J'ai testé pour vous...

A few days ago, I had to catch a mid-week flight and instead of taking the RER or the Air France bus as I normally would, I decided to try out the new EasyBus service offered by EasyJet from the Louvre to CDG, at the low, low price of 2.99€. (As a side note, you do not need to fly EasyJet to book a seat on this bus, it is open to all travelers).

C also had to head out to the airport for other reasons, so we booked our tickets and off we went to the Louvre. The pick-up site was listed on the address as 2, place André Malraux, so we used handy google maps to locate the big ol' number 2 in front of a pharmacy.  Except the instructions also said that the pick-up site was in front of HSBC...which was all the way across a busy intersection at 3, place André Malraux. So we weren't quite sure where to wait, but we decided to camp out in front of the HSBC.  I noticed another French woman though who was obviously confused by the instructions as well, because she spent 20 minutes nervously pacing back and forth between the two sites.

The bus was supposed to arrive 10 minutes before the pick-up time, but our allotted time came and went...and then so did 5 minutes, 10 minutes and 15 minutes.  At that point, I was starting to panic a bit, and it was decision time...do we keep waiting it out?  Do we head back to the line 7 and hop on the RER B at Chatelet?  Do we run down to Opéra and try to grab the Roissybus?  Or do we try to grab a taxi?

Since we had luggage, we didn't want to go back into the metro, and a taxi was deemed too expensive in rush hour, so we hoofed it to the Roissybus (which - holy crap - costs 11€ now!).  But luckily we both made it on time in the end, minus a few extra euros of course.

C & I have both emailed them asking for an explanation and a refund, and I have also reached out to them on several of their social media sites, but to no avail.  I also booked them for my flight to Bangkok next week, so I'm currently trying to decide if I should give them another shot or not?  It does say on the ticket that you can take any bus up to an hour before your booked time (assuming they have space), so I may just go early and give it another try, especially since the tickets are non-refundable. Either way, I guess it's just another example of you get what you pay for!  Or otherwise maybe just using them from CDG to the Louvre, since you don't really have the same time constraints...

Starbucks offer for the ladies

Another quick update for anyone living near in France and near a Starbucks - I just noticed the June edition of Glamour has a coupon for a free Yogurt Frappuccino at Starbucks, valid through the end of the month.  You have a choice between two flavors - Red Fruit & Mango Passion. 

If you don't subscribe to Glamour, you can always pick one up for 1€ at your local newstand.  It's still worth it since the smallest version of the drink costs 5.55€, so it's a great freebie and then plus you'll have a girly magazine to read while you sip it. :)

Metro News

I'm about half-way through my 3 crazy month travel spree:

• Week 1- near Cholet
• Week 2- Thailand
• Week 3- China
• Week 4- home (woohoo!)
• Week 5- near Cholet
• Week 6- Istanbul
• Week 7&8- Thailand
• Week 9&10- US
• Week 11- Return to France
• Week 12- near Cholet
• Week 13- nothing booked yet, but that's still a ways out...

It's starting to make me regret getting annual passes for the metro, the gym and the cinema...but oh well, too late now.  And I hate using the individual metro tickets anyways, I always end up with a million of them everywhere, and never know if they've been used or not, etc.

But I did actually take the metro yesterday and picked up one of the free newspapers, so I thought I'd share a few interesting articles.

First of all, the Regional Tourism Committee has started renting out these little wifi boxes to tourists in order to give them better mobile access during their vacation.  The box is about the size of a telephone, has a 6h battery span, and allows you to connect up to 10 devices to it.  There are about 100 available, and you can rent them at the information booths at CDG and Galeries Lafayette.  The cost is pretty reasonable too - 7,90€ per day. 

There was a second offer for tourists too - Appart'City is offering a special for the month of June that allows customers to name their price for a hotel room.  The promotion is valid all over France and can be booked online at www.appartcity.com.

And lastly, if you don't like speaking in French on the phone or can never get your doctor to pick up, there is a new website called www.RDVmedicaux.com.  The site has over 2600 general practitioners and specialists (including ophthalmologists) in over 500 cities through France, and basically lets you book a doctor's appointment as you would a train ticket. They will send you a confirmation via SMS, as well as a reminder SMS the day before your appointment.  I can see how something like this would be extremely practical, both in helping you find an available doctor near you and also during les vacances.  I know there have been times in the past where I've had to call as many as 10 doctors before finding one available during the month of August!