Provence

My parents departed for Provence early this afternoon.

The first leg of their journey took them from Minneapolis to Dulles. From Dulles, they fly to Frankfurt (the flight from Washington to Frankfurt should have departed a few minutes ago). The third and final flight segment will take them from Frankfurt to Marseille, where a car will be waiting to transport them to Aix-En-Provence.

Despite two changes of aircraft, the travel time between Minneapolis and Marseille is supposed to be only fourteen hours and thirty-five minutes. My parents are not scheduled to have extended layovers either at Dulles or at Frankfurt. They are scheduled to arrive in Marseille at 9:25 a.m. local time tomorrow.

The first two flight segments are on United; the final flight segment is on Lufthansa. My parents will not be flying on any aircraft manufactured by Airbus, a factor of some importance to them.

My parents’ trip is part of an organized tour. My parents have gone a day early, and will not join the organized tour until early Sunday evening. They will have two days to explore Aix-En-Provence on their own before the organized tour gets underway.