Paris, Holy Wow
Allllllll my life I have wanted to visit France. And when I say all my life, I really mean it. I was completely made for the French life. I love to read, eat lots of bread, drink way too much coffee and walk around through the busy city life.
Well the day finally came that we got to go and let me tell you, it did not disappoint!! We rented a VRBO for the whole trip and while it was okay I will say that the standards across Europe are not what Americans are used to. So you may want to do some research and be mindful of that. In hindsight, I would have booked a hotel instead as they weren’t that much more expensive and would be way more accommodating.
A few tips and tricks for traveling:
GET AN ADAPTER!!!!!!
We forgot this very very veryyyyy important step. I researched this trip for over a year and I forgot the most simple but necessary thing. Which lead us to walking around a foreign country in the middle of the night with basically dead cell phones looking for a store that might sell adapters. Eventually we found one. So that being said, I highly recommend ordering yourself a universal adapter if you plan on traveling around Europe. Most of the countries require a different one so buying an overall universal one comes in handy.
Research the Metro and figure out your train pass situation before you get there.
For our trip to London it was the Oyster card, for Paris it was the Navigo. When you arrive at one of the major stations there will be machines and ticketing offices that you can purchase them at. There are also little photo booths for your ID. Trust me, you want to do this. In Paris there are people that stand at the ticketing booths when you swipe your card to make sure your photo is on the pass. If not, they will charge you $35 for each time you have used it. Which adds up insanely fast. The photo booth costs $5 and takes about 2 minutes, so worth it.
Look Into the Lime Scooters!
They are very cheap to use and they help to cut the walking down. So download the app for Lime and Bird and see if there are any in your area. Trust me when I say you will walk A LOT. Usually the metro station closest to where you are going is between a half mile and a mile and a half. Do that a couple times a day and your feet will hate you. Might help to burn off all those macaroons you’re eating though.
Set Up a Travel Pass .
This step was a pain in the rear for me. Before we left I had called Verizon to make sure we set up an international plan so that we would have our phones. Well for some reason that didn’t work. The entire week we were in London we didn’t have cell service, talk about stressful. Thankfully when we got Paris we got a text saying that you can respond “yes” and it will activate a daily travel pass. DO IT. This will help you immensely. With0ut it your maps wont work and neither will your apps for the scooters. If that is the case get wifi and search your route then screen shot which station and metros you need. Also, download the app Maps.me. It’s free and it allows you to use their map without internet=Life saver.
Also quick little tip, when I activated my travel pass it still didn’t work. After talking to Verizon for what felt like 6 hours we figured out that if you reset your Network Settings it will fix the problem. To do that General>Reset>Reset Network Settings and booyah, it’s fixed.
Okay enough of the boring but of course useful stuff. Now to a couple places we visited!
Our first stop was of course, The Lourve.
I began studying French almost two years ago so by the time we got here I was able to read it almost fluently and understand a good percentage of what was being said. Which helped a lot, especially inside the museums. I knew the Lourve was big and I knew it would take quite a while to really see everything, but boy I didn’t know it was THAT big. We spent an entire day here and barely scratched the surface. How cool is it that we has so much history to look through??
Our next stop was The Arc de Triomphe and all I can say is wow. Did you know it took 30 years to build this thing??? After seeing it in person, I know why. We climbed the 29 flights to the top and here was our view!
We of course went to see the Eiffel Tower and all of the other most historic and iconic locations, but these two were my favorites. I also loved just lounging around the city reading my book and eating lots and lots of macaroons.
I highly recommend traveling as much as you can. Davey and I started with road trips that were cheap and easy. At the time, I worked a full time day job and so we spent every weekend away somewhere. We slept in our car or didn’t sleep at all! It took a couple years to really learn how to efficiently travel and we absolutely love it. It pushes you to grow and get out of your comfort zone. I truly believe that you don’t know yourself until you’ve spent a good amount of time outside of your comfort zone. So travel, learn who you are because it is the most beautiful thing.
If you ever have any questions or want any more detailed tips, please send me an email! I’d love to chat!