A Few Tips For Your First French Trip

Hi Sky,

Best post I have read in a long time.

I would like to second recommendations for All the Aires book and one of Fairytooths Satnavs. I have not tried the satnav in France but the software for this country is first class.

Not sure if anyone mentioned the French Tourist Offices but we found them fantastic and unlike most English ones, Open!

Richard
 
I'm glad to see there are people still reading this and pleased that it has been found useful by so many of you.

Thank you all for your kind comments. :)
 
Tbear said:
Hi Sky,

Not sure if anyone mentioned the French Tourist Offices but we found them fantastic and unlike most English ones, Open!

Richard
Click to expand...

When arriving in a new town, the first thing we tend to do is find the Office de Tourisme, ask them for a Plomb de Ville (town map) as they tend to have large ones under the counter and ask them to mark suitable parking or an Aire. We then retire to the nearest cafe with all the tourist gumph :cheers:

One thing that may be of use - if you can't find an Aire and it's getting late, look around for where the lorries park up - we always feel much safer tucked away with HGVs than in an open layby where I know nothing is likely to happen, but I lie there all night listening to every little noise !!!!!
 
Tbear said:
Hi Sky,

Best post I have read in a long time.

I would like to second recommendations for All the Aires book and one of Fairytooths Satnavs. I have not tried the satnav in France but the software for this country is first class.

Not sure if anyone mentioned the French Tourist Offices but we found them fantastic and unlike most English ones, Open!

Richard
Click to expand...

Visit to France cut a bit short but the Satnav worked OK

Richard
 
hi sky

new to motor homing this year and never been to France hoping to go early next year your post has been most helpful and your information invaluable to us as we dont have a clue look forward to reading your other posts for more tips thanks again and enjoy your travels. luckyfish252
 
Hi Sky,
I've only just read this post, since it came to the top of the new posts. I have to say I just loved it and have read it from start to finish. I hope you're still reading it.
The reason I liked it was because I'd already experienced and worked my way through most but not all, of the things that were new to you, so it brought back a lot of funny memories for me. But what I loved most was your detailed analysis of the wine. I always seem to spend a lot of my time in a new location trying to work out what is drinkable and what is worth bringing back to the UK.
Hubby and I have wine tasting evenings on the way south, which turn into weeks of having to drink some not very good wines, in order to stock up on what's worth bringing back to the UK.
IMHO local Spanish Rioja takes a lot of beating so we'll probably continue to head a little further south for our winter vacations.

That was a really impressive post, and thank you for taking the time to do it.

Fran
 
Ive only just found this post. Mustve taken a while to get together.Even though Ive been a couple of times before ,I still found it very informative.Thanks for bothering.
 
Hi,

Thanks Sky for the time taken to write your impressive list of tips, like Frances I just found it because it popped up in new posts, perhaps I missed it but did you change the van.

Clive
 
A great post!

I enjoyed reading your original missive. We have been going to France for several years now, first by river boat and now by road, and your observations are spot on. Excellent!
Regards
John
 
Aha, glad to see people are still enjoying this. :dance:

Thanks for your kind comments folks - it makes the effort of writing it all the more worthwhile.

I never did sell the van Clive - I just couldn't part with it in the end. I may sell it next year though as I'd like to get one with a fixed bed so that it gives me the storage underneath.

I'm still full-timing in it; currently still in the UK, but hoping to hit Spain/Portugal for the winter months. :drive:

All the best,

Trevor
 
On the Road in France

Hi Sky,

very informative post.

I'm currently soloing through Europe after 6 months of planning and preparing. Wish I'd found your post at the beginning as would have saved me a lot of research time.

I went with LPG (1x11kg) and it's worked out great. already spent 6 weeks winding my way through France and only just had to refill it at a cost of €15.

Also using a mixture of Camperstops (covers aires across Europe but sometimes inaccurate) and French Passions (great success in wine regions e.g. Loire where I can stay for free, though I always buy some wine).

Using a French 'Orange' Domino (dongle) for wifi. €50 initial cost and then €20 for 2gb for 1 month. As I have a blog this has been invaluable and I've had signal everywhere as it works of the mobile phone network.

Always felt very comfortable at overnight stays. Especially in the smaller villages. Worry more when I leave the motorhome parked up in towns/cities for the day. Tourist info is always my first stop as they usually have great local info and are very friendly. Luckily I speak French well so language is not a barrier.

About to head across the border into Spain and a bit nervous. Don't seem to be many aires (just 'tolerated' places - whatever that means!) and my Spanish is not that good. Also, my inverter has just stopped working and struggling to find somewhere to buy a replacement.

Oh well, all part of the adventure.

Anomad
(Europe Nomad | A great WordPress.com site)
 
Fantastic post, thank you very much for all that useful stuff! My wife and I will be going to France next year hopefully, all we need is our first van....oh, and the dosh to buy it! Apart from that we're ready.
 
Hi - I have only recently joined the forum, so just read the wonderfully written and truly useful opening post

I have never owned a motorhome or carvanned or even camped apart from once with the guides many years ago, and once overnight in the lakes with friends,so everything is very new to me. I have only been inside 5 or 6 last august at malvern, but I have just sold all my possessions in a massive on site auction last weekend, and once the house sale has gone through my elderly Great Dane and I are intending to travel.

I have been doing lots of internet research on suitable vehicles, and once I can get away from everything which is needing to be done here at home I am off to look at some

I am keeping a link to this thread so I can refer to it later, and once again - many thanks
 
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