It's been 5 years since I went to Paris for the first time. Having never gone before and since I was going to be solo, I went with a tour group. Traveling with 40 other people was great for a first time destination. I got to see all the major sights. It would have been hard to plan all that on my own. Traveling with a tour is pretty much stress free. You just pretty much show up at the airport and just sit back and enjoy!
This time however I am really going to live out my dream. I finally made my decision to go this year after meeting a women from France that now lives in Kentucky at a Holiday Market the week before Thanksgiving. Talking to her just got me so excited about going back that I decided I'm done TALKING about going back and actually doing it!! This time I am going to do all the planning on my own. This makes me a little nervous. Mostly because of the language barrier. I do know basic phrases though and hope to learn more. I will not be going solo, I will be going with my cousins wife. I am so excited that she is going with me. I will be doing most of the research and we will be getting together to discuss details. I want to make this a great trip for her and want to make sure she gets to check off her list of things she would like to see while there.
So far I've been checking out airfares (wow! Expensive) and since I am leaning towards renting an apartment vs going the hotel route, I've been checking out various apartment rental agencies. I have traveled before using VRBO and AirBNB for rentals and have been very satisfied with the process. Anyway, there are so many choices out there it's overwhelming. I am thinking I'd like to stay in the 5th or 6th arrondissement so we are pretty central to all the main things. Being this is the first time doing this on our own I have about a million concerns such as, what kind of transportation should we take to get from CDG airport to to the city, train, taxi, or hire a service? I guess it's mostly the fear of the unknown.
So now that the holidays are over, it is time to start the planning process. First thing to figure out is a date, then a place to stay, then the rest will come later. A million decisions to be made. I'm open to any and all advice. I'd love to hear any Paris experiences or suggestions. I'm going to be documenting the planning process all the way through. My goal is to help make it easier on those that really have dreamed about going to Paris, but are afraid to plan a trip on their own.
Oh and by the way, Thank you to my new French friend for giving me the push to finally make this happen!! Merci!