Je visite la France, bientôt! (and Sweden, and London!)
Mouriès, France — Where I’ll be staying with Andrea and Chris for about a week!
Yay! I think I’ve finally got my trip figured out! I just have to finalize flight options and make sure there’s still availability, check with work to ensure that they are going to be fine without me for a couple of weeks… Check with my cousin to see if they have New Year’s plans, and check with Anders to see if he’s available for a visit in early January! Basically, my tentative plans are to fly to London on evening of December 25th and either stay there for New Years, or fly to Mouriès, France to spend New Years with Andrea and Chris, should my cousin and his wife be unavailable… Then head to the French Riviera for about 7 days (and surrounding areas — I’m basically winging it) and then up to Stockholm for four days before flying back to London and then home to Vancouver.
A total of 21 days on the road, traveling partly on my own for the first time in my life, and partly to meet up with friends and relatives. This is so out of character for me to be booking travel without solid plans, and serious research, but Andrea’s generously offered to help me solidify arrangements as she’s travelled throughout the area which I’ll be visiting, by herself previously, and has lots of travel books. I’m so relieved I have her to counsel me! This will be quite the adventure!!
So here’s a question for you — Looking past the current riot situation which will long be taken care of by the time I get there, if you could travel anywhere in France, where would you go for up to a week as a single girl traveling alone?
UPDATE: I’ve booked the time off work, and I’m purchasing the airline tickets after work tonight! It’s a done deal… I’m leaving for Heathrow on Christmas Day!
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Yay for travel AND adventure! Two fantastic combinations! Travelling solo is a great experience! Good for you! :>
Psst — I fit in a garment bag.
so jealous… all I’m planning is Victoria trips for the next while. huff.
Sounds fabulous! No suggestions from me, I’ve never been there. I look forward to hearing the reports!
What an awesome trip!!!! You are going to have so much fun!!! I lived in France for a few months when I was 16, doing a student exchange program. I lived just outside of a town called Dinan (which is kinda NW of Rennes on your map) and the people I lived with took me to heaps and heaps of places. I would love to go back to the Loire Valley to see the castles, in particular Chateau de Chenonceau. And Mont Saint Michele, and Saint Malo…
So many places, so little time.
Congrats, T, real happy for you. It will be a great trip.
You Lucky-Duck….. remeber to pack a lunch, airline food—- yuck…. if they’re serving it?
You’re going to be right smack dab in the area where Artos and I stayed for two weeks. You really don’t need to venture much further. See the Pont du Gard, see Les Baux des Provence, see the theatre antique in Orange, and go say hi to the rowing club in Avignon! (call a few days in advance and they may let you row on the Rhone. Just don’t flip like I did). Do some wine tasting at Chateauneuf-de-Pape (but don’t buy in the village – go north to Chateau Mont-Redon and buy the wine there, it’s just as good and costs half as much). Drive up Mont Ventoux, if you have a car. Go shopping in Nimes and traipse around the tiny streets of Arles. Go to the public market in Carpentras and buy a picnic lunch.
OMG I wish I could go back all over again. It was SO amazing. If you want pictures or maps or anything like that, call me.
I can not predict when the French riots will cease, but from this yahoo news article:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051106/ap_on_re_eu/france_rioting
it sounds very serious. Racially motivated unrest won’t be unresolved in the short-term. I’m sadden to hear about so much racism and discrimination, yet so happy & relieved to live in such a free country like Canada.
Good luck trip plannning. I look fw to reading about your EU vacation. I’ve never been there so I’ll be curious to learn.
Hey, thanks for the ideas, guys! If you think of anything else, definitely let me know. I’ll be planning the actual excursions and locations over the next few weeks.
I’m not too concerned about the unrest, Dixie, as the areas I’m traveling to aren’t affected and likely won’t be. That said, I do hear their plight, and understand the message — It’s just too bad they aren’t sending it in a more meaningful way, as they’d get far more sympathy from me if they did.
But, what do I know. I live in Canada, and am happily a dual citizen of this fine country and England.
Nice is very nice.
What a cool adventure. I like your attitude re. the riots: the international press always overblows the impact. It’s a bunch of disconnected hooligans who are using this as an excuse to go crazy. That’s it. It’s not a political comment – if it was, they’d use more civilized channels.
What a waste.
Then again, it’s a good thing for car dealerships.
Have a great time, Tanya. You’re going to one of the best areas of France for a lovely single woman as is, my only suggestion would be to travel a little in that area, the south of France, and maybe wander into either Italy or Spain a little.
What a great time you’ll have!