In search of cheapest travel prices
Finding the best (cheapest!) prices for travel is not easy, to say the least, and is often very time-consuming and confusing. Usually the search ends because the time and hassle involved all becomes too much and the customer settles for the best they’ve seen so far. For cheap car hire in France I’m pretty convinced [...]
Customer service in France
France isn’t best known for its high level of customer service, and today I’ve been dealing with a fine example… For years we had an unwritten rule in France of not buying anything on the internet, because the only slight chance of getting customer service in France is to stand persistently in front of a [...]
Shown up by the children
During the summer holidays the girls have done, let’s say, not very much exercise. Their claims that walking around the shops or dancing at parties count as exercise are not very convincing. So after a couple of glases of wine I had a bright idea. OK I said, I’ll see how quickly I can cycle [...]
But what is nearby?
I don’t often mention changes I make to the main francethisway site on this blog, and probably you wouldn’t be interested anyway, but something I have been working on recently deserves fanfares, trumpets, and a round of applause. In my humble opinion, of course. We have added a feature so that for any given destination [...]
Cycling the Marais Poitevin
The Marais Poitevin is a marsh region between Marans and Niort in southern Vendee / northern Poitou-Charentes. A fascinating and unusual region, where silent tree-lined canals traverse the tranquil landscape. Sounds interesting I thought, and yesterday I sketched out a bike route on the map which would take me past some of the highlights. The [...]
La Rochelle Tourist Office
In the last of the ’La Rochelle trilogy’ I thought I would offer some words of advice to the town tourist office, which seems to have forgotten that the town is so dependent on tourism. Yes, there is much of beauty in La Rochelle that you will discover without their help but that doesn’t excuse [...]
La Rochelle restaurants and shopping
We’re still in La Rochelle, where I am trying in vain to save our bank balance from numerous assaults and attacks. Happily the children don’t realise how close we are to Futuroscope France! The latest challenge came when someone, somehow, discovered that men’s jeans were on sale on the top floor of Galaries Lafayette. How [...]
Not getting away from it all
Woo-oo we’re on holiday. Our first ’traditional summer holiday’ together in six years – it’s difficult getting away in summer because we have gites ourself. (We don’t have the promised internet access so postings will be irregular.) We are in La Rochelle for a week or so, staying in an apartment in the heart of [...]
Keeping up with the holidaymakers
Usually during the summer my life is very calm. I stay shut away in my little office, beavering away at my websites, while the rest of the world does holiday type thinks – swimming pool, visiting medieval villages, getting drunk and singing in the courtyard and so on. The main times I emerge from my [...]
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