Lisa & Tyson

Boyscouts and homicidal lions will tell you to Be Prepared. And you should. Here's a few things to do before you leave.

Purchase a universal or US/Euro POWER ADAPTER for your plug-in devices, preferably one with USB slots to charge your phones without using up the outlet. Euro outlets are different than ours so this is necessary if you have anything that requires electricity. Careful with hi power items like hair dryers or fans, you might start a fire. 

LET YOUR BANK KNOW ABOUT YOUR TRIP, give them the dates and locations. If you don't inform your bank they might freeze your account for suspect charges.

You should also consider applying for a credit card with ZERO Foreign Transaction Fees which will limit the amount of cash you need to exchange and carry. Exchanging currency costs you money in fees so we always use cards whenever possible. We keep some emergency cash in the hotel safe, not too much, and typically we keep less than 100€ on our persons, mainly for souvenirs, tips, and the occasional cab that doesn't accept card. Pickpockets are the real deal in Paris, like magicians and you do need to be aware of it. Don't fan out your cash, keep it concealed as much as possible.

You might want to exchange some dollars to euro before you go because the exchanges in the airport charge crazy fees, and you'll want some euro right off the plane for transportation to your hotel. A cab from CDG to the 5th Arrondisment I think was about 50€. You could take the train for less but after that flight you probably won't want to navigate a foreign train system with all your baggage during your first moments in the country. Another option is organizing a transfer through your hotel, most will do it for around 60€ and then you don't have to wait in the cab line and you can probably prepay for it, maybe even have a French dude hold up a sign with your name on it.

Go to your phone service provider and set up a temporary INTERNATIONAL DATA PLAN. In today's world it would be difficult to not have the use of your smartphone for internet access. At&t has plans to pay by the day or by the month for international data allowance, not sure what other providers offer, but I think ours is around $10/day. We mainly use it for maps and directions, restaurant menus, banking, or purchasing e-tickets for museums and performances etc, but also handy to have some data just for internet and apps for downtime in your room. Also, as a group we will be texting one another for meet-up places and times. Your hotels will have wi-fi but it can be spotty.

Bring some items for downtime. We don't really watch TV overseas; other than a futbol match there's not going to be much on the tube, and nothing in English. We download a few shows and movies on our iPad for the flight and downtime.

If you plan to buy new shoes, do it now and break them in. An old pair of comfy shoes will win out over a shiny new pair of cheese graters any day. We average walking around 8 miles per day so comfortable footwear is crucial for us. 

Long haul flights are terrible. Musk might have us teleporting across the globe one day, but for now we simple peasants must continue enduring the recycled air, bad food, and smelly perfume of economy class. 

Do whatever you have to do to survive.

If that means you need to medicate - then by all means you're Bradley Nowell for those 12 miserable hours. Get up often and stretch. I watched a guy do burpees on the back of our flight to London and I grew insanely jealous of his confidence and limber posture. Noise canceling headphones are a treasure, something that goes all the way over the ear. Just keep pressing play on the movie screen and don't stop pressing play until you feel rubber hit the runway. Read, sleep, play games, walk laps, write a novel, learn French, grow a beard etc..

Bring an EMPTY water bottle for the flight and your hotel room. You can't bring liquids through security, but you will want an empty bottle to fill in the terminal and several times on the plane, you will get dehydrated up there and lots of water will help with the jet lag. Plus all those trips to the restroom might knock a few minutes off of your eternal life sentence in Airbus purgatory.

If you're on Norwegian - order a bloody mary, they're delicious.

The food is bad and it will probably make you fart loudly and often, but eating passes time. Do it, you need to keep up your strength to fight the demons that'll enter your brain around hour 6.

You might have to move your luggage out of the way every time you want to leave your room, you might have a closet that fits three pairs of socks (if you have a closet at all), your partner might hit you with the door when you're on the can - so think minimalism when you're packing. The lighter you pack the easier your travel time will be.

Your "Double Bed" is likely just two twins pushed together.

France is a recent convert to the shower and they still haven't quite figured out the shower door - so it's common to spray water all over the tile. Just try not to slip and break your neck.

Have a good toiletries bag because you probably won't have a lot of counterspace to spread out your stuff.

If you're fortunate enough to have a boudet, use it. It's way more fun than the half-ply sandpaper they put next to the toilet.

Find the nearest taxi stand to your hotel, when you get picked up ask your driver what to call the location where they picked you up so that you can tell the next cabbie how to get you home. Or look around for a monument close to your hotel like a church or a plaza that you can use as destination address.  

Almost everyone in Paris speaks some English, and most restaurants have English menus. We worried about not knowing what to order but it wasn't an issue for the most part. 

Remember back in the day when restaurants had SMOKING SECTIONS? Yeah, that's still a thing, in fact Paris is one great big smoking section. Every patio is full of cigarette smoke, it's way of life. If smoke bothers you, opt for inside tables. If it REALLY bothers you, consider getting a refund for your trip because Paris is about 50 years behind the anti-smoking curve. 

You likely won't become fast friends with service employees in France. We met plenty of friendly servers and bartenders, but it's different than US service industry. As a culture, French aren't much interested in anyone else's business so don't be surprised if your servers don't smile and ask how you're doing, they don't care how you're doing. For this reason, they aren't really going to check on you throughout your meal and ask if everything is ok or if you need anything. It's really uncool to holler Garcon! at your waiter, but it's alright to get their attention if you need something or if you're ready for the bill. You could sit there for hours like Forrest Gump waiting on the Number 9 bus, but your bill ain't coming til you ask for it. (None of this applies to high-end restaurants where service standards have been impeccably maintained since the 18th century)

Service is typically slow. If you are in a rush, opt for a place with takeaway sandwiches or something, if you sit down prepare to be there for a while. Try to order everything you're going to need for your meal all at once, the more you spread out your order the longer you'll be there, time measured in hours not minutes. If you are a "two drinks" person, order both drinks at the same time because you never know when your next opportunity will come.

THE TIP

Tipping is weird, it's not necessarily expected but it is becoming more normal. Servers get paid a good salary as it is, but feel free to leave a tip - it's appreciated but for reasons listed above you might not get a big thank you for it.

If you want to leave a tip with a credit card you need to tell the server how much to charge before he processes the card. There is no section to add in a tip after the card is run, once the transaction goes through it's a done deal. 

Lines in Paris for some attractions can get ridiculously long, like 2-3 hours in roasting sun getting clubbed to death by an onslaught of baguettes and selfie sticks long.

There is so much to see that it can be overwhelming to choose where to go once you get there. It would behoove you to do a little research to figure out a few things you don't want to miss when you're there. Skip-the-line tickets for major attractions carry a higher price tag, but spending half of a day in the queue costs you more in time.

The city is basically one giant outdoor museum, so there is plenty to do and see without needing entrance tickets. If you walk from the Louvre to Arc de Triomphe to the Eiffel Tower you will see most of the famous historical sites in the city without spending a dime. But if you want to go in the Louvre, or climb the Tower or the Arc, you should definitely pre-purchase your ticket for a specific time-slot. 

If you want to join us at Eiffel Tower or Palace of Versailles follow the links in the Events section. If you want to go on your own at a different time, that's awesome too! 

Websites like ParisCityVision, Viator, or Tiqets are good resources for looking through the many Paris attractions and tours that you can pre-purchase tickets for.

This is our loose itinerary that knocks out most of the "majors". We like to plan sort of "organized wandering" where we figure out which neighborhood we'll spend the day in and then walk around dumbfounded by the architecture while stopping occasionally to shove delicious food and drink down our gullets. 

Monday August 5th

Arrive in Paris, check-in, jump on the bed, guzzle champagne

Eat at The Creperie

Walk down to the river and check out the Notre Dame-age :(

Tuesday August 6

Left Bank - St. Germain, Musee d'Orsay, Les Invalides

Right Bank - Louvre (closed), Tuileries, Concorde, Pont Alexandre

Eiffel Tower Summit (9:00 pm)

Wednesday August 7

Taxi up to Montmartre - Place du Tetre, Sacre-Coeur, & the Dali Museum

Dinner at Au Port du Salut (7:30 pm)

Thursday August 8

A little wedding, nothing too crazy

Friday August 9

Eat, drink, & be married

Champs-Elysees - Arc de Triomphe

Farewell to the dearly departing

Saturday August 10

Palace of Versailles