Driving from jouey-en-josas to DLP?

[ctl]

My son will be studying in Jouey-en-Josas at HEC. We are primarily going to visit him for the week, but we want to stay on DLP and drive every day to see him after class. Does anyone local know howl ong the drive takes and what the best route would be? Any help is really appreciated.

 

[ctl]

I have been told by friends who have driven in France once, that they could not use their credit cards at gas stations, but had to have a special gas card for each individual gas station? Is this true and if so, how do I get a pre-paid gas card for these stations? My friends are from UK and said that late at night most of the petrol stations are automated with no attendant, so if you do not have a special gas card you don't get any gas? Help please?

 

[Carrie_Cat]

I have been told by friends who have driven in France once, that they could not use their credit cards at gas stations, but had to have a special gas card for each individual gas station? Is this true and if so, how do I get a pre-paid gas card for these stations? My friends are from UK and said that late at night most of the petrol stations are automated with no attendant, so if you do not have a special gas card you don't get any gas? Help please?

Never heard that one before

Petrol stations are unmanned at night for security reasons and even in the day more and more of them are automated.

Large companies give certain of their employees such as sales reps a card which they can either charge petrol to or it's already pre loaded but I have no idea if the general public can buy them.

People have had pbs with their cards if they are not with embeded chip and pin but that is true for all purchases in France

You are best asking your bank to supply you with one before travelling and filling up your tank in the day time to be sure not to be high and dry

 

[Carrie_Cat]

My son will be studying in Jouey-en-Josas at HEC. We are primarily going to visit him for the week, but we want to stay on DLP and drive every day to see him after class. Does anyone local know howl ong the drive takes and what the best route would be? Any help is really appreciated.

What time of day are you talking about as you are going from East to West and looking at all your possibilities it could be "fun"...

 

[ctl]

Thanks so much, I will see if I can get a card with a PIN, although I've never heard of that here in the US.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Thanks so much, I will see if I can get a card with a PIN, although I've never heard of that here in the US.

BoA do one apparently

There is also this discussion on TA about one

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTo...charge_Pin_Chip_Visa-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

and this is another discussion about them

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTo...not_having_new_chips-Paris_Ile_de_France.html

 

[ctl]

Thanks again, you are a lifesaver. As for driving from DLP to Jouey-en-Josas, after talking to folks in the UK they have me totally terrified. My brother told me that I would not get insurance if I drove in the ring route around paris as the accidents were so bad (he is Mr. Doom and Gloom!) But my hubby is willing to attempt to drive, I just want to know we won't all crash. Our hope is to visit my son after class in the late afternoon (leave DLP around 2.30pm) and drive back in the late evening after 8.30pm at night. Is this a feasible plan? or is it too dangerous to set out in evening traffic? My hubby is a pretty good driver, but speaks zero french , reading signs may be problematic.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Thanks again, you are a lifesaver. As for driving from DLP to Jouey-en-Josas, after talking to folks in the UK they have me totally terrified. My brother told me that I would not get insurance if I drove in the ring route around paris as the accidents were so bad (he is Mr. Doom and Gloom!) But my hubby is willing to attempt to drive, I just want to know we won't all crash. Our hope is to visit my son after class in the late afternoon (leave DLP around 2.30pm) and drive back in the late evening after 8.30pm at night. Is this a feasible plan? or is it too dangerous to set out in evening traffic? My hubby is a pretty good driver, but speaks zero french , reading signs may be problematic.

I'm sorry (as it's your brother) but that's rubbish...of course you'll get insurance, everybody gets insurance with a hire car and you can drive where you like.

Accidents on the ring road (peripherique) are rare as traffic is bumper to bumper most of the time and there are strict speed limits and radars

And on top of that unless you really want to you don't have to go anywhere near the periph to get there

Your fastest route on paper would be the A4 and then the A86 which is about 62 km and would take over an hour at best at this time of night according to Google

The thing is that the A86 is a nightmare road for traffic especially if you hit it at the wrong time which according to my OH is most of the day

We'll have a look at it for you and I'll repost

 

[ctl]

Yeah, my brother is definitely Mr. Doom and Gloom. He thinks I'm crazy for "spending all that money " to visit my son! Anyhoo, we don't mind driving a longer route, if it is safer or easier on my hubby. I really do want to see my son as that is the main reason we are coming over to France, so he is priority number one and DLP is secondary. Any help is greatly appreciated. I was wondering if we bought a sat nav such as Tom-Tom etc could we install it in a rental car or could we ask for a rental car with SAT NAV? If this would help hubby navigate, and make life simpler I could try and buy or book one ahead of time.

 

[Carrie_Cat]

Have a look at this thread as some of the info is good reading (even if you are not doing the same drive) and if post 14 I've put a link to road signs and rules of the road in English


http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2964522

 

[ctl]

You are a huge help. I have printed out the links to the road signs and hopefully this will let hubby (and me) study up before we set out on our trip. We drive on the left side of the road anyway and our cars have the steering wheel on the left, so maybe that will make things a little easier for us. I'm thinking an automatic may be easier than stick-shift (although DH drives both with ease), but the automatic may give him 1 less thing to concentrate on.
Is there any difference in the gasoline requirements for automatic versus stick-shift in France, or do they both consume approximately the same amount of gasoline? I see that the stick-shift may cost marginally less, but if it means more hassle for DH then the automatic may be worth the extra cash.

 

[skirby]

We rented a car a few weeks ago to drive around the Loire Valley. I just went in and gave them some euros and told them what pump I wanted. We drove about 150-200 km and used 16 euros of diesel in an automatic. You might have a credit card that covers your rental car insurance if you put the entire rental on it and refuse all other coverages. If you want an automatic, reserve it as soon as you've made up your mind.

Having said all of that, have you looked at taking the train? It looks like you could take the RER A into Paris and transfer to the RER C. Carrie_Cat can correct me if I'm wrong, but it might take an hour and a half to two hours on the train and you don't have to worry about other drivers.

 

[ctl]

I will have to look into that. My main concern is maximizing time with my DS after his classes are done, so having to go with the train might cut down precious time with him. As he won't know his class schedule until late December I will definitely try and plan for both rental car and train. Thanks for the info. Everyone on these boards has been so helpful, it really helps reduce the stress.