I am going to paris with my family late in June, four of us, my wife and I and two kids, 17 and 11. A tiny double room is not enough for us. On top of that we have 12 pieces of luggage, being en route to other destinations. Now the million dollar question,
How do we get from CDG to the hotel, of course without selling tghe farm. Is it easy to get a minivan that can carry 12 pieces of luggage and 4 of us at CDG or I have to book something in advance?
For the hotel, I am willing to pay up to 200 Euros somewhere close to the live and family safe section of the city, what do you recommend ?
Pleaes share you exprinece with me.
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Sammy-
My best advice would be to downsize the luggage. I go to Europe for 10-14 days and I take a small 20%26quot; carry-on bag. This is from years of downsizing....you will never use all of those clothes/shoes. It may take a bit more planning in terms of matching your items, but it will be well worth it...in saving your back, aggravation and money for checking and paying to transport those bags. There should be no reason you can%26#39;t downsize to 4 bags. One for each of you.
You may want to look at an apartment rather than a hotel, depending on how long you plan to stay. Any area of Paris is %26#39;safe%26#39; . It really depends on what you want to do, what kind of feel you are looking for. Most people stay near the city center. The Marais(4th) is nice, a little hip, young, higher energy..like the Grenwich VIllage of NYC. The 6th is a bit more upscale and more expensive. The 5th would be ok, more low key and the 7th (near the Eiffel Tower) doesn%26#39;t have enough to make me stay there.
Good Luck
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Excuse me, you mentioned you are enroute, so may I understand you are relocating or something,,?? I honestly can only think that is the only explanation for that much luggage. I did Europe for almost three months with one bag.
Could you not ship some of your belonging by parcel post,,?? Taking 12 pieces is not reasonable .. very difficult to handle in airport, etc. and most airlines will charge so much for extra weight that it might be cheaper to ship ahead. You WILL have to take two taxis. You will not be able to just get off the plane and rent a mini van, they are not as common as they are here in Canada. Cars are small, exspensive, gas is costly, parking in Paris very exspensive.. Mini vans are available, but , yes, book ahead, and pay lots.
The only real solution is to LOSE some of that baggage. Send it on, or take one bag each.
If you do in fact bring that many bags , ,good luck finding a hotel room for that price range, that will fit four of you AND TWELVE BAGS!! LOL
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Robin - How on earth do you manage to squeeze everything into a 20%26quot; carry-on?
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You shouldn%26#39;t have difficulty commanding a mini-van type taxi for the transfer from CDG into Paris for a party of four...but whether all of your baggage will also fit, depends largely on the size and bulk of that baggage....but it%26#39;s possible that it MAY all fit.
It%26#39;s worth noting that in ADDITION to whatever the metered taxi fare might be from CDG to your final destination within Paris (avg 45-55 €) there will also be official surcharges--2,80 € for the 4th passenger and 1 € for each piece of baggage (after the 1st)
As an alternative, you could contact one of the private airport shuttel-van services for a pre-arranged pick-up and transfer. One such shuttle company that has received fairly good reviews here, from family groups who%26#39;ve used them is
GREY SHUTTLE--
http://www.greyshuttle.com/
For a party of four, you will need at least a %26#39;Quad%26#39; room...or a %26#39;Family Room%26#39; (usually two connecting Doubles) and 200€ s is cutting the budget for these closely...but still do-able. Check out these options (of several) to see if any seem a ftt for your group--
HÔTEL FAMILIA--
http://www.hotel-paris-familia.com/
http://familiahotel.com/
L%26#39; HÔTEL TROYON--
http://www.hotel-troyon.com/
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Sammy, please not 12 pieces of luggage. You will not need half of it. Just wash your smalls in the shower every morning for a start. Take three of everything and wash as you go. One on, one in waiting and one drying off. You will just hate going from a to b lugging all that baggage.
If you must take all that luggage, then do pre-book a mini van for your sole occupation, from CDG.
For 200 Euros per night for all of you, you might achieve better value for your money a little out of the centre methinks. By that I mean higher numbered arrondissements. I would book pretty soon though, it is mid-May already. Then buy the best value travel cards to suit the duration of your stay, that might even mean buying a %26#39;carnet%26#39; of ten tickets at a time to minimise the cost of travelling %26#39;in%26#39; to the sights.
Best tip I could give you is reconsider your luggage. I too travel with a 20%26quot; suitcase for 6-8 weeks of travel across 9 countries.
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%26gt;%26gt;%26gt; four of us, my wife and I and two kids, 17 and 11. A tiny double room is not enough for us%26lt;%26lt;%26lt;
By the way, if you%26#39;re thinking of Parisian %26#39;..Double..%26#39; hotel rooms in terms of Canadian and US chain hotel standard %26#39;..doubles..%26#39;--two large, double beds per room....you%26#39;d better alter your thinking. Most Parisian %26#39;..Doubles..%26#39; will have either one %26#39;..double..%26#39; bed or two, single %26#39;..twin..%26#39; beds.
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If you take a duffle for each and ship them with rolled clothes you should have enough for the trip. I am also experimenting with a 20 inch carry on duffle and I find that I can get several days of clothing into that. However, on small planes, it sometimes has to be checked.
The last think you want is to drag that many cases through airports, streets or train stations. Some stations in France do not have lifts or escalators to and from the platforms.
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we spent 3 mos in Europe with a bag each -- we had a medium sized, not a carry on but that was mostly because of books etc and not clothes
the only reason for so many bags is if you are moving to a new location or if you are hauling gifts to family or something -- if so, consider shipping stuff -- what a nightmare to have all this junk with you -- you will spend a lot of time and money on logistics and those extra bags are costly at every step of the way
you can do months of travel on one bag even if you don%26#39;t want to get it down to carry on size
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Shoesy,
I have learned to be a smart packer! I take sold colors that mix and match. I take scarves and jewelry to change my outfits. I will hand wash if I need to. I only take 2 pairs of shoes...I wear my heaviest pair. If I need a coat...I wear it on the plane. You%26#39;d be surprised at what you really don%26#39;t need. I don%26#39;t go anywhere that fancy, so I don%26#39;t need anything extra fancy. And I wear alot of black...it goes with everything!
It works for me...and it is really hassle free! No lost luggage!
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It sounds like you%26#39;re very organized, Robin. I%26#39;m aware of the fact that I always pack more than I need. I must admit that I find it a bit stressful making wardrobe decisions, so I prefer to know that I have several options when deciding what to wear each day.
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