Dec 10, 2003 10:29 PM
4585 Views
(Updated Dec 10, 2003 10:29 PM)
Budies here we go for a tour of france , well all you need is a tourist visa , then take the flight and all the regular checks etc etc ,
once you are out of the airport dont be in a rush to take a taxi thats damn too costly for me , u any one unless there is some stupid company bearing all our costs ,
there are free air port busses every 2 mn to pick us at airport and drop us at the train station called GARE (french) ,then once you are at gare if you wish to travell all the france or at least some cities , there are cards that the SNCF(train service) sells for people , people in the sense they dont care from where you are ask for a card and u get it ,
which card to buy
If you are in age limit of 12 to 25 thats it you have an banana, just pop him your passport and ask for a 12 to 25 card (40€)to travell by RER (inter district)TER (inter city) TGV (the fastest one and heavy on wallet also ) but with this card you get a 50 percent reduction on almost all ocasions except on period white . dont woryy what is pêriod white, it is the busy or peak period , then too you will get a 30% reduction ,that is a ticket too and fro to north france from paris may cost around 80€ but with this you get around 40€ only , and 230Km in one hour 5 or 10 min at max ,
if you are inbetween the age limit of 26to 60 then you have another card some what bit expensive 55€ but you get almost same reductions on TER,RER and TGV .rem you will get all those money back in the form of reductions in two journeys by TGVs the fast trains .
accomidation ,
if you just want to go round in paris then you have a day pass where you can take any metros , bus or rer for 5€ a day ,13 for a week , but if you want to take single tickets each costs 1.3€ take 10 you get each at 1€ (3 € save on a pack of 10)
This one is quite risky if you are pocket consious , well I have a tip for this too , first hotels which are less costly , but you cant find any thing bellow 45€ a night and the max can be 1800€ which is no way use full , but a average cost would be around 70€ per night for an average hotel , but all we want is a 15 € to 20 max . soo just see the city you want to go (every city has its official web sites ) where you can find the universities in the city . mail the university recedence guy to book a room if there is one normally you will get a reply in 2 hrs , (uni emploies are quite fast). if this fails then you have jeune travailers (young people hostels)maintained by some oraganisations whose name I can never pronounce ,but they will be like CLJT emeule moreau foyer -foyer means a hostel for rent , then there are some govt rooms called CROUS but they are just available in summer. this hostels may charge you any thing from 15 to 20 euros a day , the cheapest , and you say you saty for a month you get them at 400€ in paris and 250to300 any where else in france (except nice, marsellie,monaco etc)
food ,
Thats a main thing if you are in an average hotel they may charge you any thing between 6 to 23€ for break fast and lunch I never tried maybe more (once I met an us indian and she was saying paris is a costly place to live gave her the cheap livinn in paris she sent a card after returing to US saying I was god sent gift this that I dont believe anyway)so mac donal or quick are the best for cheapest food s , fast foods though , if you need to try diffrent there are greg or grek hotels which will cost u not more than 6 for a full non ved kabab cola dessert etc.if you have a micro wave in hotel , just find a supermarket or carefour (bigger supermarket)then you have all cooked food just need to heat them up .
how to go around france , well if you plan for france you should be having the thickest of the wollen clothing and the lightest of teh cottons , as temperatures can easily go below - in winter and 35 to 42 in summer .
language will be tough one to follow if you are away from paris but if you are in paris you can easily find an english speaking foolish french accent ofcourse . if you are from america better speak a bit slow ,indian no problem .
not all people who look like indian will be an indian in paris ,all from srilanka ,bangladesh , maurities (spell check plll),pakistan (friendly though)etc , soo ask a non brown skin fellow for help ,as even if you ask an indian looking all you get is a false french answer or a srilankan asset tamil .
want to see madras in paris there you drop at gare du nord (north train station ) and even the name boards of shops are in tamil , with tamil actor and actress pics slid out .but there a indian meal will jus cost 6€ cheapest to go for .
then comes the tourist spots , if you are a boy go to the night dics called as boite du nuit (night box) shake till you fall ,If you are a girl just go to calais beach or dunkerque beach in north can sleep on sand with out a single piece of clothing (no one minds as in summers every beach is a nude one )dont carry camera pll .
wanna go skieing ,Travel to lyon and there you chose your spot all 30 min away, (though quite costly to skie all the above hotels trics do not work there).
and if you are good at drinks you have all the wines from best to worst .i am very bad at them and so no advise .
dont keep many expectations on effile tower as it is just a peiece of metal , you go there shed 10 euros if you take a lift to climb up or 3.5€ if you take stairs and dont know what , but you can see the small statue of liberty also called as french bitch from first floor .
heard of mona lisa the famous painting and many more can be seen in lovre a mueseum , but I wonder was it just to show all the stolen items from all countries by french are in display )but you will soon get bored as its ful of old stuff I personaly thing it stinks .
Bon chance ,bon journey les ami .au revoir thats a biot of french , but just the last thing if you say you are from india not many can get you , just say l'inde pronounced as landee.if from america then l'etats unis pronounced as laseta-s-uni.but the cool french will be disapointed if you you all those trics as the billions the french govt gets from tourism may come to bare millions
