A Few Tips For Your First French Trip

Saving clubcard points for the chunnel.
When we find the time and get the JRT's pet passport I'll be searching for this thread.
Great info.
 
anomad said:
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)
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Thanks so much for your lovely blog (via the link above).

My wife and I have recently got back from an autumnal wander from Northern Spain, across the same pass as you (minus the snow) and up thru The Dordogne, Loire and Normandy, visiting a few of places you stopped. What amazes me is despite the great stuff you see and experience, there is also all the great stuff you miss. I can't wait to get back over there in May.

Safe journeying!

N
 
dippingatoe said:
Hi - I have only recently joined the forum, so just read the wonderfully written and truly useful opening post.
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Thank you; it's nice to be appreciated. :)

This is a great forum; you'll find many people willing to help on here - it's just that some of us have a bit more time on our hands than others. ;)

Good luck with your hunting for a motorhome. I would advise you to ask LOTS of questions on here before you buy as there are a lot of mistakes you can make - the wisdom of the members on this forum is impressive - please do make use of it. :idea-007:

Trevor
 
Just a small point, why do many people say to avoid Aires which you have to pay for? After all they are provided by the community who pay for their upkeep & usually they cost around 5 Euros, nobody likes to pay for something they might get for free but wouldn't think twice about paying if we had them here.
On our last trip to France in the 5 weeks we paid on 3 Aires total cost of about 15 Euros, some of the free Aires even had free hookup, a novel idea at another was that it was free to stay but you needed tokens for water & electric. These tokens were free from the local shops but each shop would only give you one token.
I would say don't get too hung up on always trying to find a free aire just take them as they come & enjoy your trip.

If WiFi is pronounced WeeFee then have we been saying HiFi wrong all these years? I'll stick with WyFy.
 
Kontiki said:
Just a small point, why do many people say to avoid Aires which you have to pay for?
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I've no idea. I just followed the French example and avoided the ones that charged for parking; paying for electricity and water is a different matter. Why would anyone choose to pay for a service that is mostly free if you move on a mile or two? Maybe the same people that like to use campsites I suppose. Personally, I won't use campsites - they are for tents and caravans IMHO. :)

Kontiki said:
If WiFi is pronounced WeeFee then have we been saying HiFi wrong all these years? I'll stick with WyFy.
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That's how the French pronounce it. If you want to call your HiFi a heefee that's up to you. :cheers:
 
Towels and drying yourself.

This is my tip. When we first started motor homing we put normal largish size bath towels in the van.We soon found out that getting them dry after a shower was a major problem when "wilding" We then cut them in half to try to reduce the drying time.
Now we have gone even further, after a shower we use a small dry flannel each and then finish off with a small hand towel. We then put the flannels up in the roof light and bingo they dry in no time. It really is amazing how easy it is to dry yourself with just a small flannel to take off most of the water. Bonus, no big wet towels hanging around the van. Give it a try it really works for us.
 
Shockingdog said:
It really is amazing how easy it is to dry yourself with just a small flannel to take off most of the water.
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A very good point - I'm sure that's something a lot of people haven't thought of. Personally, this is how I was taught as a kid so I've always done it. My kids do it too - it even works well on wet hair (not that I've any of that any more). :)
 
Superb post

This will be very useful for our first France trip next year. Very good and detailed, and should help us.
Will get hubby to read it too!
 
Thank you David, I appreciate that. :)

Good points raised there too; especially about the white line at a STOP junction and being sure to stop - I was pre-warned about that luckily.

The way they use roundabouts was a bit of a shock to start with too, but a lot of Brits do that too - bloody idiots! In France though, obviously I adapted quickly and followed suit where necessary. :scared:
 
Fantastic Post

I have just read this post from start to finish and have saved many bits of info in my favourites .. This post is so informative and I hope people continue to add snippets of Information as they seem fit..
Thanks Trevor :nicethread:
 
Thank you

That must be the most useful thread I've ever read. Can you please go full time in Poland, Spain or Germany so we can have more of the same :) We're going to Paris for a few days at the end of July this year on our way to Germany so the information is going to be priceless (we plan on a 6 month trip of France in a year or two) All we're looking for now is a good Aires within an hours public transport ride to Paris, wish us luck :)
 
Thank you for good advice--I have just ordered the aires book from vicarius
I am going to France for two weeks in April in my old ambulance/camper
 
Great thread.We are going to France in 2 weeks time and we are going blindfolded ( just take it as it comes with very little planning ) as it is our first time,but this thread is very helpful and cant wait now that we have read it.Thank you Sky and all :wave:
 
We are heading back to France on the 16th June to spend 6 months travelling. We did it last year and had a wonderful time. It is just so easy compared to the UK.
Our plan is to visit Monets Garden at Giverney and the Palace of Versailles. I know that there are no Aires close by to either but has anyone any tips on places to stay or how to tackle these visits.
Regards
Karen
 
I've always been a bit anti French over the years, mainly from to many Calais and Paris trips over the years. I've slowly grown less suspicious of the place and fully agree with others on the forum "a little Francias goes a long way". I have however began warming to the place. A recent cruise that the wife and i were on, stopped at La Rochelle amongst other locations. This town had me biting at the bit to return, instead of travelling simply driving through on route to other countries.

Thankyou so much Sky for taking the time to write such a incredible post, solely for the benefit of others. I myself usually travel abroad alone with my dog, and felt that you and your habits are so similar to mine. I have "liked your post" as well for insurance when needing to find and re read all your info provided, at a later date whilst travelling.

As a matter of interest Sky ( if you see this post) what has been your favourite area in France so far, and where do you intend to return to ?? On my very limited knowledge and experience of France, I have a hunch that Brittany will be mine, but a full timers opinion is very much appreciated !! Once again thanks for taking the time to write the best post I've read in ages :bow: :wave:
 
666jw said:
Thankyou so much Sky for taking the time to write such a incredible post, solely for the benefit of others. I myself usually travel abroad alone with my dog, and felt that you and your habits are so similar to mine. I have "liked your post" as well for insurance when needing to find and re read all your info provided, at a later date whilst travelling.

As a matter of interest Sky ( if you see this post) what has been your favourite area in France so far, and where do you intend to return to ?? On my very limited knowledge and experience of France, I have a hunch that Brittany will be mine, but a full timers opinion is very much appreciated !! Once again thanks for taking the time to write the best post I've read in ages :bow: :wave:
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You're welcome I'm glad you liked it. :)

I'm afraid I can't say I have a favourite place yet as I've covered so little of it (it's a huge country). I spent most of my time in the Poitou Charente and Limousin regions and would certainly recommend all of where I visited.

I drove down through Normandy and Pays de la Loire and had intended (but never did) to spend some time in Brittany on the way back. I shall be sure not to miss it on the next trip (hopefully soon).
 
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