Short Trip to Paris

[Proms71]

On 10/29/2022 at 6:09 PM, teomingern said:

Since it's your first time together, then must do all the tourist sites lor... Effiel Tower, etc... you know lar... the last time I was there, I stayed in a little hotel (Hotel de Suez) in the Latin Quarter... it's a place where the university students hang out so it's more happening, and lots of stuff happening in the streets in terms of performances and busking... but that was in the summer... not sure winter same or not but I guess will have Christmas feel lar... I didn't like Paris... busy, crowded, dirty and quite unfriendly... somehow, London being the same but felt friendlier and more welcoming... loved the vibe there instead of Paris... didn't find it romantic at all...

 

For Amsterdam, take a short day tour to Zaanse Schans to see windmills lor... very nice... not expensive... go try the waffles also...

@teomingern Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated. By the way, which traveling method did you used previously? Did you fix a base town and made short trips via trains or drive around from towns to towns staying in different hotels?

[teomingern]

12 hours ago, Proms71 said:

@teomingern Thanks for the suggestions, much appreciated. By the way, which traveling method did you used previously? Did you fix a base town and made short trips via trains or drive around from towns to towns staying in different hotels?

In Paris, we didn't use car... did everything by metro or train... we bought a carnet of 10 tickets (save a few Euros) and used them. You can count the number of trips you need based on the number of trips out... I usually did one place per half day, eg. Montmarte in the morning, Champs Elysée in the afternoon, that kind of thing... so we did Point A to Point B trips mainly...

Outside of Paris, we headed to Blois & Lyon, final stop was Geneva... we collected the car in Paris and drove out to Versailles Palace before driving straight to Blois... Paris is not too difficult to drive, cos I started early (was about the first customer to collect car at 8.15 am), and the rest of the way is easy via GPS... we dropped off the car at Geneva Airport cos this airport has a quirk - part of it sits on French territory so dropping the car off there doesn't incur a 1000 euro cross border charge... we simply walked into the Swiss territory... got our Swiss Travel Pass and went on our way... no fuss...

[Proms71]

On 10/31/2022 at 11:09 PM, teomingern said:

In Paris, we didn't use car... did everything by metro or train... we bought a carnet of 10 tickets (save a few Euros) and used them. You can count the number of trips you need based on the number of trips out... I usually did one place per half day, eg. Montmarte in the morning, Champs Elysée in the afternoon, that kind of thing... so we did Point A to Point B trips mainly...

Outside of Paris, we headed to Blois & Lyon, final stop was Geneva... we collected the car in Paris and drove out to Versailles Palace before driving straight to Blois... Paris is not too difficult to drive, cos I started early (was about the first customer to collect car at 8.15 am), and the rest of the way is easy via GPS... we dropped off the car at Geneva Airport cos this airport has a quirk - part of it sits on French territory so dropping the car off there doesn't incur a 1000 euro cross border charge... we simply walked into the Swiss territory... got our Swiss Travel Pass and went on our way... no fuss...

Thanks for the advice. 

Much appreciated.

[teomingern]

1 hour ago, Proms71 said:

Thanks for the advice. 

Much appreciated.

Enjoy your trip... wish I had the money to go again to Europe... 

[Proms71]

27 minutes ago, teomingern said:

Enjoy your trip... wish I had the money to go again to Europe... 

Hahaha....one more question, do you have any recommendations for hire of car? I have planned for self-driving partially. Thanks. 

[teomingern]

2 hours ago, Proms71 said:

Hahaha....one more question, do you have any recommendations for hire of car? I have planned for self-driving partially. Thanks. 

I have used Hertz almost exclusively for all my rental cars... it's more expensive but you have peace of mind - they usually use pretty new cars... however after the pandemic, things could have changed quite drastically... book in advance? Safer I feel... the last I check for UK, prices are quite exorbitant... can try using the Rentalcars app which I did for my last rental in Perth in 2019... it was substantially cheaper than renting directly from Hertz... but as I say, it's pre-pandemic... I shudder at the rental rates now...

[teomingern]

I did a quick check for you using Rentalcars app:

Company: Sixt

Dates: 1-10 Dec

Pick up: Paris Gare du Nord

Vehicle: Peugeot 3008 (Intermediate)

Terms: 250 km per day

Cost: S$612 total 

What was common before the pandemic was unlimited miles... I don't see this anymore... 250 km per day is actually very little... basically you're given 2500 km for these 10 days... I think mostly if you drive almost entirely, it quite possible to clock more than 3000 km easily...

EDIT: I tried Budget for a smaller car and they still give unlimited mileage... perhaps depends on the rental company...

Edited November 3, 2022 by teomingern

[Proms71]

Came back from my recent 2 weeks F&E Europe trip in December. Have a few wonderful experiences as well as not so pleasant ones. 

a)  Weather was cold and some days were extremely harsh at minus 3 plus rain and strong wind. Hardly bearable for us to venture around on those wet days.

b) Paris is not as glam as it seems - saw quite a fair bit of beggars and homeless folks. Littering and graffiti are quite common.  The french folks are not so friendly and can't speak good English. The dutch folks are better in English, friendlier and their towns are cleaner.    

c) The train system is extremely punctual, not a minute less or more. For that, I missed my train trip to Strasbourg and almost missed the one to Rotterdam.

d) Travel light if possible. Carrying multiple luggage bags is a huge burden when trying to board the Eurail. The train coaches are very long and they do not give you much time to locate your designated coach to board. Not very suitable for senior folks as you have to rush and run when boarding.

e) Digital payment is common even for small purchase. Some shops even declined accepting cash payment. 

f) Managed to soak in the high and lows of the french folks at their pubs when they won over Morocco but lost to the Argentina

g) Cabs are generally expensive. The subway fares are not that cheap either. The subway system can be quite confusing. To navigate around, you need to download the app and get familiar with it.

h) Traveling during the festive season like Christmas can be cumbersome as some train tickets are heavily booked.   

 

 

 

 

 

[teomingern]

On 1/13/2023 at 9:27 AM, Proms71 said:

Came back from my recent 2 weeks F&E Europe trip in December. Have a few wonderful experiences as well as not so pleasant ones. 

a)  Weather was cold and some days were extremely harsh at minus 3 plus rain and strong wind. Hardly bearable for us to venture around on those wet days.

b) Paris is not as glam as it seems - saw quite a fair bit of beggars and homeless folks. Littering and graffiti are quite common.  The french folks are not so friendly and can't speak good English. The dutch folks are better in English, friendlier and their towns are cleaner.    

c) The train system is extremely punctual, not a minute less or more. For that, I missed my train trip to Strasbourg and almost missed the one to Rotterdam.

d) Travel light if possible. Carrying multiple luggage bags is a huge burden when trying to board the Eurail. The train coaches are very long and they do not give you much time to locate your designated coach to board. Not very suitable for senior folks as you have to rush and run when boarding.

e) Digital payment is common even for small purchase. Some shops even declined accepting cash payment. 

f) Managed to soak in the high and lows of the french folks at their pubs when they won over Morocco but lost to the Argentina

g) Cabs are generally expensive. The subway fares are not that cheap either. The subway system can be quite confusing. To navigate around, you need to download the app and get familiar with it.

h) Traveling during the festive season like Christmas can be cumbersome as some train tickets are heavily booked.   

 

 

 

 

 

If you're taking train cannot cut it so fine... give yourself at least 20-30 min at the platform to locate your carriage... that's just taking train territory lor... 

[Kian6753]

Beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing your travels!

[LightningBolt1]

Paris! It's a dreamy city!