I have finally found a Paris tour group who will custom design high quality private tours that don't disappoint. Expensive but it will arrange everything with complete efficiency. If interested, please contact me: Karen@BonjourParis.com

There are other factors that influence travel rates also: I just got an e-mail from NWA, that announces lower rates for US to Paris airfares. From certain departures the rates are about $ 199.- one way on a round trip purchase. But you have to buy (and pay for) the tickets before Sept. 6. But the travel has to be completed until much later. (In other words: they need cash!) Check with NW for details.

BP Chuck

BPChuck, always enjoy your knowledge of Paris and travel info you post here, as of today with the current economic situation ( Hurricane Kitrina) wrecking the gulf coast and causing a sharp rise in oil prices. One can see a big rate hike coming for fall fares by many airlines trying to recoup fuel cost. Delta & Northwest are close or in bankrupcy now. Hope we can see oil prices drop..but not in the near future. I like to travel in October to France, guess I'll be faced with a fare increase soon. If any of our members live along the gulf coast of the US, my prayers go out to you and my fellow citizens. So many lost everything they had.

TCUNC76!

Obviously, like all of you this far, I get my airline tickets way ahead (I like to fly to Europe, on the last friday before the high prices take effect), This is, or at least was the highest travel day of the season. Even though I had all our tickets (This was the first time I flew with my wife and pre-teen children), by the time we got to New York, and got ready to board the Pan-Am 747 to Europe, the announced that they oversold the plane and the tourist section is full! I managed to talk them into giving the last 1st class seat to my wife, and and than I finally managed to talk them into leting us go into the 1st class lounge upstairs in the hump of the 747. From there smooth sailing. So, buing tickets in advance and getting hotel reservations in advance assures you only of one thing: That you have a ticket in your hand, and that you may have a better bargining tool than if you do not have a ticket. I also get tickets for trains, if I want to have a sleeping compartement (I do not even know if they still have trains with sleeing compartements with the TGV trains taking over, but I took the Orient Express (the true Orient Express, not the fancy one with the old cars) from Paris to Budapest at least 3 or 4 times, but allways with advance reservations and tickets. And each time they were full. Also for the Train Bleu (From Nice to Paris), for regular trains normally I did not and do not buy tickets in advance, unless I can save on a train Pass. For hotels I do make reservations when I travel with my wife, or when the children were small and still came with us. Wen I go by my self, I generally do not make formal reservations,
just call them up, and let them know I am comming, Unless I am going in high season.

BP Chuck

We're like Ellen, have the plane tickets, a hotel for the first couple of jet lag days, and then off to the countryside. With the Michelin red guide, green guides (to provide location of the Information place), or something like the Gault-Millaut, we can find nice places to stay every night. Word of warning, don't wait too long, as some Information offices close as early as 5 PM. Ditto for the Gites, you can reserve the next night for the cost of a call from your present Gite. We normally like to see the place before we commit to stay there, as going to Gites unseen result in about a 20% (for us, at least) unfavorable rating. For real risk-taking, try using the hotels and restaurants from the "Relais Routiers", a guide for long-haul truckers.

In my previous life (before children and career) I was a travel agent, so for me planning is fun and a big part of the trip. I don't plan every detail, though. Usually I know what hotels I'll be in, and generally what I want to do, but each day unfolds as it happens. Several years ago when we took our children to France for the first time, we rented a car and had no hotel reservations other than a couple of nights in Paris. When we came to a town at the end of the day, we'd spot a hotel that looked nice and I'd go in and book the room. All the hotels were great and we had a wonderful trip. That was in the spring; I don't know if we would have been able to do that during the peak of the tourist season. In my opinion, if every detail is pre-planned, some of the adventure is lost.

Are you a travel risk taker or someone who needs precise planning?