DAY 18 9/18 HOME AGAIN & SOME FINAL ADVICE

 

What a fantastic, wonderful, perfect trip!  We saw wondrous things and met warm and friendly people. We drove 2,400 km/1500 mi.  to many lovely villages and medieval streets and ancient houses. Fantastic beautiful seaside's, streamside's, countryside's.  And dozens of  magical castles and chateaus. Most of the time we had big smiles on our faces. We will fill out this last blog with some final advice for friends and family who intend to make a similar trip.  Again this blog is for DJ and me and our close friends and family who asked us to do this.  Some are planning a similar trip soon, so this is all in hopes that there is some grain among the chafe that may help.

OK so in our experience here's some things we do that might help you:

If your going out of country be sure and get your Global entry.  Worth it.  We laughed Ha Ha! at the poor shmucks waiting in the cattle pen line for ever as we breezed through the Global entry line like grease through a goose!

Jeans are ubiquitous in France.  Well...everywhere.  Not sure about Paris.

I studied the local language some and it made the trip easier. But you can get by without it. 

Got Google Translate, Practiced using it.  Essential for menus and signage.

Took some Euros with us ...say 300-500.  Needed some coins.

Made sure we had two different credit cards with chips.  Guess they all have chips now.  IMPORTANT- Contact the credit card companies and tell them where you will be and when. Make sure they note it. Otherwise they may lock your card the first time you try to use it and you will be phoning/emailing around the globe trying to get them to unlock it.

Double checked we had any essential meds in a purse or carry on.

USB chargers/cables for room and car.  110 to 220 plug adapter.  Simple slim ones ok.   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077W89DK1?psc=1&ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_ct_ZM0XR9A59THPV6J1CMPS    Not the big three prong.  You only need the plug adapter. Don't take any appliances (e.g. hair curlers) that aren't 110/220V.  You may have to switch the voltage.

I got a Michelin (only) regional map of the area I was driving,  1:200,000. Recent (last 3 years) I roughly drew in our itinerary with highlighter.  Used it to get a feel for distances.  Kept it in the car. Just in case.

I have an Excel Itinerary format if you are interested. Printed it out, kept in the car for where to next.

Next time we will just take the car rental option to return it without refilling fuel.  It costs more.  But our experience several times now is that it is just too much of a hassle trying to find a gas station near the airport overseas.  And, twice we have just run out of time and ended up getting an even higher charge.  So next time we will just pay the greedy bastards up front.

Thinking about the extra insurance they try and fost off on you on the car rental places. Check for yourself, but your home insurance should cover anything.  We had an incident in Argentina (someone trashed the car...perhaps because I unknowingly parked in front of their garage door, well it didn't LOOK like a garage door).  Our insurance covered it no problem.  Still...there were a few times like when I almost decorated that tractor, that I thought, "I should have bought the insurance".  How much is 'worry free' worth to you?

If you are travelling with a companion and you think you might both want to watch the same movie/show on the airplane, get a Y adapter for phone plugs.  You may also want to take some good earphones.

Smiles are the best way to get along in a foreign country.

I wouldn't attempt this as a duo without a loving, kind, selfless and competent partner.

Comments and additions welcome.