It’s possible I love the Hôtel de Crillon in Paris because I have never been able to afford to stay there, so it remains a mythical hotel in my mind. However, there are many hotels I can’t afford to stay at…
You’ll never forget Paris, it won’t let you
I woke up this morning and couldn’t remember where I was. Luckily there were a few reminders: Thank god for postcards – they’re perfect for all those wannabe novelists who come to Paris to write, but just can’t…
More about renting a villa or apartment in France – affordably
Renting a villa in France must be a popular subject because my article on how I did it on a budget last summer in the Toronto Star today is getting mega hits. If you’re interested, read the article here. And…
My battle with EasyJet
Now I’m not one to complain (oh, who am I kidding?) but after our EasyJet flight was cancelled from Paris to Nice because of flight crew problems last June and we were given a form outlining the compensation we would…
The return
It’s one thing to go away on a trip. It’s another thing to come back. What happens when the dream trip is over? At first it’s okay. For one thing, you’re so exhausted you don’t care where you are. And…
Renting a motorbike in France ie will I live through this day?
After a big fight with my boyfriend over the dangers of renting a motorbike (I didn’t want him to so he rented one anyway), I was so mad that I got on the bike. I’m serious. I didn’t know what…
Easyjet cancelled my flight- arghhhh!
I’m not knocking Paris, but when you’re all set to leave Paris and fly to Nice for your 6-day seaside holiday, it’s a major pain in the arse when, after an interminable and chaotic lineup, first the computers go down…
Paris in a heat wave … go to the Louvre
It would have been pretty embarrassing to go to Paris and not go to the Louvre, especially when our apartment is right across the street from the gargantuan museum. Our balcony overlooks the east end of it and we’ve spent…
Our last night in the Cevennes
It’s our last night at the chateau Bussas. Our French wilderness idyll is over. Every day since Wednesday Mark and I have had a running conversation of, “oh no, I can’t believe we have only 3/2/1 more days” or “where…
Scary Roads of the Cévennes
Robert Louis Stevenson may have trod this perilous area with a donkey named Modestine in his short novel Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes written in 1879, but that was nothing compared to driving these routes with a GPS,…