The flight with Air Transat to Paris was great! We arrived at approximately 8:30 am after a 9 hour flight. The time passed quickly by watching movies. The airline served us dinner & a continental breakfast that was rather spartan but adequate. Unfortunately we were seated in the row directly behind first class and their level of service looked pretty amazing. There appeared to be 18 seats in the first class zone of the flight we were on and I am curious to know what the upgrade to first class would be for the trip home. Two return tickets from Calgary to Paris in economy were $2200 Cdn flying the "Bologna Plan",.. which was fine. We managed to get seats at the bulkhead which gave us a lot more room for Leslie's 5 ft frame!!!
Upon arrive, we picked up our luggage and contacted Auto Europe for our brand new Peugeot rental. They picked us up right outside the arrival door within minutes...GREAT SERVICE! The little car was loaded and we managed to get all our luggage in the trunk, which was a real surprise. We then drove to a Trappes, France, a community just outside of Versailles. We booked into the trusted Ibis Trappes Saint Quentin en Yvelines. Ibis is a large hotel chain throughout Europe and are very spartan but clean and the room layout is tiny but always consistwnt with free wifi, a comfortable bed and a great choice when your stuck for a room at the last minute. The rates are very competitive and the hotels are always booked to capacity.
We decided to nap for a few hours before we head out to pickup some groceries and snacks for the next few days. We travel with a small insulated cooler with enough room for some cheese, juice, yogart, etc. Some of the better grocery stores in France are LeClerc, Aldi, Lidl,Carrefour, to name a few. Aldi & Lidl are discount food retailers that are often far cheaper than the others but their selection is quite limited. After picking up dinner and a few other items, we hit the sack for a busy day of touring Versailles tomorrow. We may extend our 2 day booking to 3 given we did not get much accomplished our first day. This type of flexibility is the beauty of not booking in advance however the downside is not being able to find a room during the peak summer months, something we have luckily not experience to date.
Stay tuned...
Upon arrive, we picked up our luggage and contacted Auto Europe for our brand new Peugeot rental. They picked us up right outside the arrival door within minutes...GREAT SERVICE! The little car was loaded and we managed to get all our luggage in the trunk, which was a real surprise. We then drove to a Trappes, France, a community just outside of Versailles. We booked into the trusted Ibis Trappes Saint Quentin en Yvelines. Ibis is a large hotel chain throughout Europe and are very spartan but clean and the room layout is tiny but always consistwnt with free wifi, a comfortable bed and a great choice when your stuck for a room at the last minute. The rates are very competitive and the hotels are always booked to capacity.
We decided to nap for a few hours before we head out to pickup some groceries and snacks for the next few days. We travel with a small insulated cooler with enough room for some cheese, juice, yogart, etc. Some of the better grocery stores in France are LeClerc, Aldi, Lidl,Carrefour, to name a few. Aldi & Lidl are discount food retailers that are often far cheaper than the others but their selection is quite limited. After picking up dinner and a few other items, we hit the sack for a busy day of touring Versailles tomorrow. We may extend our 2 day booking to 3 given we did not get much accomplished our first day. This type of flexibility is the beauty of not booking in advance however the downside is not being able to find a room during the peak summer months, something we have luckily not experience to date.
Stay tuned...
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