France 2008 <IMG SRC="http://www.singaporebrides.com/forumboard/clipart/happy.gif" ALT=":-)" BORDER=

rtan

New Member
Hi Peng,

Sure, will do so once I get my life back in order and the jet lag wears off. Still left half of myself in France.
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threasher

New Member
Hi Raymond,

In Singapore, most of the time, you will be driving in areas with lots of traffic. In France, most of the time, you will be driving on some road between cities or towns, and these roads have very little traffic (unless one chooses to drive within Paris). Therefore, the chances of accident would be higher in Singapore since you will encounter more traffic.
 

ngfifi

New Member
Hi

Is there any1 here ve map of Paris to let go

I will be gg to Paris for business trip n this is my 1st time there so i tt i better navigate my way b4 i get lost b4 i knew it

Nt that i dun wan to buy but i feel its kinda of nt worthwhile to buy n used once

Thus, if u ve a used map that u willing to let go, especially Paris city map, pls email me at [email protected]

Thx
 

rtan

New Member
Hi,

One (cheap, no free!) way is to simply go to (for example) http://maps.google.com and print out the maps that you need. If you are not going to many areas of Paris, that should suffice.

Once you reach Paris, you can easily get a "Paris Tourisme" map from any metro station which shows a rough map of Paris together with the Metro, RERs, Buses, and Tram lines.
 

ngfifi

New Member
Btw, where can i find map of CDG airport?

Nid to navigate my way as i was told the airport at CDG is kinda of big
 

rtan

New Member
Dear Jen,

The signs at CDG are very clear and are even in English. Where do you need to go?

If you need to change between terminals 1, 2, and/or 3, you use their "Skytrain". Else if you are just at Terminal 1, there isn't a problem. It's far smaller than any of our airport terminals.

Anyway you can find their maps if you Google; nowadays with Google things are not hard to find.
 

ngfifi

New Member
Hi Raymond,

actually i manage to find the map of terminal 1 but nt sure if wat i get is detailed or nt

Nevertheless, thx for ur help
 

rtan

New Member
Dear Peng,

Which picture(s) did you like?
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I purposely left out quite a lot of details of the pictures... if you have any questions I'll be glad to answer.
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Next year, possibly Southern France and Northern Spain... how about you?
 

lovetotravel

New Member
Hi I like the pic "Gorges du Tarn to the Causse Mejan" can imagine it to be such a wonderful drive.

Melon looks juicy and deserts...very tempting
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I like the pear in france too. delicious.

I am thinking of going to Austria or Canada (rockies side) next year oct.
 

rtan

New Member
Dear Peng,

The drive was probably the most difficult of the trip; not recommended for inexperienced drivers. The hairpin bends are the most extreme you would come across and the road is quite narrow, but just enough for another car to pass on the other side. The views are spectacular on the way up.

The Causse Mejan is actually a high plateau, about 800-1100m in altitude. Upon reaching the top, it is quite flat and you wouldn't know that you are actually on a plateau. It is very peaceful and there is almost nobody around; except for the friendly shepherd and his sheep! So magical.
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The fruits are just fabulous; many temperate fruits we get here are just not fresh. They are not cheap though but well worth the money. Unforgettable, especially the strawberries! They're even better than the Korean / Japanese ones which we pay lots of money for here in SG. We will never see strawberries in the same light again... the best ones we ate were the "Les Gariguettes". They are of small to average size, and generally the best strawberries are not the large ones.

The rental car cost us SGD 865 for 14 days... wish we could have gotten the Porsche vintage car though that we saw at L'Occitane (Manosque). :p It was just amazing seeing the whole bunch of vintage cars pull in...

Thanks for your comments, it helps to know that at least someone bothered to look through our photos that we put up.
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threasher

New Member
Hi Raymond,

Need you check with you this. The other time when we collected our rental car, the person asked us whether we want addicional 20 Euros insurance per day. I remember that you told me that the insurance included with the rental car on the web site is already enough, so I declined the additional one. It seems that the 20 Euros one is highly recommended. As the lady's English is quite lousy, we could hardly get from her what that insurance cover, and how different it is from the standard one included with the car rental price. But thank goodness nothing happened to us, so we saved that additional insurance money.
 

rtan

New Member
Dear Threasher,

The extra insurance means that if your car is stolen, instead of having to pay X, you pay Y, where Y < X. It also depends on where you are driving to, for e.g. if you are driving to Southern Italy, you should take it. In addition, my travel insurance will pay SGD 750 in case of excess charges from the car rental agency, and that's enough cover for me.

Highly recommended? By who, the car rental agency? Perhaps for those who are there for their first time and are paranoid. The area you went is a safe place so chances of having your car stolen is very very low. But other than that, it's actually a huge con job and most people don't need it because they are experienced and also because their travel insurance provides some coverage.

Calculate it yourself; EUR 20 * 14 days = about SGD 600 if I had taken it! Complete waste of money given that it's not my first time in France.
 

ngfifi

New Member
Hi Raymond

By any chance, do u kw hw may i travel to Hamburg frm Paris?

Nid this info urgent

P/S: I kw i can bk Eurorail tix but i nid to find out where do i board the train frm paris etc
 

rtan

New Member
Dear Jen Ng,

I've checked: http://www.voyages-sncf.com/ (click on the UK flag on the bottom left) and the cheapest tickets on say, 30th June is EUR 163 and the trip is 8 hrs 17 mins long. You can try checking the website for actual fares for the day you plan to travel.

The train station in Paris seems to be the Paris Gare du Nord.
 

rtan

New Member
I'm wondering why you have to travel from Paris to Hamburg as it is a very long distance and you might be better off taking budget airlines, of which I have no experience.

If it's for work, then you have no choice; if for leisure, you might wish to just change your itinerary.
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ngfifi

New Member
Hi Raymond

It's for work. Company budget, no choice (cheapest n most economical set by company guideline)

Btw, what type of plugs was used in Paris? I believe every individual country ve their standard so i guess its better for me to kw so that i can buy watever is necessary to avoid inconvenience
 

dreamer17

New Member
hi raymond,

i have never been to Euro before and planning to to either F&amp;E (was told its easy by friends) or tour package. I intend to visit Switzerland, Italy and Paris or switzerland with either paris or italy. Any recommendation on which country i shld go 1st and which airline u recommend? becoz i see Spore airlines cost abt 4k+ for 2 pax to and fro.

also for hotels, any to recommend? budget abt SGD200 per nite? If i do not intend to rent a car, where can i buy the Eurorail pass? can it be use in the 3 countries i mention that i wish to visit? wat is the mode of transport to travel between the 3 countries?

thanx
 

rtan

New Member
Dear Jen Ng,

You can check plugs from here; remember Google is always your friend:

http://www.kropla.com/electric2.htm

Dear Dreamer,

I specialise in France; for other countries, please ask the other forumers.

We paid SGD 1781 for our SQ tickets to Paris, 2 to go. You did not mention when you are going, nor how long you would be there.

For France, we usually use the IBIS range of Accor hotels, http://www.accorhotels.com/

I don't do Eurorail, sorry. You can either travel by trains or budget airlines between the three countries.
 

lovetotravel

New Member
Hi dreamer,

For Paris, I stayed at Tim Hotel Tour Eiffel and Lecourbe Hotel.

I book Tim Hotel Tour Eiffel in 2006 Apr and cost only 80 Eur, price increase now. Clean, small but acceptable. Location is great, lots of cafe, seafood store, chinese food and supermarket nearby. It is at Dupliex Station and within walking distance to Eiffel Tower (15mins)
http://www.timhotel.com/hotels/us/eiffel.html

As for Lecourbe Hotel, tripadvisor has negative reviews for it and the pics from them are not updated. They have refurbish the hotel and now it is clean and good. I book from Asiarooms.com at a rate of S$530 for 3 nights (breakfast included). It is located at neighbourhood area, very safe. lots of food store, cafe and supermarket nearby. Sevre Lecourbe train station is 2 mins walk away.
http://www.hotel-lecourbe-eiffel.com/

Switzerland, I stayed at Hotel Goldener Stern in Lucern. Its a boutique hotel with nice rooms and good breakfast and Hotel de Familie in Vevey.

As for the sequence, I am not very sure...u can try this....arrive in Paris, take train to Geneva for start of your swiss tour followed by Italy. I personally prefer SQ for long flights and I think its worth the price.

Eurail pass can buy online or go travel agency to purchase. You should do a draft caculation to check whether point to point ticket cheaper or Eurail pass better.
 

threasher

New Member
Hi dreamer,

You can take Air France. It is cheaper than SIA. Fly directly into Paris, and fly back from Geneva (transit Paris), or the other way around. I would suggest stick to France and Switzerland only.
 

threasher

New Member
Hi dreamer,

I've never been to Italy but I've been to the other two. Raymond will probably ask you to stick to one or two countries too. It's a bit crazy to be jumping from one country to another. Just one country can keep you occupied for two weeks already.
 

balachans

New Member
Hi Raymond,

I am looking at visiting Paris for 8 days and 7 nights. Currently I'm considering spending a portion of the time driving out of Paris.

Would you be able to suggest whereabts in Paris I can visit and how many days ideally i should be spending in Paris?

Is there any suggested places that I should be driving to our of Paris?

As this is my 1st time to Europe so quite lost with all the planning. Hope you can advise me on this...

Thks!
 

balachans

New Member
Hi Raymond,

I am looking at visiting Paris for 8 days and 7 nights. Currently I'm considering spending a portion of the time driving out of Paris.

Would you be able to suggest whereabts in Paris I can visit and how many days ideally i should be spending in Paris?

Is there any suggested places that I should be driving to our of Paris?

As this is my 1st time to Europe so quite lost with all the planning. Hope you can advise me on this...

Thks!
 

johan

New Member
Hi all! what a relieve that we found this thread while we r getting 'lost' planning for our honeymoon trip n wedding in october(i know time is getting abit tight ;P,thats y we are desperate for help!really hope for more time in a day)

We'll be having our honeymoon(f&amp;e) in switzerland and Paris, we plan to touch down in Zurich by plane on the 20th oct,spend eight days touring swiss, and than proceed to take a train to Paris where we will stay for 5 nites.

So far,only our flights to zurich n flight back to singapore from paris are booked.

Can anyone suggest a rough itinery for us to reference,hotels to stay in,routes to take? or share their holiday itinery with us?

Thanks in advance!
 

rtan

New Member
Dear BB,

Sorry I somehow missed this thread.

Four days in Paris would be nice for the first time. It gives you enough time to see the major attractions, but do also budget half to one day to just walk around at random in some part of Paris. If you are going to be driving out of Paris, there are so many places you can go. Off hand I can think of Champagne Region, Normandy, and Etretat; but there are so many possibilities so grab a guide book to see the options.

Since it is your first time to Europe, you'd need to do a bit more homework as you will be driving around too (e.g. they drive on the Right hand side of the road).
 

rtan

New Member
Dear Mimi,

Sorry I have not been around as I noticed that there were very few postings about F&amp;E to France and have also gotten a bit fatigued about it; let the masses go with the tour agencies (especially now that the overhyped NATAS fair is on!) to leave the roads and other lesser known tourist destinations free for us F&amp;E enthusiasts.
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Also after seeing postings from forummers like:

"hi we planning to NZ for HM in Dec too.. planning to self drive.. any idea if we need to convert our driving license since NZ is left-hand drive?" (Since when is NZ left-hand drive? You drive on the left side of the road yes, but that is not the same as left-hand drive. Sheesh.)

and

" im planning to go NZ gor HM..can i check when is the best month to go? if im gg to south NZ probably on jan..isit winter month over there..=)" (Oh my, winter in NZ in Jan? That's new to me!)

the lack of general knowledge is bad enough, but not wanting to spend one minute finding the answer through Google is worse. Sigh.

Firstly you don't tour Swiss; just as you don't tour French; you tour France, so you tour Switzerland. It's just a small thing and I'm not picking on you (everyone else who is guilty raise their hands.... ah I see so many
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), but I see it so common in this forum and it is quite shockingly unacceptable.
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Ok rant over, now to the real thing.
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One of the first places you should go is to get a guide book; buy one or borrow one from the library. We cannot possibly tell you everything you'd need to know; furthermore we do not know your preferences so we do not know what to recommend, at best we can come up with poor recommendations; at worse we waste your time and money visiting attractions you have absolutely no interest in.

Five nights in Paris is good for first timers; see my reply above to BB. I highly suggest you book your hotel and travel as soon as you can; as a first timer, you don't want to be stranded with no place to sleep and no seat on the train.

If you have further questions, do post them here.
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babyjj

Member
Hihi.. i'm planning my honeymoon to France and Italy in Nov.. Will be going there for about 19 days and tinking of flying into Paris and out from Rome.. Other than Paris, any other cities in France i can cover while making my way towards Italy? A fren suggested Lyon, Marseilles and carcasonne... I suppose we cant drive since we wana cover such a long distance? peng, can send me your itinery? [email protected] Thanks...
 

babyjj

Member
hi all, by flying into Paris and out from Rome, we need to top up S$1050 as our SIA mileage is not enuff to cover 2 free open-jaw tickets.

but if we fly into and out of the same airport, for eg paris, we save S$1k as miles are sufficient. With the money saved, we can take a domestic flight from my intended end-point, Rome, back to Paris for the international flight home. I checked Ryanair and it costs EUR50 per pax from Rome to Paris. Makes sense to have this arrangement instead of the open-jaw ya?
 

ete

New Member
Hi all, am planning to go South France &amp; Switzerland. Wish to enjoy the beautiful villages in France &amp; snowy switz. Will it be nice to travel in Oct?

have anyone traveled to south france &amp; switz before?

Take a look at the pictures i managed to find on websites:
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lovetotravel

New Member
Dear Shynn,

Anytime is good to travel in europe.Oct is autumn and I am not sure whether u can still see flowers in bloom. doubt so.

France is big...which town or village do u intend to visit? You can give us more details so that we can advise better. Happy planning.
 

ete

New Member
Hi Peng, thinking of exploring Provence. but provence itself is big. not sure how to plan from here.
 

rtan

New Member
Dear Shynn,

The pictures are real, and it's really what you would get to see in Provence. But these places are often off-the-beaten tracks.

The best way to see those places is to rent a car and drive around. The next best way is to take the trains. I would not recommend any other method (read: tour packages); you will almost certainly not get to stop and take pictures of sunflowers with lavender.

Will post my pictures another time to let you see what I mean.
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ete

New Member
Hi Raymond, yes yes I've seen these pictures from previous posts. Thanks!

Will I be able to see the beautiful scenes as well in Oct too?

There are so many villages in Provence. Which ones have you touched on?
 

rtan

New Member
Hi,

Well of course. France is beautiful anytime of the year.

Take note of course that of the pictures that I posted, only a few are in Provence.

Check out this website for Provence villages:

http://www.beyond.fr
 

nana7

New Member
Wow Raymond,
Thanks for the information.Your pictures are great! I am staying in Paris for 4 days,probably in Latin Quarter and first trip to France and will be going North West to Normandy and Brittany.

Like to ask you...

1) Wondering have you travel to St Malo and hop off to Jersey (Channel Islands), any advise
- Problem is we are renting car in France and that will mean driving to another country, and its on different side of the road!

2) Where is a good place to stay in Normandy and Brittany

Probably we will drop by Camembert town. Thereafter, I will jet off to Nice - Marseille and Monaco.

Thanks!
 

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