You are a senior now, though you feel forty-five at the most. You will want to travel differently from your student days when you stuffed a few things in a backpack and took off the next day with a Eurail pass in your pocket.
Plan ahead.
Don’t land at Charles de Gaulle Airport with your running shoes on. Plan to take it easy the first day or two. Jet lag may hit you harder than when you were younger. Experts suggest getting out in the sun as much as possible to stimulate resetting your biological clock. Now is the time to window shop, people watch at a sidewalk cafe or picnic by the Seine.
Consider what is really meaningful to you. Do you want to find the best chocolate shop in all of Paris? Do you want to go to Le Cordon Bleu, the same cooking school Julia Child attended, if only for a day or two? Would you like to soak up life in the Marais? Perhaps you love Édith Piaf? Be sure to go to the little museum dedicated to her. Her gravesite is not far away in the Père Lachaise Cemetery.
Before you leave, make a basic itinerary of one or two things a day and note their metro stops. This leaves plenty of time to be spontaneous but will keep you on track so you don’t return home without having hit your personal high spots. Planning ahead ensures that you will bring back memories of what you really love.
Sightseeing tours can be wonderful additions to your itinerary. Book a couple which fit your interests. For example if you want to visit Édith Piaf’s gravesite, consider a tour of the whole graveyard instead of just strolling about with a map in your hand. You will learn so much more if you have a tour guide.
Unless you love being a road warrior, you should not rent a car. If you would like to see something outside of Paris, let someone else do the driving. There are many one day and overnight tours you can book in advance. If you don’t find one that takes you where you want to go, you can have one created just for you.
Finally, be sure to have travel insurance for that rare event you cannot plan for in advance. It is worth every penny for the peace of mind it gives you. And should you need it, you will be forever glad you had it.
To talk more about how to design your perfect vacation in France, please contact us. We are here to help.