Going to France

F

five

ty the tyrant
I am leaving for France on Friday. I have never been and I don't speak the language. I bought one of those pocket phrase books. On one hand I am excited and on the other I am worried. I have heard a lot of things about how the Frenchmen hate Americans.

I have a few questions regarding general traveling:

Concerning my luggage tags:
1) What information should I put?
2) Should I include a picture on the tag?
3) What language should my tags be in, French or English?
4) Why do some of the companies make hidden tags, i.e. you have to slide something back to get to the information, should I be worried about someone stealing my luggage?

Concerning currency:
1) Where can I get American exchanged for Euros?
2) Should I exchange it here or once I land over there?
3) Do I have to have cash to exchange, or can I use a credit card?
4) If I use a credit card, do I have to have a PIN number?

My last bit, I would just like any general tips or advice that anyone has from personal experiences that they are willing to share. I know this topic has nothing to do with Alias, but there seem to be a lot of French teachers and such lurking around.

I would appreicate any help.

Thanks,
Five
 
I have one suggestion - take me with you! Lol!!!

I'd love to go to France........but sorry, I can't help you with the questions!

Kelly
 
hi Five!

I'm french, and I live in France, in Paris exactly..I hope you will understand my english, because I do a lot of grammatical errors, etc... But I'm trying to improve it, so, be indulgent!!

I decided to reply to your post because you said you heard that french people hate americans... really, that's not true,you cannot believe that... we love your country, your language, your movies, tv shows...we respect your country..
France and most of french people are against Bush policy concerning the war, but that doesn't mean we hate you!!!! You just have to forget that...

Concerning your questions, I didn't understand all of them... But in Paris, there are many places where you can exchange money... many credit cards are accepted here..

Regarding luggage questions, what do you mean exactly...luggage are not stolen or lost everyday... you just have to put your name, your address...that's all...

If you have more questions... I can try to answer...

Where do you go in France?

see you around..

Sonia
 
I will be in Les Bizots for 6 days and Paris for 3 days.

Thanks for replying, I appreciate it. :—)
 
Hi five , I'm french too and like Sonia, I had to answer to one thing in particular:
we do not hate American people!!

It's true that we do not like Bush and his policy and that we did not appreciate that much all the anti-french press when we stood up against the war in Iraq.
But we know the difference between a politician and the entire American people!
So don't worry, you'll be welcome!!

As for your luggage , you just have to put your name and adress and i don't think there is that much stolen luggage, so don't worry!!

For the rest it's like Sonia said , so enjoy your trip...
I don't live in Paris , i live in the south west of France but I've been there and it's really beautiful!
See you,
Marie. ;)
 
This makes me more optimistic, thanks.

I have a lot of packing to do and such, I am going to be computer-less for 9 days, whew, I might go into withdrawal.

I'll post how my trip went, when I get back - if anyone wants me to.
 
Oh, God that's too bad I've missed your post and now you've already gone cos it's sunday!! well I hope you'll enjoy it :smiley:

but well Sonia and Marie already summed it up for me. i'm french too and live in Paris.
all I wanted to say is (not to you in particular, but in general)please stop drawing stereotyped conclusions: WE DO NOT HATE AMERICANS!!
well do you hate me? just because USA and France had politicals issues last year? nah, you see, you can tell the difference... and as you don't know me you can't say you hate me just because I'm french... well I mean I hope so!! :D
so we're not stupid either, we just don't hate people on a nationality basis!! (not all of us I mean, cos well, you probably would have met some jerks, but what can you do?! there're everywhere, and I hate them, even if they're french, cos that because of them that you got to post your fear about us hating you in the first place...)

well, never mind!! I just wanted to wish you the best time ever there in France. and I hope you liked Paris, and of course I wanna know about it when you come back.

so please give us some news as soon as you're back!!

maya :smiley:
 
ARGH ...! Five : you said you heard that french people hate americans...
Dear God I don't know how many people thinking like that... It's so sad. We do not hate American people!!
Do you think we are all monsters? hiiiiiiiiiii So funny. Of course it's wrong ! ...except for Bush with the anti-french press ! ;)
You're welcome at home ! Big kiss from Paris. ^^lol
 
It's odd, because French thinks that American doesn't like them because the war in Iraq, and American thinks that French doesn't like them!

But we don't hate Americans. It's right the policy of America which many doesn't appreciate!!
I hope that you will like Paris. It's very beautiful! It's normal that I say that, I live in!!lol

And like says it VaughnFan13 post pictures!! ;)

See you

Marina
 
Thanks for all of the posts guys.

I am back and had a good time, the weather was gorgeous, it got cold one day.

For the most part I was treated either nicely or with indifference. Twice I had bad experiences because I was American, but overall it was not that bad.

Man, it was weird not having internet or TV for so long, it was kind of nice, but I wouldn't want to grow accustomed to it.

For now I will post the places I went and later I will post pictures:
1) Le Château de Chenonceau
2) Pont du Gard (Aqueducts)
3) Amphitheatre (Mini Coliseum)
4) La Maison Carree (The Square House)
5) Eiffel Tower
6) Le Château de Versailles
7) Arc de Triomphe
8) Musée du Louvre (Mona Lisa)
9) Notre Dame de Paris (Cathédrale)

Places we really wanted to see, but wasn't able to:
1) Moulin Rouge
2) Les Invalides (Tombeau de Napoleon)

I will post personal pictures as soon as I can, I think I got all of the spellings and places right. If I remember any other places I will post them.
 
Hey glad you had a good time.
Just a correction it's Arc de Triomphe.
Yeah please post the pictures soon. ^_^
 
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