We're Booked for London/Paris! Now What? - Page 2 - The DIS Discussion Forums

DisneyJo · 12-28-2006, 11:04 AM

Don't worry nearly all of the French speak English anyway! They are also used to the Brits broken french whilst using lots of arm actions

You will make yourself understood, although I do realise part of going to a foreign country is trying to learn their language so good luck.

JulieWent · 12-28-2006, 12:46 PM

Jo,

It was funny. Not long ago, I was part of a thread in which we were discussing trying to pick up various languages for our travels, and someone (I can't remember who) came on the thread to remind us that we didn't need to learn a new language to visit the United Kingdom. We should remember, the person said quite seriously, that English was spoken there.

On a serious note, though, have you traveled in France frequently? Are the French generally patient with those of us who are "just trying out" the language?

And, back to England, have you spent any time in the Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire area? We are thinking of spending several days there, and I was wondering about it.

Julie

LisaTex · 12-28-2006, 01:46 PM

Hi Julie and all. Have been away for a while. We will be on the June 8 trip. We are planning on DLP before we are off to the Med cruise. We did the Hawaii ABD trip last summer. If the guides are anything like the ones we had, they will do all they can to help arrange transportation. It looks like a 30-40 min ride from the Hilton Arc de Triomph to DLP. We will prob just grab a cab - the thought of all our luggage on the train or bus is scary!! I am not much of a planner - thanks to all of your info - i don't feel so panicked now!!

DisneyJo · 12-29-2006, 01:10 PM

Julie,

DH and I escaped the kids last year and did Paris, totally exhausted ourselves and I'm sure we walked more miles than at Disney! But we saw all the sights in 3 days so it was worth it. The French don't really have much patience with the Brits (don't flame me if you're french!) but I'm sure an American accent would get a better responce. Like all nationalities it is appreciated when foreigners try their language so go for it.

With regard to Warwickshire I'm afraid I can't help, I think I went to Warwick castle once as a child but can't remember more. As with most people I never really explore my own country, too busy flying to Florida or the Carribbean for the sun. Maybe when the DD's have left home DH and I can tour the UK. DH is a golf pro and wants to do the senior circuit when he's old enough (quite a long way off) so we could tie the two together. I do know about Suffolk (born there and parents still live there), Norfolk (DH born there, inlaws still do) and I now live South East in Kent.

Jo

JulieWent · 12-29-2006, 06:52 PM

Jo,

Thank you so for the reassurance. I realize there's some tension between the British and French. (I had a student last year from England. He complained and complained when we read Les Miserables. It was good natured complaining, but it was a funny reminder of the tension you speak of.) I fear that we may encounter some of the same tension given the current political situation, but I really want to go. That's one of the reasons I'm really trying to learn some of the language.

In regards to your husbands golf aspirations, we live on one of the South's largest golf trails in the States. So, if you ever make it here to do a grand golf tour, remember my web name here on the DIS.

Julie

ppiew · 12-30-2006, 08:52 PM

To KLondon: we took this tour last August and it was great! As far as the England stuff, we took a train to St Austell the first nite and spent the next day at the Eden Project, then took the train (another 3 hrs) to Penzance. It was a quick ride the next day to Lands End, St Ives and Michels Mount - fantastic Cornish places all! Frankly, I was glad we didn't have a car - roads are narrow and nowhere to park near the sites. Train was super! We did see DLP for 2 days at the end of the tour and that was also great. Two days was sufficient to spend time seeing the parks, and frequently shuttles from the hotels to CDG were also easy to use.

HoyaMom · 01-02-2007, 08:12 PM

There is great insight in this forum - I actually used it to convince DH that ABD London/Paris is the way to go for a special trip with my parents - Thanks! MJGirl, we are booking for June 29, 2007 as well - there are 6 of us (4 adults, 2 children).

MJGirl · 01-02-2007, 10:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HoyaMom

There is great insight in this forum - I actually used it to convince DH that ABD London/Paris is the way to go for a special trip with my parents - Thanks! MJGirl, we are booking for June 29, 2007 as well - there are 6 of us (4 adults, 2 children).

Great!

Looking forward to meeting you. It will be my daughter (16)and I (??)

How old are the children? I can't wait! Only 5 months 3 weeks and 5 days to go (but who's counting).

KLondon · 01-19-2007, 12:04 PM

A very belated 'thanks' to all of you for posting on this thread. I've been offline last few weeks - well, New Year's at DisneyWorld and 2 weeks of recovery - so I'm just getting caught up!

nbodyhome · 01-20-2007, 04:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JulieWent

My biggest problem in learning a little French right now is that I speak a good deal of Spanish. I keep finding myself lapsing into the Spanish: un, deux, trois, quatro, cinco, seis..... Oops. That ought to really confuse some poor person at the post office! :-)

Au Revoir

Julie

I am glad I don't know any other languages, I've been working on my French for a couple of years almost now (not that it's great, but it gets me by!) I am heading back to London/Paris by myself, not on ABD in April for 9 days. I'd not drive in England, definitely (we have taken 1 day tours to Stonehenge, Bath, Portsmouth, etc.)

If you do learn a little French, you'll find that a LOT of Parisians actually do speak very good English. At least good compared with my French.

We stayed in a non-touristy part of Paris last trip (it is where I'm staying in April), and I'd heard that fewer people in that neighborhood spoke English. Not so! The laundromat owner knew English, the lovely Italian restaurant we enjoyed, the owner there knew quite a bit (and had English menus!), a girl who worked at the Boulangerie was half American, half French. It was pretty amazing, there always seemed to be around who spoke English (the only bad thing, I didn't get to use as much of my French!) The Monoprix cashier didn't know English, but the woman behind me did - so she was able to translate. And this was in a residential neighborhood. "Merci, S'il Vous Plait, and Bon Jour" are all important phrases.

KLondon · 01-21-2007, 11:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nbodyhome

... I'd not drive in England, definitely (we have taken 1 day tours to Stonehenge, Bath, Portsmouth, etc.)...

Interesting that you say that - we're struggling around this very issue! Can you tell me a bit about how you arranged these kinds of tours?

We'll be doing the ABD London/Paris trip in July, and we're planning to arrive in London a few days early to see a bit of Southern England. My first thought was to rent a car and drive a bit, but I remembered a previous experience (some 25 years ago) with driving in England and now I'm thinking rail or bus trips would be the way to go (especially with kids!).

Any suggestions?

ppiew · 01-21-2007, 12:05 PM

We took a City Bus tour to Stonehenge and to Windsor castle. It was great! We took the train to Bath, I think we changed trains at Reading but I could be wrong. There are also numerous Blue Badge guides that do private driving trips and they are so knowledgeable.

nbodyhome · 01-21-2007, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KLondon

Interesting that you say that - we're struggling around this very issue! Can you tell me a bit about how you arranged these kinds of tours?

We'll be doing the ABD London/Paris trip in July, and we're planning to arrive in London a few days early to see a bit of Southern England. My first thought was to rent a car and drive a bit, but I remembered a previous experience (some 25 years ago) with driving in England and now I'm thinking rail or bus trips would be the way to go (especially with kids!).

Any suggestions?

First, it depends on where you want to go. You can book many itineraries on Expedia, but I went through Astral Travels to get the inner circle tour. There are many companies that do tours, Astral is one I've used several times (if you see the Stonehenge Tour Company, that is Astral Travels as well). Of course, there is rail as well. I do enjoy the tours - they are great for seeing a number of things (and then I am sure I'll go back to see some places myself without a tour sometime).

We have Stonehenge and Bath photos on the website, but Portsmouth was last year (and I've not put those up).

Denise

12-28-2006, 11:04 AM	#16
DisneyJo TGJ Lost another competition It's absolute bliss Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 19,206	Don't worry nearly all of the French speak English anyway! They are also used to the Brits broken french whilst using lots of arm actions You will make yourself understood, although I do realise part of going to a foreign country is trying to learn their language so good luck. __________________ Member of the 2009 Disney World Moms Panel

12-28-2006, 01:46 PM	#18
LisaTex Mouseketeer Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: AUstin, TX Posts: 446	Hi Julie and all. Have been away for a while. We will be on the June 8 trip. We are planning on DLP before we are off to the Med cruise. We did the Hawaii ABD trip last summer. If the guides are anything like the ones we had, they will do all they can to help arrange transportation. It looks like a 30-40 min ride from the Hilton Arc de Triomph to DLP. We will prob just grab a cab - the thought of all our luggage on the train or bus is scary!! I am not much of a planner - thanks to all of your info - i don't feel so panicked now!! __________________ Lisa HOOK 'EM HORNS!

12-29-2006, 01:10 PM	#19
DisneyJo TGJ Lost another competition It's absolute bliss Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Kent, UK Posts: 19,206	Julie, DH and I escaped the kids last year and did Paris, totally exhausted ourselves and I'm sure we walked more miles than at Disney! But we saw all the sights in 3 days so it was worth it. The French don't really have much patience with the Brits (don't flame me if you're french!) but I'm sure an American accent would get a better responce. Like all nationalities it is appreciated when foreigners try their language so go for it. With regard to Warwickshire I'm afraid I can't help, I think I went to Warwick castle once as a child but can't remember more. As with most people I never really explore my own country, too busy flying to Florida or the Carribbean for the sun. Maybe when the DD's have left home DH and I can tour the UK. DH is a golf pro and wants to do the senior circuit when he's old enough (quite a long way off) so we could tie the two together. I do know about Suffolk (born there and parents still live there), Norfolk (DH born there, inlaws still do) and I now live South East in Kent. Jo __________________ Member of the 2009 Disney World Moms Panel

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12-28-2006, 12:46 PM	#17
JulieWent DIS Veteran Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: Auburn, AL, USA Posts: 1,093	Jo, It was funny. Not long ago, I was part of a thread in which we were discussing trying to pick up various languages for our travels, and someone (I can't remember who) came on the thread to remind us that we didn't need to learn a new language to visit the United Kingdom. We should remember, the person said quite seriously, that English was spoken there. On a serious note, though, have you traveled in France frequently? Are the French generally patient with those of us who are "just trying out" the language? And, back to England, have you spent any time in the Stratford-Upon-Avon, Warwickshire area? We are thinking of spending several days there, and I was wondering about it. Julie

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The DIS Register to remove Join Date: 1997 Location: Orlando, FL Posts: 1,000,000

12-29-2006, 06:52 PM	#20
JulieWent DIS Veteran Join Date: Aug 1999 Location: Auburn, AL, USA Posts: 1,093	Jo, Thank you so for the reassurance. I realize there's some tension between the British and French. (I had a student last year from England. He complained and complained when we read Les Miserables. It was good natured complaining, but it was a funny reminder of the tension you speak of.) I fear that we may encounter some of the same tension given the current political situation, but I really want to go. That's one of the reasons I'm really trying to learn some of the language. In regards to your husbands golf aspirations, we live on one of the South's largest golf trails in the States. So, if you ever make it here to do a grand golf tour, remember my web name here on the DIS. Julie

12-30-2006, 08:52 PM	#21
ppiew DIS Veteran Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: U.P. of Michigan Posts: 2,385	To KLondon: we took this tour last August and it was great! As far as the England stuff, we took a train to St Austell the first nite and spent the next day at the Eden Project, then took the train (another 3 hrs) to Penzance. It was a quick ride the next day to Lands End, St Ives and Michels Mount - fantastic Cornish places all! Frankly, I was glad we didn't have a car - roads are narrow and nowhere to park near the sites. Train was super! We did see DLP for 2 days at the end of the tour and that was also great. Two days was sufficient to spend time seeing the parks, and frequently shuttles from the hotels to CDG were also easy to use.

01-02-2007, 08:12 PM	#22
HoyaMom Earning My Ears Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 7	There is great insight in this forum - I actually used it to convince DH that ABD London/Paris is the way to go for a special trip with my parents - Thanks! MJGirl, we are booking for June 29, 2007 as well - there are 6 of us (4 adults, 2 children).

01-19-2007, 12:04 PM	#24
KLondon Mouseketeer Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: London, Ontario Posts: 187	A very belated 'thanks' to all of you for posting on this thread. I've been offline last few weeks - well, New Year's at DisneyWorld and 2 weeks of recovery - so I'm just getting caught up!

01-21-2007, 12:05 PM	#27
ppiew DIS Veteran Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: U.P. of Michigan Posts: 2,385	We took a City Bus tour to Stonehenge and to Windsor castle. It was great! We took the train to Bath, I think we changed trains at Reading but I could be wrong. There are also numerous Blue Badge guides that do private driving trips and they are so knowledgeable.