My last trip to France was a challenge. It occurred during a holiday season train strike.

Understandably, it was not a welcoming time for tourists.

Since the allure of French castles have been calling to me have made arrangements once again for travel. Booking this far in advance have found fares and hotels reasonable – $850 Air France out of Atlanta, and French hotels ranging from $60-$100., (I go for limited stars with good location, and no hostels this trip).

Expedia is my forever source, and receive no financial benefits for this endorsement. However, I do have a wee bit of their stock and it’s expensive. Their service is impeccable, and was even during the Pandemic.

In booking hotels I searched the maps associated with the hotel listing and found a helpful little man in the right corner. Clicking on this fella I dragged him to the hotel site. Here a feed of the area appeared with the activity of people, cars, and bikes. What a find! I now have a visual to align with the hotel area.

Next in my search was castle tickets. While many have not begun to sell tickets for 2023, some have, and again in using Expedia received the best fares, plus points for decreasing cost on future travel. I do not use Expedia exclusively for these purchases, and in perusing other sites, as well as travel blogs have found much information. Those who write blogs are very helpful, and respond quickly to emails.

The final piece of my research is learning French. While high school French from 48 years ago – my gosh is it that long ago,? – helped, need to “freshen up,” so nightly have been doing Babble for $39/3 months. After 4 nights am into verb conjugation, however, they seem to make a game out of learning which helps learn these dreaded pieces of the French language. Mrs. Goldberg would be proud.

A trip gives one something to look forward to. We all need that.

Plan one!