was a “small” plane—two seats, four seats, two seats. Perfect for Mark and me.

I really wanted to sleep but I knew it would be difficult. It was only a seven-hour flight and by the time meal service, duty-free, etc., was over there were only five hours left before landing. Oh well.

On the plus side, the crew was amazingly friendly and it was a surprisingly quiet flight.

We landed at 1:30 p.m. in Nantes and it took another thirty minutes for my backpack to show up on the luggage carrousel.

And then I was finally able to hug my mum.

The sounds, the smells, the people, everything brings me back to spring 2021 when I was accidentally stuck in France living the adult life I never had in my hometown. This is my weird and slightly traumatic pandemic event even though it worked out just fine in the end. I’m still not really over the various travel restrictions Canada implemented.

It feels good to be in France again. Pandemic travel is a hassle but it’s worth it.