The only thing on today's agenda was to secure a second bike box. We walked to the closest bike shop, a Dutch bike place, and were given a long explanation (in French) as to why they don't have boxes. We then walked to the second-closest bike shop, which was actually on the opposite end of the neighborhood from the first. It's a high-end e-bike shop. We looked into the storefront window, saw several boxes, and knew we had hit paydirt. There were only two problems. First, the boxes still had bikes in them. Second, the owner, who definitely qualifies as one of the nicest bike shop guys in Paris, was concerned that even the smallest box he had was too big. We assured him that it was the perfect size. He relented and asked us to return at 6pm. I contacted Susan with the good news. She said that she tried her local shop again but had struck out. I think we were pretty lucky to find a shop with a box so easily. I thought that supply-chain issues meant that fewer bikes were being manufactured. That doesn't seem to be the case with e-bikes.

We stopped by an office supply store for packing tape. I got to work on my bike. I was pleased to discover that it fit in the box after removing just the pedals, handlebar, and front wheel. I wrapped foam around all the exposed parts, as usual, with a little extra for the chainrings. Ha ha! If anything, there's too much room in the box. I had to find some clever ways to keep it from rattling around.

We picked up the second box at the prescribed time. As we could have guessed, the owner had gotten distracted during the day and forgot to empty the box. No worries, though. Five minutes later, he had disgorged the box of its contents, and we walked out the door with it, thanking him many times while doing so. It felt like a long way to the hotel. I think we were tired of this scavenger hunt and just wanted to get the whole matter behind us.

It turns out that this box is big. In fact, it's slightly taller than the first box. Luckily, it's the same length, since anything longer wouldn't meet our airline's guidelines. I quickly got to work on boxing Sunyoung's bike. Hers fit without removing either wheel! I stuffed as much extra cardboard and foam in there as I could in order to fill the extra space and make sure the bike stays centered in the box. We also added our sleeping bags and helmets (strapped to the frame) to the boxes for good measure. It's tempting to add a lot of other stuff, but my experience has been that the lighter the boxes, the easier it is for us and the baggage handlers to deal with.

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We called the taxi service. It took a while for the dispatcher to understand why we needed a van. We finally got it all sorted out.

The last order of business will be to get our COVID tests for the return flight, which we will do Wednesday or Thursday. Friday morning, we'll pack our other belongings, drag out the bike boxes, and wait for our ride. Fingers crossed that all goes as planned!