Early European Birthdays

In Korean culture, when a parent turns 60, 70, or 80, you either throw them a party or send them on a trip. My brother and had discussed since last year, that my parents had never been to Paris. He also reminded me my mom is also dying to go to Spain. And voilà, the Kim family is going to Europe!

For the very first time in a long time, the family is going on an international trip together! A collage of us in Italy in 1991! Notice the massive video camera bag....

So my mom turns one of those ages in November (I won't tell you which age) and my dad will be 78 this October. But we decided, if he is complaining about walking at 78, it'll be harder to travel at 80. And although I wanted to celebrate my dad's birthday in Paris and then my mom's in Barcelona, my colleague at work is getting married around my dad's birthday and then she will be on her honeymoon. So I decided, to move up the trip, and thought being away over my birthday in October would feel less like a gift, so we moved the trip up even more into September!

Lucky for us, we scored round trip tickets to Orly airport in Paris for less than $400 each on British Airways' all premium economy airline, Open Skies. Not really sure if I'm more excited about scoring an amazing airfare or the trip!

Clearly there are concerns that there will be a lot of togetherness, but I'm hoping my parents will think this is a trip of a lifetime. To celebrate the sentiment, here's a selfie collage before Thanksgiving dinner in 2013....it was my dad's first selfie ever and I suspect we will take many on our trip (without a selfie stick - we have some self-respect)!

On Friday, after work I headed to the airport via subway and AirTrain and my parents and brother, Justin met me at JFK. I was running late so Justin went through security with my parents and we met at the gate. My dad hadn't flown in awhile, so it'll be an interesting trip as we wake up in Paris!