British, I hope you stay on. Entre deux mer is a pretty nice area, I've ridden though it enough, but I find St Em a bit like a tourist trap in a cliff by a field compared to where you will be.

I hope travel allows you to get to Japan soon. I do love Kyoto, and there's no place like Tokyo. In Tokyo, I find the Shinagawa Prince Hotel a comfortable place for westerners. Right next to Shinagawa station (local city trains plus the bullet trains), and with access to the 'Limousine Bus' service from the airports. Much closer to Haneda airport, but if you fly into Narita, I recommend staying the first night at an airport hotel to recover from that long flight. What happens is, after the flight, if you take the Limousine Bus to the Shinagawa Prince, it's an extra 1-1.5 hrs of travel. And I find it utterly tiring--I've done it, and the last 15 min was waiting for a train to clear tracks when I could see the hotel from my bus window. Now, I go straight to an airport hotel to recover from that 14 hr flight.

As for Okinawa, I have a hard time recommending it to travellers, as much as I love the food and the kind people (but I grew up there). Be warned the tourism there now exceeds Hawaii. Cruise ships dock there, now. I think Kokusai Street (International Street) makes for a fascinating stroll. It's a rabbit's warren of little shops. And of course, there are some amazing WWII sites, like the underground Naval HQ and Peace Park. I don't know how much of a beach person you are (I'm not), and how much isolation you like (me, a lot), but if you were very much into beaches, I think you'd prefer to get out to the outlying Ryukyu islands. I think Tokashikii island (my Mom's home island) is the easiest to get to. 30 min ferry from Naha, but the accommodations are rustic and seem to draw serious surfers/scuba lovers. But I think there are other islands that offer more wild beauty, like Iriomote or Miyako. Note that 'Jima' means island, so you may see Miyakojima or some such. But this requires a longer stay and far more planning. Also, important to go in the right months because the heat is no joke in some months, and there's hurricane/rainy seasons to avoid.

It's also another flight from Japan, and you'd probably want to look into what used to be called JAL's Yokoso fare ('welcome' fare) for int'l. travellers, but there's other low-cost flights from the mainland to Okinawa now.

I don't know much of them, but know there are some beautiful beaches in the mainland, too. I see them on TV Japan all the time. (Have I discouraged you yet?)
https://www.jal.co.jp/arl/en/world/j...lorer_pass/lp/

In any case, I hope we BOTH get to Japan soon!

Congratulations on your new purchase! I'm glad you've found "your spot"

We've heard (and met) Americans who have bought sight unseen! They've used a service to independently visit the house and provide detailed video tours (beyond the agent).

Just FYI, you are not required to use the same notaire. You can hire your own and the cost is the same. Also, I've heard there is a new agreement post-Brexit on health care. I'm not up to date on it, as we're American and the rules are different for us.

I have had fun looking at GreenAcres.

Congratulations! The house looks beautiful. Will you be renting it out until you are able to move?

Pgt

not sure what we are current intentions are, it has an Air BnB listing and we have had enquires to fill it this summer just have to wait and see with the travel restrictions. My wife has retired from law And is now teaching , she may just spend the summer over there and I’ll commute. If the restrictions are still in place then we will probably rent it out to French families this summer.

Bilbo

where do you cycle ? It’s lovely , just rolling vineyards and little villages. I’ll make it out to the coast on my first trip.

macross

GreenAcres is dangerous and addictive, you will find that many of the houses are either sold and still advertised or have problems like a motorway at the end of the garden. Many of the good houses sell really quickly or sell off the market.

gooster

yes, it’s all about finding your own spot we looked at houses for more money but didn’t want the stress of borrowed money, there’s a Pugh going on at the moment. The houses in the Charente was huge Chateaux but quite isolated and the houses in The Luberon were sheds for our budget. Bordeaux area has perfect, an active market and still reasonable prices. Provence is also becoming far too hot summer.
I wasn’t sure about the Notaire thing, I heard that you could instruct your own but our transaction has been very efficient to date. I think the health care rules are settling down for Brits in France, it appears that we will be covered once we apply for residency.

i can see tomboy’s comment has been deleted so I recognise how things work now ie be nice and don’t talk about politics.

Chcpgal

that’s all brilliant information, I have thought about the culture shock of the first few days, the different character alphabet is always an issue. I remember the time away from tourists centres in Thailand were really hard work, very friendly people but just difficult to make out signs and menus.

I had feared that Okinawa had long since been discovered, I think in 18 months we will search out one of your quite islands to laze around, we’re not beach people as such just love seascapes and walks on beaches.

Congratulations!



“All are welcome!”.....

I’ve picked my room...the attic one with the beams, thanks.

Adelaidean

This could be fun, we may well do this when we move over , some sort of Fodors youth hostel.

Didn't you mean nursing home? :p

You'll find a whole bunch of routes but Bordeaux is a good hub with ex-railway lines offering the best distance. Along the coast is a major bike route 6,4 I forget, check out the Euro routes. Some pretty nice cycling towards the coast. Going East you also have the river routes and over the top from Bergerac to the south. You'll have a blast.

:toj:

BC, seriously, my sister and I are planning about 6 weeks in France in April/May of next year, Bordeaux being on the agenda. Will you be keeping the Airbnb listing for next year too? We wanted 3-4 nights in Bordeaux and about the same in Entre Deux Mers. Your home looks perfect, will check back again later this year when you’ll probably have a better idea.

The Luberon is one of my favourite regions in France, though we only go in late spring. A couple of years back we went early June and the first two days the mistral was blowing and it was freezing, luckily we had glorious weather afterwards.

Geetika

yes, that’s very possible. We are tied to school holidays so if it’s outside the Easter two weeks and the last week of May then entirely possible. We are five minutes by car équidistance between Gensac and Pellegrue. There are supermarkets in both villages and a huge hyper market 20 minutes away at Castillon la Bataille. The pool is heated.

If you prefer a hotel then there are LOTS in the immediate area, many of a very high standard for e100 a night,

Just DM if you would like to stay.

Kind regards

Mark

It looks lovely.

It makes you sound like a millionaire though - they wouldn't let us stay so we bought the place ;)

Oh we are anything but high rollers.

i once walked past an Estate Agency window on Grace Bay, Turks & Caicos.

Saw a lovely place for sale (thought it was for sale) - £300,000 , on the beach with a pool. Thought right I’m having it.

Charged in and asked to view, asked for the particulars and asked if they would take a lower offer.

”possibly Sir , how many weeks would you want it for! “

I could have died. £300,000 a week , I offered to rent it for 10 minutes.

One way I can tell the British visitors from the American visitors when we visit the weekly market--the British can look at the ads in the realtors' windows, but we Americans don't dare.

I'm kind of kidding, kind of not.

That’s a great description nonconformist2!

Mark, give me a few months, am hoping by September we’ll have a fair idea where we’re heading, I do believe we should be able to travel in 2022. I’ll definitely get in touch with you later this year, we can always work around your school schedule.

BTW, forgive me for being dense, but how does one send a DM? Have seen people referring to it, but haven’t ever figured out how to go about it...

Click the name of the recipient. Click Private Message. Very easy.

Have tried this, but I don’t find anything which says PM!

I left clicked your name. The second option is "Send a private message to geetka." The same works for any name in this thread.