Jason and I are planning a trip to France. We hope to journey there this summer, but we're having a bit of trouble organizing it. You see, I've been to France before, but Jason hasn't. (He's been to Germany, though. Lucky.) I've been the one looking into this trip so far, and I've boiled it down to two options: roadtrip or lounge. Both trips have their own draw.Roadtrip
If we were to roadtrip, we could hit some high points in Paris, enough to make sure Jason got in his culture but not repeat everything I've already done, and hit the road. I see this road trip heading west to the beaches of Normandy, the American cemetery, Mont St. Michel and a strange tapestry that seems to be quite the thing to see. From there, I would imagine we would head southeast-ish to the Loire Valley and stop to visit a few castles along the road. There seems to be a trail through there that would be a nice hike. I would have liked to continue to the Riviera, but I'm not sure we will have enough time. (Right now I'm hoping for seven to 10 days.) From there, I'd like to hit Reims in the Champagne region to see the Pommery again and the Reims basilica before going back to Paris.
Benefits with this plan:
1) We'll get a more complete view of France, at least tourism-wise.
2) We aren't "stuck" in the same place.
Problems with this plan:
1) Securing transport and lodging throughout the whole trip - Ugh! Sounds like a lot of work.
2) Staying on schedule at different locations; we might like one stop longer or get delayed due to transportation issues.
Lounge
If we lounge, we could rent an apartment for the week and live like real Parisians. We could go to one or two farmers markets that I've been investigating and check out all the specialty shops in our neighborhood, soaking up the flavor of Paris as well as visiting the major sites in Paris: le Tour Eiffel, l'Arc de Triomphe, le Sacre Coeur, le Palais de Versailles. We may have time for one day trip to a small village and ISAB (the French ag school I attended) or maybe out to Reims for some champagne.
Benefits with this plan:
1) More time: I can drag Jason out of bed to stake out sunrise photos at the Eiffel Tour and keep him out late to photograph Paris at night.
2) We can see some really neat things that I missed the first time and I (kind of) already know my way around.
Problems with this plan:
1) We are missing out on the wide variety of opportunities open to us in the rest of the country.
2) I've seen some of this stuff before, and I kinda want this to be a discover-it-together kind of experience.
So, what do you think? Given our time constraints (7-10 days) and trying to remain somewhat frugal (We haven't set our budget yet, but this is the long-awaited honeymoon, two years in the making.) would you choose to roadtrip or lounge? Why?
5 comments:
What about a little of both? You could spend 3/4 days just in one spot - hit the high spots and still have some time to wonder around together "exploring" and then have a few days to drive around to a couple of other places you wanted to see.
If it was me I would be afraid that the 7-10 days worth of driving around would cause more stress than it's worth - maybe lots of getting lost, etc. Plus only have to make reservations for a few days worth of travel would be less stressful than having to book a full weeks worth of different places to stay/ways to get there.
Let me know if I can help you with anything!
Thanks, Jamie!
I say there's nothing better than a road trip when you are young and don't have kids. I wouldn't worry about making reservations, just get a good guide book and figure it out along the way. Maybe you'll get lost or have to sleep in the car or something...but that is part of the adventure!
I am the adventurous type, so I lean more towards the roadtrip side, but even I say that 7-10 days on the road is a lot, especially on a honeymoon. Although you want to see as much as possible, you want to take time for what the trip was intended for...time together!
My suggestion is to do the road trip, but like Jamie said, do a little of both. Instead of visting all those places, cut it down to a few that the both of you really want to see and spend that extra time, that would have been spent traveling, lounging and seeing each other.
Trust me...the longer your married, the harder it is to find time for just the two of you, so take it while you can get it :)
Hope I helped!
I agree with Jamie- do a little of both and have time to relax AND explore and sight-see! :)
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