Archive for the 'Trips - Europe' Category
Arriving in Paris
Tuesday, June 12th, 2007Arriving in Paris on Monday morning, we picked up our luggage at the carousal, including one bound together by 20ft of TSA inspection tape. It appears that the TSA, in its zeal to check my wife’s luggage, completely destroyed the zipper. Now, in all fairness, the zipper was not in the best shape, and we had sewn together the end of the zipper so that you wouldn’t pull it open too far and take the zipper off its track. I know, I know, we should have bought a new bag when the zipper first went, but I (me, not my wife) hate to throw away a perfectly good bag just because the zipper is a little wonky. Evidently not being able to open the lid of the suitcase up 100% so that it stays open on its own really frustrated the TSA personnel, so they decided to force it to stay open, thus ripping the zipper off its track.
I was really angry with them destroying our bag, but since it was the TSA in the USA, we couldn’t really complain to the airline. After all, they didn’t do it. Although, as the other passengers from our flight watched me taking our bag held together with tape from the carousal, I did made a point of making it clear that someone, other than us, had packed the bag this way. We are definitely not THAT tacky. And even though the zipper was completely open, it seems that we didn’t lose anything, although we couldn’t be sure of that when we picked up our bag. So kudos to the airline for taking care of our undone bag. In any case, all our bags arrived in one piece, even if my wife’s was broken. And it wasn’t such a big deal anyway - what woman wouldn’t love an excuse to buy a new bag in Paris!
The information booth at Charles de Gaulle Airport is located right when you leave the baggage claim area, so while my wife stood in the ATM line-up I headed to information to find out our best way to get to our hotel. A taxi would be approximately 60 Euro, but we could take the train if we wanted to. There was also the option of taking the Air France bus to their location (I’m not sure if it was offices or a bus drop-off) for about 12 Euro each and then take the train from there. The train all the way from the airport would be about 9 Euro per person. We decided that since it was the AM rush hour and we had all our luggage, perhaps a cab was the best choice.
While standing in the ATM line-up, which was not too long, but was taking quite long (evidently all of us foreigners were having trouble with the French HSBC bank machine), I overheard two ladies in front of us discussing that they would go to the taxi line-up and ask if anyone wanted to share a cab. Ever the helpful traveler, I mentioned that we’d share a cab with them. So after a few attempts to take money out of the ATM (check your daily limit with your bank before traveling and remember the Euro is 1.38 to the US dollar), we headed of to find a cab with our cab mates and make our way to Paris.
Well, rush hour traffic is the same all over the world, and after an hour cab ride we were at our cab mates’ hotel, and shortly after that our hotel. Splitting the cab was a great idea. We didn’t have to take the train with all our luggage, and it cost us not much more than to cab it.
The Paris Hilton is one block west of the Eiffel Tower. I knew our hotel was close to the Tower, but when we got out of the cab our location blew me away. There it was, the symbol of Paris, towering above us.
After 22 hours of travel, we were ready to begin our vacation with a nice breakfast. Wanting convenience, we decided we’d opt for the very nice looking buffet at the hotel. We got to the restaurant, gave the hostess our room number and feasted on eggs, bacon, omelettes, yogurts and pastries. After a long travel day on airplanes you need a good meal. A word of caution though. Before you partake of a buffet at a hotel in Paris, check the price. As it turns out, our buffet was 31 Euros a person. 62 Euros for both of us. Now, at 1.35 Euro to the dollar, that’s an $83 breakfast. It was nice, but not $83 nice. So check the price before you eat. Restaurants in Paris (and France in general) are more expensive than we’re used to in North America.
Well nourished from our expensive breakfast, my wife and I headed out to check out the neighborhood. We walked under the Eiffel Tower, which is much bigger than you expect it to be. And gorgeous. The design is truly breathtaking. We then walked by the Petite Palais, the Louvre, the Musee D’orsay and back to the Eiffel Tower. The great thing about staying next to such a tall landmark is you always know what direction to head in to find your hotel.
With it being light until 9pm at this time of year, its easy to forget the time, and despite a long trip over and a full day of walking around Paris, we found ourselves tooling around until after 9pm. We saw a lot of sights on our first day’s walking tour, and as we walked back to our hotel enjoying the warm Paris evening we looked forward to our coming days in Paris and our opportunity to explore The City of Lights.
a la Prochaine,
the travel bum.
Heading to Paris
Monday, June 11th, 2007We picked up our rental car in Carlsbad the day before we left for Paris. Although we only live 33 miles from San Diego, we often rent a car to get to and from the airport. With the cost of airport parking running from $7 - $12 a day, the cost of renting is comparable, and often cheaper, than taking our own car. And the benefits are many. Not only is our car kept in its garage and not covered with a week or two’s worth of airport silt when we return, but when we get to the airport we don’t have the hassle of finding parking and catching a shuttle that can sometimes be infrequent, especially on the return leg. We just show up and hand the rental car company the keys. No mess, no fuss. And the rental car shuttles are usually clean, prompt and frequent. We usually use Hertz when we rent. Their rates are often the lowest and they have a neighborhood location just down the road from us. They will pick us up and drop us off when we return, and as a #1 Club member most of my information is stored in their computer, making for an easy pick-up process. At select airports there is also a #1Club express counter, allowing you to skip the regular line-up.
On this trip we were running a little late, but we always give ourselves extra time, and with Hertz being located right next to the airport we were checking in with plenty of time to spare. Our flight was with American Airlines who we hadn’t flown with in quite some time. It happens that for this trip their flight times, both going over and returning, were the ones that worked best for us, and they were also offering the best deals at the time we were booking. And just by chance, we got an extra bonus for our trip. A couple of weeks before leaving, I read about the American Airlines 90-Day Challenge. The 90 Day Challenge is a program where you can fast track to Gold or Platinum status with AAdvantage, American Airlines frequent flyer program. All you have to do is complete a certain number of flights or fly a certain number of miles within 90 days of enrolling in the 90-Day Challenge. You can only enroll by calling AAdvantage Reservations directly at 1.800.882.8880 and asking for Customer Service. You’ll have to choose which level you are going to try for, and if you choose to aim for Platinum and don’t fly enough to qualify for that level you won’t be able to qualify for Gold either. So choose the more realistic level for you upcoming travels to make sure you qualify. You only have to fly half as many miles as normal to qualify for either Gold or Platinum levels, and you can read about the benefits of the different levels of membership in American Airlines AAdvantage at their site.
Not having flow American in quite a while, we were pleased with our flights overall. We originally booked thinking that AA still offered extra legroom for all its passengers, but I found out when I enrolled in the 90-Day Challenge that was no longer the case. For a tall guy like me every inch of legroom counts, so I should have checked www.seatguru.com before booking our flights and choosing seats. This great website ranks seats for all the major airlines and lets you know important information like how close your seat is to the lavatory and if you seat back does not recline. If you have a choice of several airlines offering the same price you may as well go with the one that offers the better seating.
As for the rest of the flight, you know how it is. Flying ain’t as romantic as it used to be!
the Travel Bum
La Belle France
Friday, June 8th, 2007Recently my wife and I enjoyed a two week vacation with some friends in France. This was our second year in a row heading to La Belle France and this time we had different stops on our itinerary. Not being quite as unwired yet as I’d like to be, my travel blog posts about our trip are not done from the road, but rather from the familiar comfort of my office desk here at home. Traveling to Europe continues to change in our modern world, and hopefully some of what we learned will make your next visit to Europe even better than it already promises to be.
Our trip was 2 weeks, Sunday to Sunday, the first 5 days being spent in Paris, the second week in Annecy, with a day in Lyon thrown in between. Our months of planning paid off handsomely, rewarding us with another great vacation. And I say months of planning for 2 reasons. Any trip to Europe has to have a certain degree of forethought. Airfares go up steeply at certain times of the year, and travel overseas requires certain documents.
When we started looking at airfares in February, one could get a flight from LA to Paris for about $330. When we went in May we had to pay about $850. Now, the weather was much better in May and its closer to the peak tourist season, hence the increase in cost. And, one could argue, well worth it. You can get a great idea of the trend in airfares at www.farecompare.com. Enter where you’re going and Farecompare will tell you current airfares and price trends based on historical data. There is also a great tool for seeing where you can go now for cheap, which is great if you’re the type to head off on last minute escapes.
The other thing you’ll want to do before any trip overseas is make sure you have enough time and/or pages in your passport for the country you are going to. Some countries require you to have 3 or 6 months remaining on your passport from the date you will be leaving that country. If you try to enter a country with a 6 month rule and you only have 5 months and 20 days left on your passport you can be denied entry and your trip will be over before it begins. Some countries also require visa, even for short stays. One location that has a list of passport requirements is the US Department of State website. However, don’t take anything you find online as fact. Rules are always changing, so to be sure, call the consulate of the country you are planning to visit verify what you find online. We planned to go to Switzerland during our trip, and while France did not have a 3 month rule, Switzerland did. Also, Switzerland is not part of the EU, so there was a good chance you would have to show passports at the border. I spoke with the Swiss embassy in LA to confirm this. The lady I spoke to was very helpful and said while you don’t always have to show a passport, you may have to. Again, make sure you know the rules of entry to any countries you plan to visit on your trip.
A little leg work (or web work) can go a long way to making your trip as relaxing as it can be. So plan ahead, and have a great trip.
The Travel Bum.