Family Travel to France: Paris, Provence, and a Trip of a Lifetime
[Music] This is Join us in France, episode 559. Bonjour. I’m Annie Sergeant and join us in France is the podcast where we take a conversational journey through the beauty, culture, and flavors of France. Today, I bring you a conversation with Lorie Bolinsky about her unforgettable 3-week adventure across France with a family of six spanning three generations. From Olympic events, yes, we’ll never stop talking about those Olympics. We’re so proud of them. to Lavender Fields in Province. Lori shares practical tips, heartwarming stories, and travel insights. So, you can listen in for inspiration, laughter, and advice for planning your own family trip of a lifetime. This podcast runs on chocolate, caffeine, and the support of wonderful humans like you. You book itinerary consults, take my voice map tours, ride Shotgun in my electric car, or come to the boot camp, or you slip me a few euros on Patreon. And I love you for it. If you want to keep me going and skip the ads, there’s a link for that in the show notes as well. Head to join usinfrance.com/boutique to purchase any of my services or for more information for the magazine part of the podcast. After my chat with Lori, I’ll discuss LAN and the strangest associations you can sign up for in France. If you want all the links and the full episode transcript, you’ll find everything on the page that lists all of the episodes of the podcast. join us.com episodes. And if you’d like a handydandy summary of our conversation with all the links, subscribe to the newsletter. join us infrance.com/newsletter. It is the best way to stay in the loop. [Music] Bonjour Lori Belinski and James Mccclaclin and welcome to join us in France. Bonjour Annie. Bonjour. Thanks for having us. Yes, wonderful to have you. We are going to discuss a wonderful trip you took. You were all over France. Really? You had a wonderful trip with six people. So that’s what I want to hear all about. Tell me when you took this trip and where you went and who all was with you. Yes. So I’m Lori. This is James, my husband. and we took a just over three-week trip around the Olympics with my entire family. So, it was my mom, my dad, my brother, and then our 5-year-old daughter as well. So, it was three generations. Wow. And did you go to the Olympics? Was that the occasion or it just coincided? Oh, no. It was we went to the Olympics. All right. What towns did you go to for the Olympics? Oh, boy. The Olympics was the second half of our trip. So the first week was in the south of France. So we could you want to talk about the Olympics first? Sure. Briefly because that’s over and it’s not gonna happen again for a while. Right. Right. We picked our five events and then after picking the five events then we fill the rest of the time with all the French to see. But we did see our favorite was probably rugby getting to see the rugby sevens all the different teams and then track and field. I was a palter. Um, salt pesh. Um, so this actually was my world coming together. That’s where this trip came to be. I’m a French teacher and I was a track coach. So getting to do all this in one shot with my extended family was like a dream come true and a trip of a lifetime. Wonderful. We started with rugby and then we did we had track and field was probably our second favorite. We got to see women’s pole vault. We were right in front of the runway. It was fantastic. Oh, we we saw beach volleyball. So, that was the whole reason really was to be in front of the Eiffel Tower for beach volleyball and we got to see the Eiffel Tower twinkle while seeing beach volleyball. It was a really cool experience the way the French did that. We saw opening ceremonies which we got soaked at, but it was well worth it. There’s a really fun picture of the whole family like just soaked and just having a great time. Completely soaked. Yeah. but big smiles. And then the last thing was the we saw trampoline gymnastics. So we knew we couldn’t get regular gymnastics in with everything, but we wanted to see something different that you would only see at the Olympics. So that was really interesting to see the trampoline gymnastics. Wonderful. Yeah. Was that it, James? Like get everything? Sounds like it. Which was plenty. There was a lot going on. Yeah. Yeah. And the Olympics were wonderful. The ambiance was great. I mean, I assume you had a good time with the ambiance, the public, and all of that. Yes. That was probably one of my favorite things about it. And I think I wrote this about what I learned about France is that the French could throw a big event. Not only was it like well organized and well-run, it was just amazingly well done. And also, it was so fun to see how happy the French were to be hosting the actual public. They were so supportive of their athletes when their boat showed up on the opening ceremonies, how excited everybody was to see them. It was just really fun to see that, especially as a French teach. Right. And so what So tell me about your French teaching. What level do you teach? I’m currently teaching privately actually. So I teach all ages, more elementary right now. I’m about to teach adults for the first time and I’m really excited about that. um doing a community class in the area. So, I’m really excited to get to see how it is to teach adults. I know it’s going to be a lot of fun. But most of my career has been middle school, a little bit of high school, but pretty much everybody and a little bit of teacher training as well. Wonderful. Okay, so lots let’s talk about the places you visited while you were in France and some insights that you want to share. Maybe James, can you tell us more or less all the towns you went to and all that? We started, we flew into the south of France. We flew into Nice first and as Lori said, we spent about a week there seeing all the major sites there. One of the most fun things that I got to do is I went fly fishing by myself, left the family in Nice, and I was able to book a fly fishing guide about two hours from Nice on the Berdon River, which is a wild trout stream. I’m a lifelong fly fisherman, so I I was able to book this crazy trip. And not to get too in the weeds about it. It was an amazing experience where I found myself in pristine parts of France fishing for wild trout. I just happened to make it happen in this crazy trip where we’re, you know, seeing the sites in Nice and getting ready to go to the games in Paris and then I’m on a trout stream. It was a fantastic trip. Yeah, I must say if you have a passion like that and you can experience it in a different country, it really is wonderful, right? I mean, if you like like I like to watch birds. Well, if you do that abroad, you get to experience it. I mean, it’s the same activity just in a different way, isn’t it? And a wonderful thing to do. Sort of a different facet. And I learned so much from the French guide and just getting there was like a kind of wild thing in the rental car driving on I guess it was route D6 coming out of Nice and I had no idea. I’m just following Google Maps and it was like the windiest, most treacherous two-lane road that was carved out of limestone getting back to this stream and bikers were everywhere and what normally would take me, I don’t know, half an hour. It took me two hours just going really slow and being super cautious and meanwhile you’re looking out and the scenery is wild. That’s an excellent point is on French D-Roads, you’re not going to go bloody fast. Okay, just you can’t even if it’s not windy, there’s going to be people in front of you that are not going very fast. There’s going to be trucks. There’s going to be bikes. There’s going to be all sorts of things. Just plan on a lot of slow traffic. Yeah, I was happy to go slow. There were some Frenchmen behind me trying to get to work. They were not so happy. Yeah, they’re used to it. Lots of bikes and lots of just breathtaking scenery. So, that’s wonderful. Was that your first time driving in France, James? No, we had been to France prior to this for one of Lor’s French teaching groups. We were in Where were we, Lori? We were in Oh gosh. Southwest it is. Oh, what’s the name of it? Oh, the Kunks. Kunk. I see. Yep. We hit through. And we were in Lassiota. Okay. Lassiota. Okay. Very nice. All the names are starting to come back to me now. And you can say them correctly. That’s great. That’s wonderful. So, do you also drive when you go to France, Lori, or is James the driver? Usually, the last time we switched back and forth, we shared driving when we drove from Bordo to Lake Kong, but this time it was all James. This three weeks was James as the pilot of our trip. Well, and you had a large vehicle, I suppose, right? Yeah. Large SUV slash like the French version of a minivan. So, what car was it? Do you remember? We started with a I think it was a a three row. It was a three row SUV. And I should have written all this down. I don’t recall. My car is kind of on the larger side. So, yeah, being there, driving there was fine. Felt comfortable most of the time and I was able to handle parking most times. I don’t think I had to do too much crazy parallel parking or, you know, other side of the street, wrong way parking. We plan things kind of accordingly to the point where I’m looking at Google Maps, you know, zoomed way in like, okay, I can park right there and if that doesn’t work out, I’ll go over here, you know? Right. So, you had a plan. Yeah. There was lots of like navigating prior to Right. Yeah. And just real quick, the conference was a Okay. Okay. Shout out to my teacher friends. Yes. Professor Fran going from Bordeaux to that’s a long way to Mar even that’s a long drive but it’s so nice to drive in France in France it’s so much better than here at least here we’re right outside Philadelphia so we’re kind of known for some aggressive driving in the states and I just long for being in France when everybody knew how you pass in the left and then you get over you get over again and that’s just there’s the rules in France and everybody follows them so that’s This was really nice about driving in France. Not everybody, but most people. Yes. More than here. I’ve never driven around Philadelphia, but it’s true that in some places in the US, yeah, you feel like people are going to push you right off the road. Man, limited following of rules on the major highways here specifically. In Pennsylvania, maybe not specifically, but New Jersey. Jersey. Sure. But in France, literally, people tend to follow the rules a little bit more. There is less, you know, hanging out in the left lane going 50 miles an hour when you should be going 70 miles an hour. For the most part, I felt safer in France sometimes. And definitely the quality of the roads. That’s the one thing is when you’re on the larger roads, they’re just they’re pristine. The toll roads toll roads are very wellkept. It’s sometimes not the way here in the States, right? So, okay. Okay. All right. What did you like best of this trip? And also, what did you learn about France? Perhaps you, Lori, what did you learn about France? Because you’ve been many times. Is there some stuff that you enjoyed particularly much? It’s really gosh, it was so hard to narrow things down about what we like the most. Of course the Olympics, you know, all those experience was amazing. But after that, I think probably our trip to Provence in the lavender fields. Oh, you went with Jean Francois? Yes. Do you want my Jean Francois? Yes. So, I purged your podcast for for things. I’ve got two guides from your podcast and a photographer. Nice. Nice. They were all fantastic. And our experience with Sean Franis was absolutely amazing. I had a chat with him a few weeks ago. Next time I publish something with him, it’ll be about Corsica because he also does Corsica. But this is Jean Franis in I don’t remember what episode it was, but it was a long time ago. Yes. Early on. Mark was scouring your podcast, literally listening and writing things down. Yeah. So years ago, I talked to him and he still emails me frequently saying, “Oh, somebody booked with me through your podcast. Thank you so much. And this was not like a financial arrangement at all. I just thought he was a lovely person and you know and obviously you did too. That’s great. Oh yeah. Yeah. Totally agree. He was so down to earth and he was so invested. It was the end of the lavender season. He had his fields ready. There was a couple that had already been harvested and he was like, “Okay, we’re going to go to the next one. We’re going to make this happen.” and he found fantastic place and there’s some really great pictures that we sent to you and we both saw lavender fields and sunflower fields and we went to the city of Valonol I think it is. Yeah. Yeah, that’s it. Yeah. Yep. And it was really pretty little touristy trappy but still worth seeing. So he drove our van and that was the way we worked it out which was a Hugo 50008. Okay. Okay. Yeah. That’s a three-year-old SUV. Yeah. And he took us basically when we drove home we drove I think the same route that James drove when he went fly fishing. And it was just beautiful. And having him get to tell us everything and show us the lakes and we saw Wal City really quick and it was beautiful. was a great one day. Like when I messaged him and said it was like going to be one day and not like staying over, he was like that’s a little cutting it close but we’ll make it happen. And I was just really thankful and kind of stayed in touch with him as well. Like he’s a track and field person. He was a hurdler and a hurdler coach I believe or maybe just a hurdler. Yeah. And so we bonded talking about that and talking about teaching and being obviously very invested in franophhone culture and language and he was just a really great person and it was a great experience. That’s fantastic. And I want to mention also the guide for your fly fishing was Guiam. It’s Riviera Fly Fishing. So I’ll put a link in the show notes for him as well. highly recommend even if you don’t fly fish. He’s so knowledgeable about not only that river but the surrounding region. And he was telling me stories about, you know, taking families out. So even if fly fishing isn’t your thing, he’ll get you on fish, as we say. And he’s just a super knowledgeable man. Really, really nice guy. Speaks English well, I assume. Very well. Written and spoken. I mean, we had some like philosophical conversations on, you know, stream side about life. So, he really, really nice guy. Excellent. Okay. You spent a day at Monaco, but mostly at the aquarium. I want to hear about that because I love that place. Oh god, it was amazing. I think James being the fish person will support this, but I think it was probably the best aquarium that we’ve ever been to. We’ve been to a bunch on the east coast that are, you know, they claim to be like the best and this was hands down amazing. Yeah. The quality of the fish, the quality of the coral. I’ve had coral reef tanks in our house for years, and I was blown away by the how the life was just thriving in their tanks. But they’ve got the Mediterranean right there, and they’re obviously just taking water right out of that. And it’s essentially just a reef in the building. It was outstanding. And that was just the first floor. There’s the all the different floors. They had a virtual visit there that was about the poles about the life on the north and south pole, right? And that was really cool. It was a big room and it was you could like walk up and touch things and interact with it. And then there was a museum floor and on the very top was the restaurant and a little playground. And that was Yeah, we spent most of the day. Our five-year-old at that point when it was lunchtime was like, “Hey, playground.” It was very hot. Things were very hot up there, but he loved it. Yeah. That’s the other thing that it was definitely a hot time to be there. Yeah. Yeah. Well, but then you got drenched in Paris, so Yes. Yes. Yes, we did. But we did have Is that okay to talk about the houses? Yeah. you know, being six people, we had to be in houses and with a child, it just didn’t it was not going to work to be in like a tiny apartment in Paris. So, in Nice, we were about 25 minutes on the tram from like the old city and we had a house on the first floor of an apartment building and we had a pool. Oh, so yes, and it was clutch because there’s no air conditioning. Everybody just know that. be prepared for no air conditioning. No matter what they say, there actually is no AC anywhere. Yeah. Yes. Even if they tell you there is. And that was a very big thing. Well, the thing is sometimes they say there’s AC because there’s one room in the apartment that has AC, right? That only works when it feels like it or something, you know? Right. But you have to understand French mentality. If you have a pool, then obviously you don’t need AC because you’re going to go dip in the pool and cool off in the pool. Voila. I was just going to say that and that’s what we did. And it was very It was kind of strange. It was a small pool and you look up and it’s just all these apartment buildings looking down at you with a pool. We were basically on a stage. We were like but sunk down. Everyone’s looking down at left leg up. They’re back and they’re swimming. So, but we don’t care. And our 5-year-old sure did not care, you know. And it was really nice. We would eat dinner out there several nights and then we would everybody had to get in the pool before you went to bed because that’s how you cool down before you went to sleep was having a pool. Yeah. Beach bod. Nobody beach. It’s okay. Go to the pool. Yeah. My father, who I have not seen in a pool in probably a decade, was in that pool I think every day. Yeah, he was. Yeah. So tell me about your folks who went with you. Are they as familiar with France as you are? Not at all. My mom had visited me in France actually when I was an English assistant. I was an English assistant in France in like 2018. Not 2018, 2008, I’m sorry, 2008. Like wait a minute, longer than that. And she came and visited me for a couple weeks and I was in Normandy and that was a really great experience. She came and just like lived with me for a couple weeks. So, she’s seen it, but doesn’t speak any French. And then this is my dad’s first time basically out of the country besides like Cancun. So, this was a big deal for him. My brother works for IKEA, so he’s been to Sweden a couple times, but again, the longest time of being out. And I think my mom wanted to stress that it’s very helpful to have somebody who speaks French. events endlessly helpful when you’re going to be there for a long time, but it was just it was so important to me. Yeah. So, did you run into any snags? Like, were there health things? Did you have to have some health things? I forgot about that. Okay. What happened? My brother got a stye in his eye. He thought it would go away and it didn’t. And we wound up in Paris. He did I think he did like a virtual call with a doctor and then we wound up getting a prescription that sent to a pharmacy and that was a whole experience getting that and you got some maxedrol. It was not helpful. No, I don’t know what it was. No, it did not work. I mean he also needed to to take care of it quicker but it didn’t go away for a long time even when he came home. That was but that was really really it. Do we have any other No, there was no other health things that popped up. It was just trying to get Eric some attention because his eye just was not getting better. So yeah, I mean I think the service that he got in France kind of like held it off and then he was able to see someone when he was home. But yeah, luckily no other major incidents happened. Okay, very good. All right. So, you went for a boat tour in Nice. Was that like a city boat tour or was that a private boat tour? Oh, no. It was the city tour. It was the one where you go to the marina. Mhm. And you get on it and it was short, but it was beautiful. That was what we did the day that James went fishing. The rest of us went on the boat tour and we kind of wandered around the port area. My dad is very interested in the world wars. So we can talk about we did an overnight stay in Normandy area. So we can talk about that in a little bit. But we also visited the monument Omar at Leport which was very beautiful, very moving seeing that like carved into the side of the mountain there. Yeah. All along the prominade the beachfront there are many monuments to different things. niece does a very nice job with memorials of different sorts. Some of them quite recent. As a matter of fact, they had the guy with a crazy brock or whatever it was a few years back. Anyway, oh, your daughter liked the prominadon in Yes, that was definitely a selling point. So, it’s basically like a long playground of all like wooden things to climb on. There’s like Yeah, like a whale, you know, things like that. Loved it. Loved it. You can climb on onto thing and it’s totally free. So, it’s a really a nice and it walks you from the beachfront to the city center really if you take it the whole way. Yes, we didn’t do that whole that whole long thing, but it also was very very hot and there was a lot of sprinkling like water and misters there. So, that was really that was great for her to get to run around and not be overheated. She really liked that. Yeah, that’s wonderful. Let’s see. Oh, you enjoy drinking Monaco with your mom. That turned into the drink of the trip. We were trying to get them everywhere. So, Monaco, let me think. Let me think if I can remember. Monaco is orange juice with gonadine. Yeah. And beer. And beer. Oh, beer. Okay. Very good. Beer, a little bit of orange juice, and grenadine. Yeah. Yeah. So it’ be like when I’m in Spain, I like to order a Oh, what do you call this? Kanya is a regular beer and a clarita is a beer with some sort of soda in it. Like some 7 up or something. It just makes beer better. I don’t know. Yeah, it was just refreshing. It was just refreshing and it was just worked out because it was again so hot. All right, so now we’re going to jump to later. After the Olympics, you did a dog sled adventure in Fonten Blue. It was called Evasan. I want to hear about that because I haven’t heard about that very I think somebody else mentioned it but I can’t remember how long ago. I think did I I feel like I couldn’t find it on the podcast. So it was Christian is his name. Christian also speaks really good English the owner. And so yes it is dog sled experience in the summer. So what it is that it’s not on it’s not sleds. It’s on wheels. So, it is a full dog sled. James, how many dogs was it? 16. Upwards of 16 dogs. Yeah. Thereabouts. Yeah. Yeah. And he’s got this like crazy contraption of a like what you sit in and it can fit three people plus him. So, me, James, and my brother went and it was crazy. So, actually, he almost canled on us because it was so hot. He’s very very cautious about the heat for the dogs. It was really early. We had to be there at 8:00 a.m. like on the dot. Had to be there. And actually, he almost would have canceled if we didn’t have like a miscommunication. Our phones weren’t working. It was strange. But we got there and he’s like, “It’s okay. Like, we’re going to just do a tour around the forest and the dogs will get their break. I’ll stop when they need it and we’ll do it.” It was really quick. It was probably like a 20 minute sort of the actual trip, but it was you were fine with that because you were moving fast. When Lori said tour, you weren’t looking at anything but a blur of bushes and branches flying by you. Um, it was exhilarating. It was a lot of fun. Yeah. Was a high energy kind of thing. No, it was not a little sled ride through the forest. It was like, hold on to something. Here we go. Yeah. I forget how fast they went, but it was had to be like You could tell me anything. You could tell me 30 miles an hour. I’d be like, “Yep, it was really fast.” And it was fun. Like you’re you’re you’re taking these corners. He at one point told us we were you we had Lori in the middle. Eric is on one side. I’m on the other. And he said, “Put your wrist up. Watch out for your face because there’s going to be branches on this corner.” And sure enough, we come around and wh gets hit, but he was laughing. And you know, everything worked out, but it was something else. You have to be a little bit fearless to do this one. A little fearless. It’s not for the faint of heart. Yeah. But if you’re into like adventure and dogs really, that was the big thing was learning about all the dogs, all the different dog breeds. It wasn’t just huskys. Matter of fact, he was saying that he had like specific dog breeds that he looked for that were actually better for his purpose. and he took time and kind of like talked about each dog which was really fun. Yeah. We got to know like the one the leader and her personality and then at the end he had us take them off the harness and then they just like laid around and like it was really cool. It was definitely different. can’t do it if you had like any injuries like back injuries or anything and he says that flat out but it’s definitely something different and adventurous and it was so we were our house that we stayed in Paris was on the last stop of the regional rail so probably was it like a 40minute ride into Paris or less it was about 40 minutes it was solid yeah 40 minutes and then from there so we drove to the dog sled and was probably a half hour longer than that. No, it was like an hour and a half. So, it’s mostly for people who have a car. You couldn’t do that without a car. No, there is no way to take public transit there. And that was something that we discovered. You know, we had a car in kind of strange situation, but you couldn’t do the things that we did without a car. The trip to the Bravo fields, you couldn’t do without a car. Couldn’t do it. Right. Fly fishing. Couldn’t do it. Couldn’t do the dog sleds without it. Yeah. Right. And then we also drove to Normandy. So we should talk about Normandy. Your visit there and your dad wanting to see this. How did that go? All right. So we were in the south of France for a week and we flew from Nice to Paris, landed in Orley, got the car in Orley, drove to our new house. The very next day we drove to Normandy, which was how many hours, James? We went to buy you. We stayed four hours. In my head I was like three hours. But maybe it was three from Mori. Yeah. If you were south of Paris. Yeah, we were south like east of Paris. So that would make sense. It was like three maybe a little bit more. It was probably two and a half. But there was a lot of traffic. I was just getting out of Paris because of the game setting up. There was a lot of traffic and we sat for probably half an hour, you know, just waiting. So yeah. Anyway, part for the course. Yep. So, we went I got my notes pulled up. We went I think this was based off of a recommendation somewhere in your podcast. We went to Porta or something like that. Yes. And I did like some random research on that town and I found this little like restaurant. This is the only restaurant that I like we weren’t that wasn’t a big focus of our trip, but this is the only one that I think I would recommend. It’s small. It was called Lamarina and it was a crepery/pizzeria and we drove straight to there first for dinner and you know my family which is a little like more traditional just they got their pizzas and I got like a Norman crepery. It was like goat cheese and mushrooms crepe the um buckwheat you know. And I was just like took me back to when I lived there. And I was so happy to have that with my cer. And that just made me really happy. The greatest fried fish I’ve ever had in my life there. Oh yeah. Yeah. Remember that? It was I don’t know if it was cod or what it was, but it was outstand I mean like fish and chips, right? You’re right there. So it was outstanding. Yeah. Very good. Very good. So that was a nice little random stop for that. Actually, that was lunch and we actually went back and we went to the museum at the battle of Normandy and the British cemeteries that day in Bayou and then our apartment was in the heart of Bayou. So, this was the only place that we actually had a spot that was right in the the center everything. And it was just it was so beautiful. It was so cool that the stone and being in this apartment that was built into this, you know, incredibly old building. And then the next morning we got up and we took our daughter to the cool little playground while everybody else was getting moving and that was really cool and we did the saw the cathedral went to the tapestry museum and then I had looked ahead of time at what cemeteries to look at. Of course we wanted to visit the American cemetery which we went to at the very end of the day the Yep. So we spent the majority of the day at S Margles. Sl. Yes. Yes. Which is where the air airborne museum is. Yes. And that was really cool. And it’s recently redone, right, James? Just the last couple years. At least two years maybe. But it seemed like it was brand new. Yeah, it was very cool. They had the museum was set up with different focuses like propaganda about the war. Our favorite part was probably the importance of gliders and they had a big glider inside one of the buildings. They are quiet those things. Yeah. And that’s why. Right. And then we really really quick went to the American cemetery. Did a quick walk around and then drove three hours back to outside Paris. Oh wow. Yeah. That was kind of a lot of driving. Lots of driving. And was your dad happy with the experience? Did did he get what he was hoping for? Oh yes, absolutely. Yes. It’s just getting to be there and it just reminded me of when we went to So we went to Champagne region too and just getting to see the buildings and how the buildings had the bullet holes in them and just getting to be in where that happened. That was what was most moving about it. The day was definitely heavy. Like I remember feeling driving back going like, “Wow, that was a lot.” Yes. Heavy. You know, it’s a long day and it’s also emotionally kind of draining. And that’s why I was kind of happy with it only being one day. It was like we just wanted to make sure it happened, but we didn’t need to like get too immersed in it. So I’m looking at if you feel like you made any mistakes on this trip and your answer is it’s hard to account for the level of stress getting from one point to another. Yeah. So talk about that a little bit. So when you are you know trying to do do a trip of a lifetime still somewhat on a budget you wind up like that’s why we wound up outside of Paris. Couldn’t imagine how expensive it would be to have a place for six people. And I’m thinking of the one day that we had the photo shoot. So we did a photo shoot with Gloria Villa. So she was I think it was someone who was on a honeymoon recommended her and a podcast. Yeah. And she’s lovely. Actually, I have to say shout out. I haven’t met her, but she was on the Facebook group and she was very very careful about not trying to do promote promote promote all the time. She was very respectful unlike most people who offer services like that. I just have to ban them because that’s all they ever want to talk about. So, she was good about that. She was super sweet. She has a very interesting story herself about how she wound up in Paris because she’s originally from Colombia. But the stress was getting from our home all the way to Mumatra by like 10:00 a.m. I think it was. And it was like I think we were like a half hour late. And it was not a big deal. Like nothing nowhere that we got that we were late to wasn’t an issue. It was just the stress of being like we’re going to be a little late. We’re going to be a little late. And then a little late became like kind of a lot late sometimes. But everything worked out always. Yeah. Yeah, you know, when you’re traveling with a group and several generations and a 5-year-old and older people with your parents and Lori did a really good job of trying to get people going early, it sometimes it just doesn’t matter. When you’re moving that many humans from point A to point B, like we’re saying, you’re going to hit snags. And we’re not talking about just one form of transportation. And we’re talking about like we had to drive to the train station part then get through the train station with the QR codes on your phones and then like I swear every other day somebody’s QR code wouldn’t work. That’s a snag that we could definitely talk about is certain types of phones with certain types of software as the operating system were not jing with certain train stations. So for trains or for RER or for it was for the RER but it was but it would be both. It would be RER and then going into Paris and then it would be the metro and Paris but I think we would usually find it our first place. The first place we would go to use it. So this has changed by now because now it’s just one ticket. There’s no more zones. Oh really? So long as you’re in the il of France, it’s one price, one zone. That would have been nice. Yes. Yes. At the time of of the games, but Yes. Yes. It wasn’t ready. Uh but yeah, by now it’s it started in January, so now you just get uh trainer tickets for 250 each and you can take them anywhere in the Le France. Okay. And you can do the like the passes too. you buy the passes and you could do your NavGo easy. Yes, that’s what it was. That’s what it was. Or I mean if you stay longer you would do Niggo weekly or monthly or yearly. But most people NavGo easy is enough. And the beautiful thing about that one is there’s no photo, no signature. It’s one little card per person. I think they cost 250 to buy and then you just put tickets on there and they can be Now the difference is it used to be that you had to have you could use the same tickets for the bus or the metro. Now that’s not how it works. Tram and bus is one sort of ticket which are €2 a ticket and metro and reer are 250 a ticket. Okay. And they’re different tickets. Still a little complex. Well, this is Frank. Just to throw it in there. Yeah. Right. Have it too easy. It would not compute. Right. Great. That’s great. Give us something simple. We’ll make it complicated. I’m trying to think of some of the places that like things that we did that I don’t know are on the podcast. You could talk about well, sorry, Lori, with the games. And then speaking of the rear stations that how we found they they had the little popup game site and then our daughter was playing with that and I thought that was so so cool. That was really fun. That was something that the French had set up in the metros how to learn random like really like the random things of the Olympics like it was like bad mitten and archery and handball. So it was just like randomly in the metro and we were like this is cool. We’ll never see this again. Let’s stop and play this. and they spoke English and it was Yeah, that was really fun. And so the kid could try handball or badminton or something. Yeah. And everyone won something. They gave kids little gifts of, you know, whatever. But I thought that was a great look. The French were obviously focused on getting kids actively involved in what they were doing there. So it was great. And during the Parolympics, you could try Paralympic type of activities. So you could try racing on a parolympic racing wheelchair. You could try the boat chair thingies. You could try all sorts of things, which I thought was really, really cool because, you know, regular people could see how hard it is to move a wheelchair for the Olympics. It’s not that easy at all. So yeah, that’s really cool. We have one more shout out to give to someone from your group. That’s David Blancc. Yes, he was on the podcast as well. Yeah. And we did a morning tour with him in Paris. So he took us all the way from La Mer as where we met him and we went all the way to the Luxembourg Gardens. Wonderful. It was very interesting to It was literally was it the day before the opening ceremonies or two days before the opening ceremonies? So it was like I think it was two days. Yeah. Yeah. So things were like starting to close, but there was like random ways to get around and he had worked that out and it was it was fantastic. He was great. I highly recommend him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There were some challenges getting around, especially right before the opening ceremonies. They were paranoid. After that, things relaxed a lot, but they were very concerned, which is one of the reasons why they pulled it off is because they didn’t leave anything to chance and they did it right. We felt completely safe. That was one thing that we talked about like France versus here. I don’t know how safe I’d feel in the US, but I feel great in Europe. Yeah. Well, that’s a perception thing, but it’s true that just not having guns everywhere helps. Exactly. Jean Darm were everywhere. Heavily armed. Yeah, that’s true. The only people who had garb was the army. Yes. Yeah. And they have the big guns. It’s a different mentality kind of approach. I’ve been told a million times, you know, when you show up in Paris and they see people with a machine gun, they are alarmed. You never see that in America. Well, don’t tell me people in America don’t have machine guns. I’d rather be able to see the person with the gun and know it’s the person who’s trained well. That’s person is in uniform. It’s different. Yes. Exactly. Yeah. But we certainly felt safe. Do you remember was that when we was that our flight? Was that our flight? Uh then they stopped us. There was some type of baggage left by baggage claim and John Darmm saw us, stopped us in our tracks and said, “Let us work this out.” And we stood around for about 10 minutes, maybe longer. But and that was in was that in Nice. I think that was in Orley. And it wasn’t just the French Jean Don Marie, it was also the Italians, right, that were there, right? They had invited Jean from different countries which was good because then you had visitors from all over the place and they could call on people from different nationalities to help. That’s one of the beauties of Europe is we have all these different, you know, you go from one state to the other in the US it’s not that different, right? But in France, well, in Europe, you go from one state to the other and it’s vastly different. It’s a different country. Yeah, it’s a different country. So, so I’m looking through your at the end of your document I asked you know do you have any tips and you said the more research you can do the better which clearly you are someone I mean you know a lot but you still did a lot of research right? Yes, absolutely. I mean, this was probably two years in the making to make this trip happen to do all of this in three weeks and not completely lose our minds. And it’s still, like you said, there’s nothing that I regretted. So, were there tools or apps or resources that helped the most? Your podcast. Thank you. There’s an app called Aalu, which was how we got our phones to work in France. That was the SIM cards that we used. So, how do you spell that? A I R A L O. You can buy certain packages and it’ll just, you know, it’s the virtual sim. Okay. The virtual sims. Yeah. Okay. Right. Super helpful. And we’re night prior to the trip downloading this app going like, well, we’ll see if it works. And it worked very, very well. Excellent. Yeah. You pick which country you’re going to and for how long. And it was reasonably priced, too. It was not like $40 or something. It was reasonably priced for a month. Right. Right. Because some providers will charge you 10 bucks a day per phone. That’s craziness. That’s a lot. Yes. So, using virtual SIM like that is probably more cost effective if you can make it work. And most of them work well. But yeah, that one certainly worked well. And that was something that we were kind of hesitant about. We didn’t really know because if your phone doesn’t work nowadays, you’re in serious trouble. And I knew that I had to navigate certain areas. So, it was really good peace of mind to land in France and be like, “Oh, phone works. Cool.” Yeah. You know. Yes. Yeah. Oh, and you also listen to my walking tours ahead of time. Did you walk them or just listen to them? Just listen to them. Okay. Because I mean, by the time you get there, when you were three generations, I picked things out. I think I sent you a picture of my daughter hanging on the foot of the man coming out of the wall in my maza. So like I knew of things to go see from the tours. It was just another source of information and that’s just where I was looking for anything to pull from. But it was yeah your podcast and your walking tours were a great jumping off point. And then I found all those tour guides and the photographer and I just contacted all those people and they were all wonderful. You also did some research on YouTube pretty extensively. I mean, this trip, if I’m honest, this trip took over Lor’s life for a solid year and a half. That wasn’t that long. Oh, no. It was like two years almost. Now, perhaps you enjoy that, right? I mean, exactly. She loved it. And I think YouTube is a good way to do this. I mean, honestly, every now and then I think, oh okay, I should do I should have a visual aspect to the podcast. I should do, but it’s going from a purely audio podcast to a video podcast is a completely different thing. I’m not sure I’m cut out for it. I will probably do things about driving to places, especially driving with an EV to places cuz that’s something I do anyway. But producing a whole video podcast is But you can learn a lot from them, you But I mean Lori would be doing other things kind of like listening actively and then passively and then actively and that’s perfect, you know, for podcasts and then she would hear something and write it down. Right. Right. And I should mention that the show is transcribed. Not all of the episodes are transcribed, but all the ones if they’re 2, three years old, they’re all transcribed. And so you can search for specific terms if you hear about an activity or something. I think I did do that. It works pretty well. Well, I would love for the search to be even better. I’m always looking for better search solutions, but it works pretty well for people. So, if that’s something you’ve heard on the podcast, you know, go to the website and and do a search. All right, you guys. I think our time is up, but it’s been wonderful talking to you both. I love it when I have enthusiastic travelers. Young and enthusiastic. I love it. Can’t wait to get back. We’ll see you when we can get back. Very good. Well, thank you very much and keep listening to the podcast. Thanks so much, Annie. Merci. Thank you, Annie. Mercy. Again, I want to thank my patrons for giving back and supporting the show. Patrons get several exclusive rewards for doing that. You can see them at patreon.com/join us. A special shout out this week to my new join us in France champions, Terry McFersonson and David Palaceek, who renewed his membership. Go to patreon.com/join us. And to support Elise, go to patreon.comart elyst. [Music] My thanks to Carl Tisca for his generous one-time donation using any of the links on Join us in France that say tip your guide. Carl wrote, “Annie, I just made a onetime donation and appreciation of how much your podcast helped me in preparing for a multimonth trip to France this past winter and spring. I spent the first three and a half months at a language school that I selected based on the show notes for episode 288, the LSF in Mulier. During those three and a half months, I traveled every weekend to locations throughout the southwest of France by train and rental car. I visited many sites from your episodes and other sites, locations, and museum that you haven’t covered. And of course there are always places that we don’t cover. We cannot be allencompassing you know. Anyway after finishing the language school I walked the J 145 via Franca across the northeastern France through Cal Aras lau long and a host of small towns and villages before crossing to Switzerland in late May. Along the way, I visited many historic sites, museums, champagne sellers, and other attraction. Your podcast greatly assisted me in planning and preparing for the trip, and I continue to listen to the podcast for future travel ideas and tips. Well, thank you very much, Carl. That’s very good to know, and always very nice to hear back from people who enjoy the podcast. Well, when September rolls around in France, it’s la. Kids go back to school, vacationers go back to work, shops, restaurants, offices reopen after the August slowdown. But there is another part of Laantre that’s uniquely French and that’s the forum associ. This is the annual sign up for clubs and associations. Uh we have 70,000 new clubs and associations in France each year. 12 million people report that they volunteer for a club or association in the country. So we have a ton of them. If you’ve ever wanted to join something new, this is the time that you can do it. You see hundreds of options all in one place. Sports clubs, cooking groups, hiking associations, and some that are frankly a little unexpected. Here are some of my favorite unexpected ones. Leamu Cloon. It’s Yes, it’s an actual clown association where members practice their craft, put on shows, and share the joy of red nose and big shoes. As Frances, [Music] a group devoted to stinging nettles. They cook them, study them, and celebrate their uses. Okay. Club donar. Now that one is excellent. Exactly what it sounds like. Competitive kamar cheese throwing move over discus or frisbee. We have the kam bear in France. That one is deadly serious. This is historians dedicated to preserving the history of France’s most famous infamous execution device. Buddha, a brotherhood committed to promoting the traditional black pudding sausage. Some clubs are deeply rooted in local traditions. Others are just pure fun. But together, they show that laree isn’t just about returning to the daily grind. It’s about trying something new. Sometimes something wonderfully odd. So if you’re in France in September, head to your local forum associ. Who knows, you might come home signed up for fencing lessons, a knitting group, or a come throwing league. My thanks to podcast editors and and Christian Civan who produced the transcripts. Next week on the podcast, an episode about the fascinating world of Emil Zaha, one of France’s most influential writers and social activists. Bookworms and historians will really like this episode. Thank you so much for listening and I hope you join me next time so we can look around France together. The Join us in France travel podcast is written, hosted and produced by Annie Sergeant and copyright 2025 by addicted to France. It is released under a creative comments attribution non-commercial no derivatives license. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Hey, you better come back.
Family Travel to France: Paris, Provence, and a Trip of a Lifetime
Thinking about family travel to France? In this episode, host Annie Sargent talks with Lori Belinski about planning — and enjoying — a dream trip for six people, from grandparents to kids.
Listen to this episode ad-free They share the highlights of Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, and hidden gems you might miss. Then they head south to Provence for lavender fields, hilltop villages, and unforgettable markets. Along the way, Lori reveals how they balanced everyone’s interests, managed transportation, and found great places to stay.
You’ll hear tips on traveling with a multi-generational group, making the most of your time in France, and avoiding common travel pitfalls. Whether you’re dreaming of Paris cafés or Provencal sunsets, this episode offers practical advice and inspiration.
Subscribe to the Join Us in France Travel Podcast so you don’t miss future episodes full of travel stories, tips, and cultural insights.
Table of Contents for this Episode
[00:00:00] Introduction [00:00:30] Today on the podcast [00:01:01] Podcast supporters [00:02:18] Annie, Lori and James [00:02:45] Family Trip Overview [00:03:03] Olympic Adventures [00:06:20] Exploring the South of France [00:06:32] Fly Fishing Excursion [00:08:53] Driving in France [00:10:46] Driving in France is Easy [00:12:36] Lavender Fields and Local Guides [00:16:12] Monaco Aquarium Visit [00:17:44] Accommodation Experiences [00:20:39] Health Snags [00:21:49] Boat Tour in Nice [00:22:53] Exploring the Wooden Playground [00:23:41] Monaco: The Drink of the Trip [00:24:30] Dog Sled Adventure in Fontainebleau [00:28:42] Journey to Normandy [00:33:28] Navigating Paris with a Group [00:33:40] Trip of a Lifetime on a Budget [00:40:18] Marker [00:42:02] Travel Tips and Reflections [00:42:38] AIRALO, virtual SIM APP [00:43:54] The Podcast and VoiceMap Tours Are a Great Jumping Off Point [00:46:40] Thank you Patrons [00:47:10] Carl’s Review [00:48:49] La Rentrée and Forum des Associations [00:51:24] Next Week on the Podcast [00:51:48] Copyright More episodes about family travel in France #FamilyTravelFrance, #ParisWithKids, #ProvenceTravel, #TravelPodcast, #JoinUsInFrance, #ParisTravel, #ProvenceFrance, #TravelTips, #FamilyVacation, #TravelFrance, #PodcastLife, #TravelWithKids, #ExploreFrance, #FrenchCulture, #TravelInspiration, #TravelStories, #PodcastRecommendations, #SlowTravel, #FamilyAdventure, #ParisProvence