What were your biggest mistakes when visitong France?

Like I did mispelling VISITING in the title of this thread...

And also misspelling misspelling.

>>What did you dislike?<<

Leaving....

We return first thing tomorrow.

Stu Dudley

It's just not my day.

Hah--Stu took the words right out of my mouth.

By the time I first visited France, I learned to avoid certain mistakes, but on other trips, they had been: continuing with my "agenda" no matter how tired (or hot or cold or hungry) I was, rather than stoppping for a lengthy break at a cafe, a park, or whatever.
Another was seeing too much through the camera lens, rather than just LOOKING at things. A lesser mistake was not having a couple of cell phones so my companion and I could do different things, yet check in, keep in touch, etc. without getting "lost."

Not enough $$$$$$$$$
and leaving

I didnt realize how very BIG the country was, much larger than Italy, where I have a lot of travel experience, and as a result we were over-ambitious in the number of destinations we could cover and spent too much of our time on the road. (Paris Burgundy Loire and a taste of Normandy in 10 days - since we had spent a fair amount of time in Paris before, we did day trips to Chartres and Reims while in Paris)

should have bought that pair of shoes...

Not buying that souvenir for ourselves at the first of the trip. You know the one - the one we were sure we would see later on in the trip at a better price.
...and spending too much time (and money) buying stuff for friends and family

Not spending an extra day would be number one, number two was not taking the invation of the english sweety who invited me back to her hostel,while we were drinking in a canadian bar(the moose????) She was a hottie.

I long to go back to paris, the markets, the cafes, the art, and the people watching. Maybe again once my boys are old. I hope.

Didn't plan enough free time. Time to just explore.

Also didn't write down what souviners I had promised to bring back, and ended up forgetting to get them.

Don't take your wife and daugther into Louis Vuiton. $1000 down the drain.

I didn't purchase enough from the village market days because I didn't want to "lug" it around for the rest of the trip. Wish I had made the purchases and shipped them back home...now I'm home and longing for so many of the things I passed up. To me the market days were the nicest surprise of the Provence portion of our visit.

I dislike that I don't speak the language well enough. I can make myself known, but their responses "plus vite"...
Yes I always ran out of money.
I love France, the Parisians and the other French.
I don't plan much anytime. I do believe in serendipity.
I did pick a wrong place to stay. It was merely wrong for me, someone else (younger) probably would adore it.
My shameful secret? It took me 4 visits to even try the Metro. We don't have those things where I live...I was an idiot! (That's right! I'll call myself one before someone else does! I walked and I cabbed it.)

As a photographer sort, if you go, and get up before dawn, wow...what artsy black and whites you can get with the web cobbles, the reflections in puddles...plus, to me, its a great time to see Paris.

Not taking a picture ID with me for my daytrip using a PREM ticket but luckily the conductor just told me "next time".

Disliked (none of these were deal breakers):
Went with my SO, who doesn't like to shop.
Some of the shops I researched, were gone.
Didn't get to Versailles.
Didn't realize finding the rental car return at CDG would be difficult-but foruntately lucked out.
I LOVE PARIS !!!

Spending too much time in Paris and not enough in the beautiful countryside...

Not renting our Paris Perfect apartment for 2 weeks instead of only one and not spending more time in the chateau countryside.

Always dislike leaving

Never ran out of money: what do you think DH's are for??

Always love it

Overplanner to the max

This is the single most important thing to us, so we always stay where we want

The only thing I still regret to this day, each time we visit France, we've been about 10 times, is I never spend enough time learning more of the language,; my polite words are down pat, but nothing really more. I do however try and speak Italian while in Italy and have concentrated on that language a whole lot more!

See you are going to France.. have a ball!

Not carrying a cell phone.

I am planning on leaving the cell phone home. We plan on checking emails each day and calling home every 4 days...MAYBe I should rethink that???

Arriving at Hotel Kyriad (Chateauroux)late at night.

Do you know that rural hotels actually close up tight late at night. No one is on duty. The doors are locked. Even the parking lot can be locked up tight

We flew into Paris Orly from Prague recently and arrived late due to a big storm. Parisians were leaving in mass for a long holiday weekend. The roads were at a stand still. We ran hours behind. When we finally arrived at the hotel we found it locked up and no one to answer our call. Sleeping in our car wasn't an appealing option.

Thankfully, about 30 minutes later another guest arrived, letting himself in a different entrance. We were so happy to follow him to the new door and found an envelope with our name taped to the door, with the entry code on it, and our room key inserted in the lock of our rooms door.

We loved the thoughtfulness of the French that night!

Yes, we also hate to leave!!

brando: "not taking the invation of the english sweety who invited me back to her hostel"
nbujic: "should have bought that pair of shoes..."

Men think about sex, and women think about shoes. Got it.

Don't woo her with flowers; give her shoes.

In 1998, we were told by friends to eat at Sargeant Recruiter on the Ile Saint Louis. The place looked sketchy to begin with, but we took our friends at their word. Big mistake.

The food was god awful, and I'm being generous. It's a restaurant where people come to eat large amounts of bad food and drink too much for not a lot of money.

I still rue the night we wasted a good dinner opportunity in Paris to dine at this place.

padraig,
" Men think about sex, and women think about shoes. Got it.

Don't woo her with flowers; give her shoes."

If you make it stilettos , both of you will have what you wanted (AND in Paris)!

Not allowing enough time to drive from place to place along the winding country roads.

Not taking the cute guy up on his offer when he picked up my friend and me hitchhiking in his truck filled with pork near Rocamadour in 1972. I was sitting between him and the gearshift and he was calling out directions to me about how and when to shift in French. He said he'd pick up his brother and we could all go to Biarritz together. My friend on the brother's lap, I suppose. I may finally get to Biarritz this summer but it won't be the same.

Trying to force my husband and daughter into too much activity one long day in Paris, during which we fit in a visit to the Conciergerie, Sainte Chapelle, the Cluny Museum and the Musee d'Orsay.

when I was younger -- trying to cram too many places and stuff into a vacation. I've slowed down, but still cover a lot of ground.

not being at major sites early enough to beat the lines --
- Notre Dame towers - 9:30 for a 10am open - wished we were there closer to 9:/9:15
- Eiffel Tower - got there about 10am and stood in way too long lines. Wished we didn't visit the top level but stayed on bottom 2 levels.

never taking enough money.

What did you dislike? I'm sure there's something - nothing is perfect - but I can't think of anything.

Did you run out of money? No. I'm a saver.

Did you not like it? Are you kidding? A country where I can eat croissants every morning for breakfast (that is, unless I want a pain au chocolat) and sit at cafes for hours?

Did you not plan enough? There's always something that I wish I'd looked up before I went. But nothing major.

Did you over plan? In my world, that's not possible. Having more information gives you more choices.

Did you pick the wrong place to stay or the wrong method of transportation? You can't get everything right, and some things won't be as good as you thought, or just not be to your tastes (how can you know until you try, or until you're there?). Sometimes we've chosen places we wouldn't return to, but that's part of the ups and down of traveling.

My dislikes were the same as every other vacation - not having enough time and having too many things we wanted to see/do.

Two minor omplaints:

Having to deal with smokers in restaurants (although I understand that's becoming a thing of the past).

I don't care the the French definition of park or garden - too formal, too much gravel - not enough open grassy areas and flowers running wild. I like the British/American style better.

Absolutely loved the shoe comment! Haven't fallen in France, but everywhere in USA--yes, a pair of possibly unneccesary new shoes.
The funny thing: two pairs are called 'No Name' made in France.
Go figure.

Photobear - Why are you going to check your e-mail every day? Need a spam infusion?

You're on vacation! Send postcards if you must, and forget everything else. No one needs to contact you unless it's an emergency and I'm guessing that important people for you know where you're stayng and can contact the hotel if necessary.

Regret: Not planning well. We had too many things on the to see/to do list (boatloads of recommendations from other Paris travellers), and didn't start out by prioritizing. So the first few days we ended up spending time on things which weren't that significant to us, and then ran out of time at the end of the week for things we'd really wanted to do.

What did you dislike? Smoking in the restaurant. We went to this wonderful restaurant called Swann and Vincent and I couldn't enjoy my food because I was having a hard time breathing.

Did you run out of money? no, we knew our limits

Did you not like it? France wonderful France.

Did you not plan enough? We had a lazy schedule.

Did you over plan? I think we did fine with our schedule

Did you pick the wrong place to stay or the wrong method of transportation? No,
but I did wonder what it would be like to stay at the Ritz, we stayed nearby.

I just got back from Paris yesterday and I miss it already. I think I am going to skip Venice this year and go back to beautiful Paris!

Well, we will check email each day because we are renting an apartment and I want to make sure our staff can get in touch with us if really needed.

Also, my Dad has a heart condition, so I am always worried. That's why we may just get a cell phone while there for peace of mind.

First trip: Not looking down at the pavement in front of me where I walked. (A lot of people don't clean up after their dogs.)

Subsequent trip with boyfriend: Not looking down at the pavement in front of where my boyfriend was walking, as well as where I was walking. (If your companion steps in dog poo, it's not that much different than if you stepped in dog poo.)

First trip mistake: Spending too much time (in fact, not being able to figure out how to get away from) the very touristy main drags (Champs Elysees, the area around the Louvre, Les Halles, Ile Saint Louis and Blvd Saint Germain).

Make sure you make some plans that take you at least a little off the beaten path, so that you can see the parts of Paris that residents see.

Be prepared for rain almost any day. Although Paris can have several days or even a week or two of uninterrupted sun, it's more common for there to be relatively brief showers on at least a few days during your visit. The rain doesn't usually last long, so get thee to a cafe. But pack a tiny lightweight umbrella so that you can be prepared at any time. I carry one with me on any day when it's anything other than bright blue sky stretching in every direction I can see from my apartment. (Often it's blue sky on one side and grey on the other. Go figure.)

Oh, I should add the other first trip mistake. Don't stay with your ex in his dorm room, just because it's free accommodation.

My only mistake regarding visiting France is not doing it sooner. I wish I'd gone about 20 years earlier than my first trip in 2000.