final voyage

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Flowerhat

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hello,

i have plans to travel to europe for my first time.
I am hoping to be able to take my gran who is early 70s (very active) to france once before she is incapable to fly anymore.

I am still without a degree and spending a lot of my 7k earnings on a diploma course but dont want to wait too long with this trip as anytime might be too late.

Has anyone here ever been to france? Where do you think one would have the most affordable weeks accomodation. And what is the cheapest form of transportation if you can take age into consideration.

I dont know if i want to spend a lot of time in paris as i expect it to be quite busy and expensively geared towards tourists.

What type of budget would i need to stay there for 4 to 5days worth of accomodation, transport and eateries.

Already have an estimate on tickets.

Heres hoping someone might be able to help me out with their past experiences.

Regards,
fh
 
Myself and my gf have both just left SA, I have come to work in the UK. She went to France.

I'm not sure if this affects the area's that you are planning on going, or the prices, but she went there to get a job on the yachts as a chef. As far as I can tell, its the season for it, so thousands travel to France this time of year (many of them depart from France), and I think it last's up untill about July ish, once all the boats have left. I would think because of this, they up the prices for pretty much everything...

She was only in France for about 1 and a 1/2 weeks. the first few days was at a back packers, which cost her about 25 euro's a night. She then moved into a 1 bedroom flat with 3 other people, and they were paying I think 180 euro's each for the week.

She has found a job in Barcelona and says its beautiful there, and seems cheaper. So maybe think about Spain instead haha.

This was in Antibes, not Paris or Nice etc.So ye im not sure if this helps you at all, it's just what I have heard from her :)


EDIT : I will be speaking to her either tonight, or 2mrw night, so I will try get more info about transport costs/food prices etc.
Her father lives there and she is fluent in French, so I might be able to get some decent info from her :)
 
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I think it's great actually - rather skimp on what you must now and enjoy.
 
i am staying with my gran, and i am close to work. Dont go out much. Have saved nearly 20k (over a year) so will haveto work with a similar budget when going over
 
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70 is the new 40 dude. There's an old UK guy my cousin met back in 95. he's 94 right now, and each year he says "I can't come to South Africa for a visit anymore because I'm too old" yet, each here he comes for Xmas :)
 
Hi Flowerhat,

Don't forget, if you need a VISA they will cost you and your gran close on R2500.00. Have you taken that into account?

I would recommend that you take around R4000 - R5000.00 spending money as well. Take a credit card with you just in case you spend a little more than you anticipated. Let the bank know you will be going overseas, they will then allow you the use of your credit card overseas.

The cheapest form of transportation in France is the tube. I would say if your gran is active and get up a flight of stairs without trouble, she will easily handle getting on and off the tube. The only issues you may encounter is during peak when there are scores of people and you may have to squeeze in and have to stand.

Perhaps if you are travelling light, you can squeeze in a box or two of say pronutro into your bags. This will cover at least breakfast for your stay.

I would recommend you find a place to stay that is walking distance to a tube station. It is around 1 euro 40 per person per trip. Depending on how far you travel. Also this means you can easily get to and from charles de gaull airport. I am sure you will find decent accommodation for around 80 euros per night along the outskirts of Paris. Try visit http://www.all-paris-apartments.com/ to get an idea.

The best way to save money is to ensure you prearrange everything well in advance.

Tickets will be +- R15000, Visas +- R2500.00, Spending Money +- R4000, Accommodation +- R6000.

Also, please take my advice and go for 7 days as opposed to 4 or 5. You will lose out on plenty of time getting to your accommodation, unpacking, resting from jet lag, exploring the city etc.

Once the dust has settled, the trip will cost you between R25000.00 and R30000.00

One last thing, ensure your hotel, flight tickets etc are booked well in advance. You will then have to go to JHB to get your VISA for France. There are quite a few things to get through on the Visa application that may take you a while to get, start early so that you do not get stressed out.

Cheers
 
@OP

My 2c of advise: over-budget. Rather wait a few months more, maybe even a year more, and save up enough, than to go there with only what is necessary. Yeah, you can get away with "cheap" lodging, and they have McD's in Europe, but you want to go there to experience the sights, the sounds and the food. If you're in Paris, you'll probably want to go up the Eiffel. A quick google gives a price of Euro 14 for that. I'd rather wait a bit and visit all the place I want to see, than go earlier, but I can't afford to do all I want to.
 
Flowerhat said:
i am staying with my gran, and i am close to work. Dont go out much. Have saved nearly 20k (over a year) so will haveto work with a similar budget when going over
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Not gonna happen unfortunately.. I went in 2009. It cost about R36 000 for two weeks in France and Germany. Plane tickets are about R8000-9000 per person, if you book long enough(6+ months) in advance, and it's not the busy season, (which it is now). The exchange rate is a lot more favourable now, luckily for you, about R10,50. (was 14 when I went).

Assuming you're going for only 1 week (which is really very little time to explore such an awesome country):

Plane tickets, R16000 (if you time it right and go in the European winter)
Visas: About R2000
Acommodation, staying at cheap places is about €50 per night per room in hostels, Formule 1 hotels etc. You could save a bit by sharing one of those rooms where 10 or 20 people share, but I wouldn't recommend it. So about another R4000, if you're very lucky. Especially smaller towns don't have such cheap acommodation.

Spending money, I'd recommend at least €70 per day if you're alone, or maybe 100 for 2 people. That's if you eat cheaply, don't go to any fancy restaurants, and only a few touristy places. Entry to the Eiffel Tower costs €12 per person for example. Or 8 (i think) if you take the stairs. Do NOT take the stairs.
Food is a bit cheaper than here in the shops, but restaurants are massively more expensive. Another 100*10.5*7 = R 7350

Travel: In the major cities like Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Bordeaux, Lille etc. you can buy day tickets for the métro, RER, busses, or trams. In Paris they are €12 (or were then). This is included in the 70/100 figure above. Travelling between cities is another thing. Car hire is very expensive, even more than over here. The trains are your best bet. The TGV's are nice, clean, quiet and super fast. 320km/h, not like our wussy 160 Gautrain. Tickets cost about the same as plane tickets if you just buy them there, but: you can buy a Eurail Pass in South Africa, which will cost you about R3000 per person, depending on the number of days. For the number of days you choose, you can then take the trains anywhere in the country on that day for no or very little extra cost (€2 booking fee if it's a very popular route) if you book in advance. Another R 6000

So you're on R35 350 already. And like I said, that's if you use money wisely, stay very cheaply, and go in the off season. Acommodation can easily cost double in the summer, and plane tickets around 30-50% more. Most South Africans (or other tourists) will probably spend a lot more, going mad and hitting all the tourist attractions and living in luxury, eating in restaurants often etc.
 
Why don't you consider going to the south of France - beautiful!

Or consider a cruise on a barge down one of their rivers/canals. Sounds idyllic.
 
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I like your idea and commend you on trying to take the gran for a trip to Paris!

Its expensive though - as some of the guys have already mentioned, everything from accommodation to food to even transport is pricey. With your gran you not going to be able to use the subway (i am assuming the steps etc are too much for her) so its busses (which are not a bad option) or taxis. And if you want cheaper accommodation, its usually a bit further from the main areas.

Overall, most places in Europe are expensive - maybe Turkey is cheaper (i heard good things, but no info on pricing)

There is probably a reason you chose France, but there are a lot of really decently packages for places like Thailand, Malaysia etc. They usually about 10k-12k for a week and includes flights, accommodation, transfers and sometimes even some meals are included. Food is cheap, transport is also cheap and people are very friendly.

Otherwise if France it must be, do it, but maybe think carefully about your budget.
 
If I were you I'd do a cruise boat tour with your gran. They're generally cheaper and you can see more than just France. I'd love to spend the rest of my days touring the world like that. See the Northern lights, dock in Monaco and watch an F1 race...
 
Hey flowerhat, Sorry I didn't get back to you. Turns out my gf and Icouldn't handle the whole long distance relationship vibe, so I wasn't able to get any information about France for you.

Anyway, I think its awesome that you want to take your Gran to France, and hope you manage to go and have a great time!
Good luck man.
 
Fonzy said:
Hey flowerhat, Sorry I didn't get back to you. Turns out my gf and Icouldn't handle the whole long distance relationship vibe, so I wasn't able to get any information about France for you.

Anyway, I think its awesome that you want to take your Gran to France, and hope you manage to go and have a great time!
Good luck man.
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So between the start of this thread and your last post, you broke up with your gf? That's sad!
 
blunomore said:
So between the start of this thread and your last post, you broke up with your gf? That's sad!
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Yep, it is sad. After pretty much living together for a year, and then not seeing each other for a month straight, and not knowing when we will see each other again, it just seems too hard. She actually quit her job after I posted this morning and emailed me to say she is going to come and spend a week with me (she arrives tomorrow), to try and sort this out, would be awesome to make it work, but if we can't, we will still remain very good friends :)
 
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