Well I thought I'd start this off with a little 'pre-trip' of sorts. I don't write PTRs, because I think they are bad luck.... I always seem to have stuff happen that I end up cancelling the trips
So... Here's the nitty gritty.... lol!
I looked at lots of different websites for hotels that were recommended in the various tour guides I had. I forget which one I found Hotel du Lion D'Or. But that was the Hotel I decided on. It had the best of everything we were looking for (or at least so it seemed!) It was in a great central location just a couple blocks from the Louvre and Tulleries Garden. It was actually an efficiency... which meant there was 2 beds (one lofted), a private bath, and a small kitchenette. So we could eat snacks/breakfast in the room AND we would both have our own bed! Thirdly... and very importantly... the price was right! Only 185 euro/night, I could book online... with no penalty if I had to cancel
So now that I chose a hotel... and booked it.... it was time to find flights!
The price on those was quite a bit higher than I was hoping for... but I kept combing Travelocity, Expedia, and Kayak... as well as the direct sites at Delta, Air Canada, and Air France!! Eventually I came across a rate not too far above what I had budgeted for flights at Air France! I was fine with them being a little higher and went for it... because they were the dates I wanted, from my 1st choice airport... and the flight home was direct!
So... Paris hotel... check!
flights... check!
Now... to book our Disney portion! I waited til after we had our flights becuse I was booking it thru DVC... so it was pretty much a done deal once I did it. I couldn't find any info from anyone that had booked DLP thru DVC... so I felt like I was going in a bit blind with this part!! But the cast members at Member Services were amazing... and were very knowledgable! I was able to book all the nights we wanted at the Sequoia Lodge with no problem! There was a $95(usd) booking fee... and I had to purchase length of stay tickets. But I was happy to discover that breakfast was included each morning! So for less than $600(usd) I added 5 nights with 6 day parkhoppers at DLP!
OK... so is there anything else???
Well besides the usual trip stuff... packing, shopping, repacking... all of which I'm not going to go into... except to say that I DID buy a new camera for this trip! So be warned those of you that are used to my usual photo-quality... these are not as good.
Not bad, but not as nice as they would have been with my DSLR! I really wanted to experience this trip...and not look at everything thru my camera lens!! So regardless of the less than stellar quality, I was pleased with my new camera!
OH!!! I almost forgot!! Taking this trip took Ellie out of school for 10 days! I was nervous about that initially, but once school started... I became outright scared! You see... they built a new middle school that the kids moved into this fall. It is attatched to the High School... so the class periods/times have changed. Now with the new structure... they have block periods! So instead of having English and Algebra daily... they had it 2 times a day... so Ellie would miss twice the material as we originally expected
I made it a point to meet with all her teachers beforehand... and I also requested an educational leave of absence from the school district. In the end it all worked out fine! Some of her teachers gave her all the assignments she would miss almost a week before we even left! Others, excused her from all class work (like History and Tech Ed),and had her write a report about her experiences as her grade for what she missed!
Alrighty!! PTR complete!
Now... onto travel day and arrival in Paris!
We flew on Delta from Pittsburgh PA to JFK in New York on Tuesday evening the 13th. The flight was on a smaller regional jet. It was smooth and uneventful! We were able to see the skyline of New York City as we landed. We both thought that was really cool, since we haven't actually been there before (I know.... Paris before NYC??...
). They were working on the teminal and we could not pull up to a gate. So we had to exit the plane outside on the stairs. Ellie was so excited... she kept saying.. I feel like the President!!!
I don't know about the President... but I personally didn't feel too welcome as we were led into a dingy barely lit basement and stairwell
But we came out unscathed! JFK is a really UGLY and UNfriendly airport! It took us a while to find someone that could help us figure out where to go for our connecting flight. We actually had to walk outside to another terminal... and it was not pedestrian friendly
We managed though, and were thru security, grabbing a snack, and recharging our phones with about 2 hours to wait!
Our Air France Plane was huge! And gorgeous!! Easily the nicest plane I've ever been on! The flight left at 11pm. You could tell the culture was already different since we were served a French dinner at midnite! We weren't very hungary, but the food was pretty good! We then slept a few hours and woke up to a lovely breakfast of muffins, fruit, and juice. Our flight arrived right on time at 12:30pm at Charles De Gaulle airport. The airport was really big, but easy to navigate. Getting through customs and the border police was very smooth and easy. Our luggage was right there on the conveyer when we reached it as well!!
I had read here on the DLP Trip Boards about TIO Shuttle service. I had booked with them before leaving home. The driver met us right outside baggage claim and we were on our way to our hotel! I can't say enough about TIO... they were always on time, polite, and efficient! It was so nice not having to worry about getting a taxi, or wrangling our baggage onto to RER!
Was the hotel all I was hoping for?? Or were the bad reviews the right ones?? Where would we find something to eat?? What did we do our first evening??? Stay tuned to find out!