FlyerTalk Forums - France

Need to fax passport and credit card to accommodation?

tuff — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 11:33:57 GMT

We have just booked an apartment in Paris for our forthcoming trip. As part of the booking process we had to fax (who uses faxes these days?) the reservation form with credit details to the accommodation. They are now asking us to fax copies of our passport and the credit card itself. Is this normal? Is it acceptable? The company is international and well-established and we have used them before in other parts of the world.

CDG RER Ticket Line

aa4ever — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:12:34 GMT

Hi all,

I was planning to take the RER into Paris, as it seemed like the fastest way. However, I've read that the ticket machines only accept the European "chip and pin" credit cards. I have only American credit cards, and don't want to have to get cash at the airport. So apparently I have to use the ticket counter. Does anyone have any idea about how long to expect for the line for the ticket counter is? I've heard rumors of 45+ minutes. It would be around 9am on a Tuesday. Want to reserve a shuttle from the hotel if the ticket counter is terribly long! Don't want any time savings by taking the train to be absorbed waiting on line.

Thanks so much!

in Paris - need a bday gift

jason8612 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 22:57:53 GMT

I'm going with my brother to Paris for a few days in Dec and want to do something for his bday and xmas gift. He loves the arts and I was thinking about a play or opera, but I'm not sure on the dresscode as we will be coming from Egypt.
Or maybe a day trip to Brussels.
Any ideas on what to do/see/give?

Leaving AF Buses-Maybe

Mountain Trader — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:26:30 GMT

I've been a fan of taking the Air France buses from CDG to Paris for about 5 years. I enjoy having AF people stow the luggage under the bus, and the buses are clean and pretty fast.

Things have changed over the past year. The prices shot up-from CDG to the Arc, it used to be (as I recall) around 11 Euros one way, and around 20 Euros round trip. Now it's 15 one way and 28 roundtrip. For two people, that's getting close to taxi territory.

Another change is the buses only run every 30 minutes rather than every 15 minutes before. Not only does that mean longer wait times on average, but it also means much more crowded buses. My last time in from CDG, it took a lot longer to board at each stop due to the crowds. And when we got to take off a lot of bags going to the Arc in order to get to the ones getting off at Porte Maillot. The total time from CDG to the Arc was almost 90 minutes.

I think the Roissybus is still under 10 Euros each way and I may give that a try to see if it's really as bad as I remember. Also, since all my flying is through Terminal 2 now, I want to check what it takes to get to the RER from there.

Another CDG layover thread - but but early morning...

chichow — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:05:49 GMT

Traveling C/J on AF07 but thinking of standing by on AF23 which arrives @ 6:00 A.M.

Departing on C/J SQ333 @11:15 A.M.

Got the parents along who have never been to Paris/France. So I've got 5 hours, but its early morning and I'm concerned that nothing will be open (except for getting bread...yum). I've got to change terminals anyways, so that is going to kill time, but then again I'll have lounge access.

Any thoughts of running into Paris on the RER at the early hour just to get a group photo shoot at the Effiel Tower or just run out to Roissy and get real croissants?

Thanks!

Battling for a refund from a hotel in Paris

tacommuter — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:09:34 GMT

I am afraid I am waging (more on principle than for the �585 in question) with what turned out to be a nightmare hotel in Paris - the very inappropriately named "Grand Hotel" Dechampaigne (sic).

I had booked the place for a long business stay in May, but found, amongst many other problems, that their internet service was totally dysfunctional, rendering it impossible for me to stay there. So, I had to move to another hotel and was told I would receive a refund for the deposit they had taken upon check-in. That refund has never been forthcoming, and the hotel now flatly refuses (their management is amazingly hostile) to process it. This despite the fact that no deposit was required under the terms of the booking.

My question is: is there in Paris specifically or France in general any sort of government hotel licensing agency or tourist board with authority to act on consumer complaints against establishments there? Can anyone recommend how best to address this problem?

Realtor in Nice area

keisari — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:37:46 GMT

I am interested in purchasing a property in or around Nice.
Any recommendations of realtors you have worked with?
Do you have any properties you are selling.

Clermont Ferrand or Lyon?

JerseyVics — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 00:40:18 GMT

In preparation for my month long visit to France again in March I'd like to see what my options are in both flying into and out of the area, as well as ideas for things to do at this time of the year. (I have spend a week in C-fd in August, and three weeks in October so I have seen a lot of Auvergne, Lyon, Vichi and Volvic... but I'm curious to do more...)

I have just finished reading the "easyJet" book by Lois Jones (borrowing from Bundy Bear's impressive collection of books on aviation while crashing at his Brisbane home for a few weeks) and it said that Ryanair discontinued flights from Clermont Ferrand (Aulnat) in 2004.... Does anyone know if other low-cost airlines plan to enter that market? Air France charges nearly $500 return to Paris on that 30 minute route... Barcelona or Madrid (via Paris or Lyon) are $900 and $1000+ respectively. Even when booking Flying Blue points you're still stung with $140 in taxes on a one way journey, which would probably cost more than a full fare flying easyJet to Lyon.

Curious to read people's recommendations on this region.

Anybody on Flyer Talk call Auvergne home? (mini-Do possibilities in March?)

thanks,
--Russ

Bordeaux

BahrainLad — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 14:47:41 GMT

Hi

I am going to Bordeaux for the weekend (from London) in a couple of weeks.

I'll be arriving around Saturday lunchtime, leaving mid afternoon on Sunday.

If anyone has any recommendations for the following I would very much appreciate it
- walking around on Saturday afternoon
- decent bar with great wines and cheese/nibbles for Saturday afternoon
- a good restaurant, maybe with a tasting menu (menu gastronomique or similar) for Saturday evening, traditional French food preferred
- somewhere for breakfast on Sunday
- more light lunch/wine for Sunday lunch.

I'm staying in the Novotel at Meriadeck btw.

something on next week in Paris ?

Stewie Mac — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:01:44 GMT

Am trying to book a room for next Wednesday in Paris, and the always reliable Best Westerns are almost all showing up as 'unavailable' - those with rooms are wanting >�150. Checking HI, Novotel, etc, it's the same all over. Is there anything happening next week ?
Are there any reasonable (just clean, really) hotels available for c �100 around the middle of town ? Or should I Priceline it ?

New Year's in Paris

Runnin' Gal — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:06:19 GMT

BF and I will be in Paris for New Year's Eve/Day and would love recommendations on how to ring in the new year. I presume there is something happening at the Eiffel Tower but I also presume it is a zoo (similar to Times Squre in NY?). If it is a zoo, is it worth battling the crowd or is there something that would be more enjoyable elsewhere? We are open to all ideas. Thank you in advance for your suggestions.

Hotel Costes Paris

jwurz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:50:29 GMT

Hello,

I am considering a stay at Hotel Costes - the one on Rue St. Honore. Can someone please email me the GMs name and email address.

Sublets in Paris?

1Konsultant — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:54:31 GMT

Hi,

I'm a grad student who is studying abroad in Paris and am looking for a sublet option for 3 months (Jan - Mar 2010). I've found the rental market to be difficult, so please help! Any tips? Ideally, I'm looking for a furnished studio or 1 bedroom for < 1000 EUR close to the RER A (arrondissements 1e, 3e, 4e ideally).

Does anyone know of any friends looking to sublet or any sublet services that are not a complete rip off? The vacation-focused brokers seem to be priced more closely to hotels, which I can't afford for 3 months. Thanks!

1Konsultant

Arrival CDG - 11 hour layover - departure Orly

buffy888 — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 21:49:52 GMT

I've searched and didn't come up with a thread pertaining to this, but I might have missed it...

On November 21 we will be arriving CDG at around 8:30 AM. We will depart to Bordeaux from Orly at about 7:30 PM that same day. Since we are departing from a different airport, we will have to claim our luggage at CDG (according to the folks at AF).

My questions are
1) What would be the best transportation options into Paris from CDG and then back to Orly since we have a change of airports?
2) Is there somewhere we can store luggage? We will each have 1 checked bag and 1 carry-on.

We have been to Paris before, so I am fine with transportation within the city and the things we will probably want to do/see in our short amount of time there this trip, but I have just not encountered this particular situation previously.

Thank you.

Legal Holidays in November?

Fornebufox — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 18:10:45 GMT

Last November was a nightmare in terms of accomplishing anything administrative because of all the legal holidays, which fell close enough to the weekend (i.e. any day from Weds.-Tuesday ;-) for people to take a long weekend or even a full week's vacation. But I can't remember what all the holidays are.

November 1, le toussaint
November 11? armistice?

What else?

How early in December do people hang it up for the year?