Categories: Family Travel, First Time in Paris, Paris
THIS IS AN AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED TRANSCRIPT
0:00
This is join us in France, Episode 251. Bonjour, I’m Annie Sargent. And join us in France is a podcast where you’ll hear pragmatic advice for your next trip to France. On the podcast, I invite travel enthusiasts and Francophile, such as my guest, Christina long on today’s episode, who joined me for a conversation about how her trip went, what she loved what she didn’t like as much, and give you some inspiration for your next trip to France. Today, we concentrate on the secrets of planning a trip to Paris for the first time without getting too overwhelmed. And this is something that happens to a lot of people. It was Christina’s first time in Europe. They came as a family of five and different ages to so how do you plan your trip to France strategically, without losing your mind and going crazy about every detail? How do you know what matters and what doesn’t? Stay tuned. That’s our topic today. De Show Notes for this episode are on join us in France. com forward slash 251. That’s where you’ll find Christina’s Hotel and Restaurant recommendations. And the notes she sent me in preparation for doing this podcast episode, as well as the detailed spreadsheet she used to get organized. And she really put a lot of time into this spreadsheet, so I’m sure it will be helpful to you. We only talked about the Paris part of their trip in the episode, but they also went to Normandy and took a Mediterranean cruise out of Barcelona. So the spreadsheet also has information about that. And now let’s talk to Christina long.
2:13
Christina and welcome to join us in France. bouncer Annie, thank you for having me. It is so lovely to talk to you. I hear you having a beautiful day in Kansas City. Yes, we are. We’re having a beautiful day. It’s the start of the fall and the sun shining. It’s a little a little brisk this morning. It’s beautiful. Excellent. Excellent. And we’re going to talk about how to organize your trip to Paris because Christina apparently is a bit of a planner.
2:39
Yes, yes. I love to plan things, including trips and activities for my family, and just all sorts of things. So trip planning goes in with that theme.
2:50
Right? So tell us when was your trip to France.
2:53
Okay, so we went this past summer, which was the end of June and early July of 2019. And it was a celebration trip for my oldest son. He was graduated from high school, and also celebrating my mom’s retirement
3:08
excellence. That sounds like good reasons to come to Paris and how long you spent.
3:13
So we stayed in Europe for about two and a half weeks. And we were in Paris for probably total about two to three days. So we weren’t in Paris that much. But it’s so big and so awesome and amazing that I did a lot of planning just for the short time that I was in Paris. Okay.
3:34
So how did you organize all of this? Talk to us about that?
3:38
Sure, sure. So basically, this is the first time that we were in Europe. So I will honestly admit that it was very overwhelming because we spent about two and a half weeks, and we stayed in seven different hotels around Europe. And so it was a lot to plan. I don’t know if I would spend that much the next time. For the first visit, but it was everything worked out great. So it was very overwhelming. And I’m a planner and I was still overwhelmed. So if anyone else is overwhelmed, then First of all, don’t be scared because I’m a planner and I was overwhelmed. So sure if you’re overwhelmed, it’s normal.
4:17
Yeah. Everybody goes through that phase.
4:19
Yes, yes.
4:20
Oh, well, I guess there are some people who don’t care. They’ll just show up. I mean, I’ve had people tell me, I don’t have a hotel for tonight. I’m like, Okay. Like the benches, because usually those people also say, Oh, and I also can’t spend more than hundred bucks. I’m like, whoa.
4:39
Yeah, that’s not me. That’s not me. Yeah. Yeah. So I just, I’ve planned a trip to like Washington, DC and other American cities. So I kind of have a general list of things that I do to help me with planning a bigger trip like to Paris or to Washington, DC, or just this can apply to almost any trip. But it was especially helpful for Paris. Right? So basically, one of the first things I did was decide, well, first of all, you have to decide where you’re going and when, and like, what cities you’re going to go to and for how long? And there’s a lot of determining factors that might be determined by cost your flight, how much time you have information like that. So you kind of gotta start with the basic and that’s kind of basic information. Right,
5:25
but it will constrain you to some Yes, you know, that will impose a lot of constraints. I mean, if you want to do, you know, 10 cities in 10 days, that’s not the same trip. So one city in 10 days.
5:39
Yes, yes. So you’re absolutely right. That’s a big determining factor. So once you have that setup, then you can start doing research. You research that city, and you just collect information. And some of the things that I did was I listened, I read books. I listened to podcasts, and that’s when I found your point. Cast, and I just listened to it a lot. I looked online like TripAdvisor or other things you can find. And basically you’re just gathering information.
6:11
Right? And how much time do you think you spent on this like, after work? Like,
6:18
how much time I just did my free time. Like the cool thing about your podcast is that you can do it while you’re driving. You can do it while you’re making dinner, right? So it doesn’t take time to sit down and read a book or time to sit down and do something on Facebook or on TripAdvisor. Right, so that’s the beautiful thing with your podcast and I immensely enjoyed and then I forced my family not forced, they were forced to listen to your podcast while we were driving to soccer games or doing stuff like that. So it also I loved it also, because then it helped acclimate them to France life. And so it wasn’t just me telling them a bunch of rules, so they got to experience firsthand some of the awesome tips that your podcasts provide. So that that way we could kind of all be on the same page, right, our first big trip to Europe. Right, right.
7:07
That’s great. That’s good to know. Yeah.
7:09
So once you’re collecting this information, you kind of have to choose how you’re going to gather the information. And I’m sure a lot of people could use their phones or use a computer. I’m kind of an old school girl. I like paper, I like pencil and pen. So I just had a big spiral notebook. And like at the top of a page, I would write Paris, or I would write like, like Paris attractions, Paris, transportation, Paris hotels. And so whenever someone talked about some information, or I got some information from, you know, all these places, I would just write that on that sheet of paper on that on that page, so I just collected information I probably, and honestly, I did this up to when we left. So I did this a lot, but probably this step maybe lasted a couple of weeks. Okay, two to three weeks. So but it depends on everyone else depends on how how much time you have also. Right, right.
8:06
No, it’s true. It’s true. I mean, there are people who spend so much time planning and and sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, you know, like they forgot the notebook at home with something. Or they left it at the airport,
8:20
you know, I will leave my worst nightmare.
8:22
Yeah, yeah, stuff happens. But but that’s, that’s great. I think I like the old you know, analog going away, take a pad and just write things. And that’s how I do a lot of stuff, too. I mean, honestly, I’m still very old school like that.
8:36
Yes, yes. Yes. So. And also during that process, I talked to the people I was traveling with. And we kind of talked about like, like when I would look, listen to your podcast about the top suggestions about the top things to do, I would write them down. And then you talk to the people you’re traveling with, say, hey, these are the things that were suggested. What do you want to do out of these, so you’re also talking to your travel companions to see what they what they are interested in doing at the same time. Sure,
9:07
yeah. Yeah. Because I mean, if you it, it really, I mean, it always baffles me people who just want to go on the regular. You know what I call the Rick Steves kind of track, where they all do the same things, right? But it’s not the same if you have an elderly person, or if you have a young kid and you know, you, you need to be wise what you pick.
9:31
Yes. And I totally agree with that. And that’s the cool thing about when you plan it yourself, because I had my mom, she’s, she’s older, but she’s very active. And then I had my two boys who are 15 and 18 with us as well. So we had some definite variations, interest ages. So when you when you take the time and you’re able and you enjoy it to plan it yourself, you can really adjust that to your travel companions and what they are interested in doing.
9:57
Yeah, yeah, no, yes, very true.
10:00
Yes, so once I was
10:04
not totally done, but I felt in a good place with the collecting information stage, then I made a spreadsheet then I went to the computer, and I love spreadsheets. Not everybody does. But I’m a spreadsheet girl, I knew that. So I it just is a very clear way to consolidate my notes because my notes were like chicken scratches in my spiral binder. So um, so basically what I did was I after we had discussed what places we wanted to go visit made our kind of our top 10 Top 15 list. Then I put everything on a spreadsheet and then I put columns for different categories. And some of the categories I chose for Paris were like ours, it was open days it was closed on because that’s a huge thing and Paris when you not everything is open on the same day, and so you have to pay for attention to that. And like, a lot of times on your podcast, you’ll suggest the best times to visit something. So I will put that on there. And just any visiting notes or tips that I’ve gathered from all of this collecting information, I put that on a spreadsheet,
11:16
right? You even have like, how long it’s gonna take you how much is estimated, will take you and yeah, and you know, if you need to bring cash or if you need to, like, I love this. I need, like, so you pre booked some of these things. You have a note, you know, I need to bring the reservation. I mean, if you put it down, then you don’t have to think about it. Right? Yeah, that’s me. You’ll just follow the plan.
11:44
Yes. Another note I had later but it’s if you put everything in a spreadsheet and you take that with you. Then when you’re on your trip, you’re so into what you’re doing and you’re so excited that you might forget something. So while I’m home while I’m calling home while I have my thoughts about me, right, I write everything out so that when I’m excited or we’re running late in the morning, I don’t forget anything.
12:08
Yeah. Oh, no. I mean, if if it’s okay with you, I’ll put your notes your your spreadsheet will be a downloadable for be because Yeah, right. The way Yeah, you know and you went I mean you went to Barcelona, so there’s stuff about Barcelona but that’s fine. I love Barcelona.
12:28
Yes, Barcelona was awesome. I love Paris the most though but I bars Barcelona was amazing as well.
12:33
Yeah, they’re very different cities. The field is different. Yes,
12:37
yes, yes. Okay, so once I had this spreadsheet, and I had a list of all of the attractions that we were thinking about doing with all of this, these columns and all this information, that’s kind of the fun part. Then I got to start making an itinerary. So it was kind of this is kind of the puzzle part of the planning a trip. So I basically had a big map of the city. You start looking at when it’s closed and you know where you want to place to visit. And you also have to think about what things that you can purchase beforehand. Because if there’s anything that you can purchase for hand like an Eiffel Tower ticket, or something like that, you obviously will show is that before Yeah, yes. So you and if you can purchase it before, then you plan things around that particular attraction like the Eiffel Tower. If you purchase that for, let’s say, two o’clock in the afternoon, then that’s what you’re going to do. The rest of the day is around the Eiffel Tower, you’re not going to play and going to the loo, right after you do the Eiffel Tower.
13:35
No, that would be a bad time.
13:38
That’s a bad plan that plan. So basically, then, like you said, you’re getting a big map of the city. You’re looking at all of your notes and you’re trying to plan places to visit that are close together. The best time when things are closed, when you need a time ticket, and all of that research is really going to help you formulate your plan for each day or Even each hour, right? So
14:01
with the paper map,
14:03
yeah, I did, yeah,
14:04
I find paper maps to be so much easier to do that sort of thing. Because if I tried to do it on the computer map, I’m always scrolling. And by the time I’m scrolling to where I wanted to really see the detail, I forgot where the other one was. And that’s terrible. And I have no sense of orientation. I swear, you know, I’m the kind of words I can get lost in my own house. No, not really. But, you know, it’s like, it’s, it’s difficult for some of us. It’s a challenge. And if you see a big paper map, yes. makes it much easier.
14:33
Yes, I 100% agree. And I’m, and I’ve heard some people in your podcast use Google Maps before and like use pins. And I haven’t delved into that yet. Because this was my first time to Paris or to Europe, but maybe that’d be something in the future. But for me for now, I was comfortable with my map and I was fine walking around
14:53
with. Right right. And so what you what you you’re referring to now I think is the kind of the custom maps you can do on with Google Maps, right? Yeah. So you create your own map and you can put pins and their steps. We talked about it in an episode. I think it was the episode about honeymoon in Paris, where she she just said, you know, you follow these steps and you create your own map. And it’s, it’s a very good way to do it, if that’s how you think.
15:22
Yes, exactly. That’s the cool thing is that there’s lots of different ways that you can plan a trip. And this is just another another option. Yeah. So then after I made the itinerary, realized that it’s a flexible and a tentative itinerary, because as I was doing more research throughout the whole thought the whole time before our trip, it changed and TripAdvisor was really good or people on your Facebook group, you can post a tentative itinerary and people who have been there can give you feedback. Sure. Like that’s not a good idea. Have you thought about this? So right and this is Zach. What the Facebook group is for? Yes, some people think it’s so they can share their own favorite blog post or
16:08
you know about something or other that nobody’s ever heard of in Paris, which is not what I want. I want people to just talk about their trip and their experiences in France. If you hate a restaurant, it’s fine to talk about that. But don’t go showing me a list of the 10 best restaurants in Paris that drives me insane. Who cares? I don’t care what this other guy thinks about the 10 best restaurants in Paris. I care what my my the people I talk to, you know, the young
16:34
guys. Yes. Anyway, yes, I guess so. Yes, the
16:39
Facebook group is awesome for that. And there’s like, and I also met with some friends, you know, friends that I know in town, and I went over my itinerary with them. And they said, Oh, have you thought about this? So you kind of adjust your itinerary you talk to your travel, your travel companions and say, Hey, what do you think about this so the itinerary can Change even up to the the time of your trip, like with our trip, for example, the Notre Dom Cathedral, obviously that happened in the middle of our planning, so that I had to take that out, which was fine. And you just, and honestly, the the really cool thing about doing so much planning and doing it yourself is that when you and I say when because it probably will happen when there’s a problem or a change in your itinerary, a challenge or an opportunity, as I call it. You’ve already done so much research, I felt like I knew the city even though I had never been there. So that you are able just to go with the flow and make an adjustment. So
17:41
right so this this is something that’s important to me because I’ve asked, we also get on Facebook group. A lot of people whose answer to everything is always just wonder. just wander around Paris. Now this tends to drive me bonkers. Because it is fine to just wander around a town or a city. If you have a lot of time. Yeah, if you have a month, of course just Yes. Go on a long walk every day. It’s fine. Yes. It’s great. It’s a nice week. Yes. If you have a month, but if you only have three, four days, yes, yes. It is. Right. I mean, it’s like all you never see anything. And there are really people who think that Paris is all unicorns and you know, Rainbows, it’s like Midnight in Paris. If you just have no plan, then a magical taxi will appear at midnight at the steps and will take you to meet all these people. Not that’s not how it works. Okay. Sorry to break. Do you vote? That’s not how it works. So it’s really important for people to to realize that if they have a lot of time, Yes, right. Otherwise, yes, last time you have the more planning you need to do.
18:56
Yes, I 100% agree with that.
18:58
And and it’s also good to Maybe, like, okay, maybe you plan one church and one museum for a day. And then the rest of the day open, we do whatever. But at least you know you’re going to an area where there’s an interesting church and an interesting Museum, which means there are going to be cafes, and there are going to be restaurants and they’re going to be other things that are interesting nearby. Instead of just, oh, I’ll just book a cheap hotel in some only small nobody ever goes to and then just wander.
19:33
Yeah, and we had some in my, in my initial itinerary. We had some downtime planned in, but we were just briefly we were supposed to fly out to Barcelona on Sunday afternoon. So we were scheduled to get in Paris Sunday afternoon, and that’s when our day started. Unfortunately, our flight was delayed and then canceled. So we spent the night in Barcelona. The sad thing was we missed our Eiffel Tower, because that was Sunday night. So that was really sad. But it’s okay. It’s okay. You, you adjust. And so we ended up arriving Monday around lunchtime rather than Sunday afternoon was cut off. Yeah, yeah, almost a full day of traveling. So because we were flex, we could be flexible. And because I had a little bit of downtime, we just, we just went with it when we when we got there. And we were able to make a new itinerary. And we were able to still do some things that we wanted to do because I had the spreadsheet and I said, Okay, these hours are open now. So let’s go here. I had, I did all the planning already before. So when our time short, we were able to adjust our schedule, and you just kind of have to go with the flow sometimes.
20:52
So what would you do if you do and so what happened to those Eiffel Tower tickets with a time then you lost them?
20:59
Yes. Yes, they were timed and I had, you know, done so much research about the perfect time to go the twinkling of the lights and everything. But sometimes your expectations, you just have to you just have to let it go and you can decide to be negative about it and be really upset.
21:20
What are you going to do the flight got canceled? I mean like exactly, nobody died, nobody died. Cancel fly.
21:27
So you just kind of have to go with the flow. And that’s one of the things I’ve told my my my family I’m like of all the planning I’ve done. There’s going to be times when things go wrong. Are we missing? Yeah, we and you just have to be flexible because this is a country that we don’t really speak the language and we don’t really know what we’re doing. So
21:46
now a tip for people who want to go see the Eiffel Tower if something like that happens, Plan B could be if you wanted to that you go an hour before it closes. So that changes every day of the you know, every season so you Gotta check out when it closes, but you go one hour before and typically you will have less of a way to even if you don’t have tickets in advance, or the other thing you can do is check I mean you need to pay attention to when the sunsets because in Paris in the summer, the sunset is very late. It’s like 1030 or so. Okay, PM, but already by now it’s it’s like eight through eight or something like that 8pm. So if, if you can’t go see the Eiffel Tower, you could like do a cruise, one of these without the party or battle moves or something. And if you go from for the party and you go on the half hour, they will make sure that you were there when it’s in sparkles. She will get up on it, but you see it Yes. Oh, you know, it’s Yes, Plan B,
22:54
you know, yes. And our hotel was near the Eiffel Tower. So that Monday night We were able to be there for when at twinkled, it was 11pm at night. And even though we didn’t get to go up it just being able to see it. Yeah, for the first time was remarkable. And I recorded the twinkling. And that and honestly, that was the first thing when we arrived on on Monday was we just went straight to the Eiffel Tower. And we took a bunch of pictures and we had crepes. And even though we had got there later than we had expected, I was on cloud nine because yeah, I was seeing the Eiffel Tower. So it just you got to go with the flow.
23:35
And you know what you in with the same. I would bet that two thirds of people who live in Paris full time have never gone up the Eiffel Tower. So join the club.
23:48
Join the club, and then they see
23:50
it. They don’t get it from you know, they see the sparkle, whatever. But they never go up. So there you go.
23:55
Yes, yes, yes. And then the last thing that I always do as part of my travel is I just I just pray a lot. I pray through the planning. I pray when we’re on the trip, I just asked God to go before us and just just make this trip what he wants it to make it and then ask us to be give us patience and flexibility, which on this trip, we had to practice a lot of that so, but you kind of forget all that stuff when you come back home and when you just remember the good things. Yeah,
24:20
you do. Yeah. That’s, that’s very good.
24:23
Yes, yes.
24:26
Do we get to the bottom of your list already?
24:28
Yes. Well, that’s the bottom of my list of general tips about planning. I have some other things if you would like for me to share them.
24:36
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Let’s let’s go through. Yeah, a few things with my family before the trip. Don’t do tell them. Okay.
24:43
Okay. So as I was listening to the podcast, I was making notes. And these were just these are some of the general tips that I gave my family that I’ve got from suggestions from people and some of these might appear redundant, but it doesn’t hurt to go over them again. And this has helped us just be really aware of the culture and try to be sensitive to where we were going, recognizing that we were in someone else’s country, not in America and just being respectful. So, wherever we were going, we tried to as much as possible speak the language. And I took French in high school, but I hadn’t really brushed up on it yet, so I could barely get by on it, but just tried your hardest. And like, what all of your suggestions say you say, Hello, yo, please. Thank you in the language when you greet people and you smile.
25:37
Yeah. You’re,
25:38
you’re polite, you’re respectful when you right, you approach someone. And so much, in fact that I would, it was just came came naturally to me when we were in an airport, or we were in a shop and I would just be like, Oh, sure. And I don’t know if it was just my confidence, but then they would start speaking to me and French, and then I would look at him with like deer in the headlights. And then I’d be like,
26:02
Very good. Very good. That’s it. That’s all you need, you know? lonely, messy, you know? Yeah.
26:10
Yeah, exactly. So that was an awesome tip. And most of my family did that as well. And then also, obviously try to be respectful of the customs and how they do and don’t do things. Because it’s so much it’s it’s comparable to America but there are some big noticeable differences as you’ve addressed before and other podcast. So you just need to be respectful of those and I just told them that things are going to be different at home we can’t we’re not going to complain. We’re just going to go with the flow and we’re going to be respectful about it and respect where we are because we will have a complaining spirit or we can have a respectful spirit Yeah, and in
26:51
your attitude makes a huge difference. I mean, really, yes. You know, yeah, just come to it like okay, I’m happy go lucky. I’m not happy go lucky type of person. Anyway, so for me, it’s hard to get really, really upset unless it’s something that really matters to me. You know, like, I broke crown with two weeks ago, I was so upset because I knew it was gonna hurt to pick people. So that sort of thing really upsets me, but it’s rare like most Yes. You know, yeah. Well, you know, roll with it.
27:24
Yes, yes, yes. And then I also just politely explained to them that a lot of time and effort myself and my husband had done to plan this trip. So I just asked everyone to be grace filled, thankful and flexible.
27:40
Yeah. Because excellent.
27:43
Yeah, they’ll be
27:43
and I The thing is, the reality is in a family, it’s always one person. That will take on most of the planning duties. I don’t know why this is but this is always how it works out. So whoever is more of the planner will just take it on. And and then it’s a problem when you have other people who planned nothing, who complain that things aren’t going the way they would like it to go like, you know, well, huh?
28:12
Yes, yes. So I tried to stop that even before it started. Just try to say, Hey, I’m doing my best or in a foreign country that I’ve never been before. So, and I think the
28:24
only thing you’re missing is not your notebook, you should have another page for next time. Oh, you know, it’s in my head. It’s okay. Okay, because I think for as much as I’m not a big believer in serendipity, and just finding beautiful things that will just plop in front of your eyes. Sometimes you do run into something, you’re like, Whoa, wow, I’d like to come back here and yeah, the explorers You know, there’s no time for today but for next time so that’s that’s also an important thing to keep in mind to to have a file for next time.
29:02
Absolutely. No, I 100% agree because there’s definitely things that when when I say not, if I say when we go back now we’re going to do again, right like the Eiffel Tower.
29:11
Right, right. And the thing I have to mention, because I’ve been writing the Moscow tour all day long is one very good way to visit a town when you don’t have the time to do all of this planning is to just get one of these, you know, self guided audio walking tours, where I will tell you, you go here and then from here you go. Yes. And every time I tell you, I give you a little bit of information about what you’re looking at, and why it’s important. White matters to French culture. And you know, you can have in an hour or two you can really see most of a neighborhood and you never get lost and you never get frazzled. And now with a big family group, it might be a little bit more difficult to do because I don’t know if everybody in the family wants to do it, but it’s absolutely perfect for people who are traveling Just if it’s one or two people, it’s perfect, I think but
30:03
yes, yes. And that’s one of the things like in the future, when we go back, I would love to do some one of your one of your walking tours sound amazing.
30:12
Yeah. And then and you know, that way you don’t have to think about it. It’s I mean, because I do walk them like a million times, you know, before I before I decided to include this or take this way or that way, I’m very deliberate about how you know the way I take people around because yes, I don’t want them to just walk aimlessly and I but I don’t want them to miss things that that I think are important, you know, just Yes. Yeah. So
30:41
yeah, trusting people who have gone before you.
30:43
Yes, yes. And that’s why I also like to do the these trip reports because people then will, you know, they will just share what they liked best and what they didn’t like so much. So what would you say was your I mean for you? You said that it was Eiffel tower that you liked, that you liked a lot? What about you? You’re the other people in your group.
31:02
Yeah. So in Paris, my mom, one of her favorite places was aloof. We got a private tour guide, because I’ve just heard it’s it’s huge and massive. And we just decided to spend the money.
31:15
It’s worth every penny worth every penny. Yes,
31:17
it was nice. And she totally took us and that was wonderful. And my boys weren’t so much interested in that. But my mom, and honestly, probably one of the funnest things was when we got back when we got into town that Monday, just walking around, and like I had a path, but we started out the Eiffel Tower and then we walked to the Trocadero, and then we did the path to the Arc de Triomphe. And just enjoying all of that just walking around in a planned way. And then we walk this sounds cliche, and my son My 18 year old, that was probably his favorite thing. Just walking down that just in the different shops, and My souvenir I bought my souvenir on that which was a awesome I was reliving my childhood a swatch watch. So that was fun.
32:10
Find those in America anymore. We can,
32:13
but it was just it was you know, it’s just starting to come back. And it was just special because it was a special Paris. The Eiffel tower on it. Ah, yeah, it’s red, white and blue, which is awesome because that’s Francis colors and that’s the USA. Yeah. I love that’s, that was my souvenir and I
32:33
got it. And I remember spending so much time when I was a teenager looking at all these watches and just wondering when I’d be able to afford another one right? I yeah, like yeah, like 10 watches. I don’t want to watch. But yeah, so yeah, it’s it’s fun. That’s fun.
32:51
So just basically walking around was we just really enjoyed it. And then that night, we went to a barbecue That the the chef was trans was they paid his transportation and lodging to come to come to Paris from Kansas City to teach the restaurant how to make Kansas City barbecue.
33:15
Oh,
33:17
yeah, cuz Kansas City is famous for their barbecue. So my husband found this restaurant and we had made reservations. And that was probably a highlight for my husband, because he loved and we are open to new experiences with food, but we’re not the most adventurous with food. So it was fun, and it was just comfortable having some Kansas City barbecue and my boys devoured it. They were like I bet
33:49
that sounds good. makes me hungry.
33:51
Yes.
33:52
so busy. The chef was there temporarily. He’s gone back to Kansas City. Okay.
33:57
Yes,
33:58
yes, hopefully taught them how to do it.
34:00
Yeah, he did. It was really, really good. And I, I’m not a big barbecue connoisseur like my boys are but they gave it the thumbs up that it was good barbecue. And there was some other people from Kansas City. They’re also in the restaurant. So they came over and chatted with us for a few minutes. And that was so fun. It was. Yeah, it was really fun. So that day, it was just wonderful because we got so many different things, unexpected things that all came together for just a perfect day. So it was it was a really good day that Monday was our was a full day in Paris. so
34:35
wonderful. Yes, yes. Thank you so much for sharing all of this and to encourage us to to do this planning right I mean, I kid you not your your spreadsheet is here is good. Like you have different you have different tabs for different places. Yeah, all
34:54
Yes, it’s it was it was a lot of effort to put that together.
34:57
Now. Some of your spelling of French words I have to
35:02
I’m sorry, I’m sorry.
35:07
You should see my spelling in English when it comes straight out. I’m just typing. If I didn’t have spellcheck, you would not know what I’m trying to say.
35:15
True, true. True.
35:17
Well, thank you so much. You have been a delight some guests. And Christina, I hope you come back to France soon.
35:26
Yes, I would love to. And I’ve also heard about Elise’s, like tours around to lose something
35:30
like that. I have to do that. And she is great. I mean, I when I was born and raised in Toulouse, and when I go on her tours, I learned things. I’m like, Oh, so she takes up a lot of stuff. Yeah, so I can’t recommend them enough. And if you want to do a tour with her, Google two is walking tours. Yes, yeah. And that’s release.
35:53
A lot to look forward to when we come back again.
35:55
Yep. Thank you, Christina. Okay. Thank
35:59
you. Hello,
36:01
thank you Julie Adams for pledging to support the show on Patreon this week. patrons enjoy several rewards rewards I can’t talk, including membership into a secret Facebook group where I answer questions. patrons can also hire me to be their trip consultant and help them out every detail they want help with for their trip. I’m a little behind on sending Patreon rewards but there will be time for them this week. So look for those patrons visit patreon.com forward slash join us to see the different reward tiers and thank you so much for giving back. And my thanks also to Val for sending in a one time donation using the green button on any page on join us in France. com that says dip your guide Val wrote Buju Annie we just returned from a Europe trip where Canadians which ended with five days in Paris purchase the two audio tours for the Maharishi and Indian ICT. Before we left, we loved these tours, we had a bit of technical difficulties at the beginning because it’s the first time we’ve used this app. But once we got it sorted out, had such a good time, so much information we could not have got on our own, and the convenience of a guide on our own schedule. Such a great idea. Thank you. And I hope you have great success with these tour as well. So far, it’s working really well people love them. To check out the tours for yourself. You can either install the voice map app on your smartphone and buy them through the app directly. But if you’re listening to the podcast, you can also get a special discount just for my listeners. Go to join us in France. com forward slash audio tours to see the details and I asked you to help me pick the name of this episode on the join us in France close group on Facebook Because I’m really bad at picking titles, thank you to all of you who voted. That was a lot of you, I will probably keep asking for your votes going forward, because it really helps me. You know, my English is fine. Most of the time I make mistakes, but you know, yeah. But I still think in French and sometimes, what sounds like the best title to me is not at all what all of you pick, and this was the case this time. So it’s great feedback. This month, I’m working on turning the very popular episode about driving in France into a book, it will be really useful to anyone planning to rent a car and drive in France because number one I used to teach driving in France. And number two, I will be able to illustrate what I’m talking about rather than just describe it on the podcast, and it will be written specifically for visitors from North America, explaining what you can expect in France that’s different from what you’re used to. I’m hoping to publish it by The end of October but this will be my first time publishing an E book. So let’s Will you know we’ll see how things go. For my personal update this week I sound a little strange because I am having a crown and incisor crown replaced and I have a temporary in my mouth right now and it is too sick. It’s Yeah, it’s a little wrong, but it’s just a temporary in a few days I get the new one but when I’m talking I can tell I can’t really talk anyway. Such are the vicissitudes of getting older and breaking your clouds. But fall is slowly arriving into lose the leaves are turning overnight temperatures are going lower, but you know no freezing yet. I’m keeping an eye on the weather report so I harvest all my half right tomatoes before the first freeze, but not a second sooner. I want them to ripen on the vine as much as possible. I’m hoping to have them ripen on the vine as much as possible. I’m hoping to have a few more weeks without freezing but you never know. outside this morning, we had some light fog. But now the sun is coming out. It’s going to be lovely. But it’s going to be yellow rain jacket weather for me when I go walk the dogs on this lovely Saturday mornings. And I must explain about the Amazon link business that I mentioned on the short episode a few days ago. How do you like the short episodes? By the way? Is that something helpful to you? Nobody has given me any feedback, either positive or negative about that, but I’d like to hear what you think. Okay, so if you’ve been following the podcast for a long time, you know that one of the ways you could support the show was when you bought something on Amazon, if you went through my link, it didn’t cost you a penny more but Amazon sent me a commission for sending in a referral. It’s a really nice thing for you to do because there are a lot of you listening and we all buy a lot of things on Amazon so it adds up but when I was just ready to launch the new site. year ago, a little over a year ago, actually. The old site was such a disaster. It was my first I didn’t know what I was doing. So unsurprisingly, in some ways, Amazon put me in the doghouse. They said no more Amazon affiliate links for you, your site is a mess. And they said this was final. So, you know, I didn’t know what to do. It’s a bummer. But what can I do? So when I worked on the new version of the site with my husband, my husband did most of the work to tell you the truth. We removed all the Amazon links, and we made sure to follow the best practices to having a clean site, you know, clean new site. And then it occurred to me just recently that I should really revisit this Amazon thing I emailed Amazon and they said, you need to reapply to the program. So I did and they said, Sure, you can come back now. So If you want to be super nice before you buy something on Amazon, go to join us in France. com and at the bottom of any page, you’ll see an Amazon banner ad, it just looks like an ad, it is an ad. Click on that and browse the store the same way you normally would. It doesn’t matter what you buy, it will not cost you a penny more. So it’s a win win. And thank you so much for doing that. If you want to recommend the podcast to someone who already listens to podcasts, tell them they can find join us in France travel podcast anywhere they get their podcasts, if they listen to music, but not podcast on their phones. Tell them to search for join us in France on Spotify or Pandora. And if they don’t normally listen to anything on their phones, what is wrong with them, send them to join us in france.com and thank you for listening and spreading the word. Send questions or feedback to any ad join us in France. com. Have a great week. In France, or a great week of trip planning, and I will talk to you next week of the join us in France travel podcast is written and produced by Annie Sargent and copyright 2019. By addicted to France. It is released under a Creative Commons Attribution non commercial no derivatives license.
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Episode Page Guest NotesCategories: Family Travel, First Time in Paris, Paris