Next Monday I’ll be off to France with Mrs Aruns to give a talk (one of my papers has been accepted for publication, yay!). It’s the first time I go to France, so I have a few doubts.
First of all, is it true that, as a friend told me, that UK credit cards do not work in France?
Secondly, transport. The conference is in Nancy - the one in Lorraine, if there’s more than one - and the plan is to fly to Paris and travel by train there. My flight is scheduled to land at Charles De Gaulle Airport at 2.35pm, and then I’ll have to travel to the city centre and go to the right station. Now I have to book the train, taking that into consideration; how much time should I allocate?
Thirdly, how does train travel in France work? This really sounds like a silly question, but bear with me. Every country has its own style for these things. Mrs Aruns once didn’t know what to do in Italy and got fined, and I didn’t know what to do in UK my first time either. I’d rather ask. Validate the ticket in the station? On the train? How about reservation, is it paid separately like in some places or jointly with the ticket? And so on. Anything that you think could be useful will be appreciated.
Then, it’s going to be the anniversary of our marriage while we’re in France, and I want to bring my wife to eat out somewhere nice. Any suggestion for Nancy, or for Paris?
Well, that I knew, but that leaves me less than 2 hours to land, go through customs, take a coach/train/taxi/whatever to Paris, go to the right station, find the train, and board it. My question was: how much time do I need for all this?
Because the two of us could not get the extra day of holiday, and could not be bothered to drive anyway.
If you have an oddball card like Solo, then you might find things tricky, but Visa is accepted in most large businesses. Small places might not accept credit cards at all.
Transport is pretty straightforward. You’ll need to buy two tickets. One to take you from Charles de Gaulle to Gare du Nord and a second ticket to take you from Gare de l’Est to Nancy.
You buy the first ticket at the airport. The station is well signposted. (RER or trains to Paris). The guys there speak (a little) English. A one way ticket costs €8,40.
Once you arrive at the Gare du Nord, head for the exit marked “Grande Lignes”, it’s the main station concourse. Find the huge glass doors on the left hand side of the station and take a left. It should take around 10 minutes walking.
There is a direct service using the TGV. You need to buy your ticket before you travel. You can buy at the station, but the easiest way is to buy it online.
If you’re travelling in less than a week, you’ll get some sort of electronic conformation which you have to redeem at the station. If it’s more than a week, they will send you a ticket. It’s much easier.
Before you get on the train, your ticket will have to be validated. Find the three foot high bright yellow post at the beginning of the platform and pop your ticket in. It should click and that’s it, you’re all set. The journey takes 90 minutes.
As for transfer times, it should take ninety minutes two hours. On a weekday, there’s a train at 17:35. There’s also a nice cafe in Gare de l’Est for when you arrive ridiculously early.
My US ATM card worked fine in Florence, Italy and I think others on my tour used their cards in various countries. It ought to be all connected electronically, though their may be fees etc.
The idea behind some train tickets is that you can buy them in quantity and use them as you need them, say for hopping around in a city. A tourist might want to go to a monument on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday, and the tickets are good for whenever you want, so you can be flexible. Before you board, you validate it, sort of like declaring “I’m using this today.” It can’t be used again.
Of course the train stops and people get on—they need a way to establish who has paid, so they spot check. Some people take the chance and don’t get caught, riding for free. When you’ve validated your ticket, you hold on to it until it expires. Some may be for one trip; some may last for an entire 24 hour period. If you’re asked for your ticket, show it…showing an unvalidated one wouldn’t show that you had “cashed in” your ticket for a ride.
With something like a Eurostar train, you’re not hopping around a city. Chances are you’ve booked it in advance and need it for a specific time. It’s probably printed on the ticket and if you tried to use it a week later, no deal. In that sense it’s probably pre-validated.
In France, my US credit cards worked flawlessly except at the toll booths, everyone spoke English (that had really concerned me), and we went everywhere in our German-plated rental car at top speed. Ironically, the only camera-tickets I received were in Germany.
Really, I did try to use my best French. But everyone spoke English. In fact, at the French company that I was visiting, the quality award ceremony for our division in Germany was performed in English. That is, French supplier, German division of American Company, award ceremony performed in English.
There’s one thing to watch out for, regarding train travel: Don’t assume that a small town has only one train station. Don’t just assume the station you’ll be leaving from will be the same one you arrived on. It never occurred to me that the town of Aix-en-Provence (pop. 140,000) would have two train stations, and that the one we needed was way the hell out in the country. TGV trains may or may not use the same station as the “regular” trains.
Also, it’s ok to bring snacks and water onto the trains.
U.S. credit cards work throughout Europe (I don’t know about UK cards), but memorize where your PIN keys are, as most (all?) of the keypads have only numbers on them.
Another thing: for your return trip, when you are returning to the airport: there are 3 terminals for CDG, not just one train stop. Find out ahead of time which terminal you need to go to. It’s probably Terminal 2, but verify this ahead of time.
Just a helpful piece of advice as a person who has traveled through CDG many times: take however much time you expect something to take… and add 1-2 hours when making your schedule.
The airport itself is sprawling, busy, confusing, and a complete CF. It will take extra time to get places and figure out where you need to be. I hate CDG.
Give yourself plenty of time, especially if you don’t have anything you need to do the evening you arrive.
They do, in general; best bet is Visa, second best MC. I have seen gas non-stations (just the gas machine in the middle of nowhere) which only worked with French cashcards.
For train tickets: if you’ve got some sort of multi-trip system, you validate the ticket before getting on the train. For individual tickets that have the train and date stamped, they will be validated on the train.
Egads, 140,000 isn’t anywhere near “a small town”! But yeah, you can find places with population in 4 figures (which is indeed a small town) that somehow manage to have two train stations.
If you’re driving (I know this time you aren’t, but others read these threads too), radars are marked about
THIS CLEARLY
I’ve long had the theory that anybody getting a speeding ticket from a stationary radar in France isn’t getting it for speeding, but for “driving while blind.”
If you’re curious, I made it through in a short time - it took me about a couple of hours from the stairs of the airplane to the ticket counter of the Gare De L’Est. I am now in Nancy, and I have to say the city is quite nice, and well worth a visit. Tomorrow Mrs Aruns and I will be off to Luxembourg, then it will be time to worry about the conference.
Well there’s a huge cultural crevasse that just fell open in front of me. To me in the UK (where Lars currently resides) a PIN is a (usually) 4-digit number.
Do you remember yours as letters then?
ETA: enjoy your trip Lars! Eat some good croissants and fromages!
I don’t know how universal this is, but my PINs are actual words. Before I go to Europe I have to remind myself what the corresponding numbers are. I’ve seen Americans staring in dismay at a numbers-only keypad.
True. And if you do a bit of homework, you can also find a complete list of every stationary radar in the country, courtesy of the Ministry - there are even GPS add-ons with that list, to warn you in advance. That is because from what I understand, in France stationary radars are not meant to catch people driving too fast, but to make people drive slower - because signage sure as shit ain’t doing the job. Hell, I’m not even convinced most of the fixed radars are in working order at any given time. They’re just there to spread “honesty through paranoia”
Now, cops with handheld radar guns… those are downright devious.
