I just returned from London & Paris any questions? <BR> <BR>One piece of advice...my friend had French Franc AMEX Traveller's checks she had gotten when the ATM strike was on as we were leaving just prior to it ending. Hardly NO ONE would accept them in stores or businesses. The strike was over just a day or two before we left.

I'm leaving for Paris next week and was planning on getting French Franc traveler's checks to pay the hotels. What do you suggest? I didn't want to use my credit cards for everything and come home with monster bills. Do they accept American dollar traveler's checks? How was the weather in Paris?! Any info. would be useful! <BR>Susan

The hotel had no problem accepting the checks to pay the hotel bill. I would check with your specific hoteltou have booked with to be sure. I doubt if that will be a problem. It was shops and restaurants that would not take them. <BR> <BR>Weather: We had rain the first couple of days...on and off. It was ggod to have a light jacket but it was not steady rain. We had packed unbrellas and light rain jackets. It was actually convienent to have them . Then the rest of the week we were only in short sleeves it was warm and very sunny. The last day it rained again. <BR> <BR>

I would definitely check with your hotel. Smaller ones may not take traveler's checks at all, or not US ones, and you'llhave to exchange them and pay cash.

For those with FF AmEx traveler's checks: <BR>You can exchange your FF AmEx travelers checks at no charge at the AmEx office by L'Opera. Walk in the front door and go down the stairs on your left and go to the window on the left if it is open. The long line on the right with several tellers is for general money-changing. We only had to stand in that line once. Nearly ever day we went to the office to change a small amount of money for the day (because no one would take our checks) and waited in a line of one person or less by using that special window. Hope this helps.

We just returned from London and Paris and generally found that American Express is shunned because of high service fees. We used our Visa card exclusively and had no problems. We even used the Visa for our cash machine transactions (we had the money set aside back home to pay it off when we got back so interest charges weren't an issue). <BR> <BR>We went with about 300 pounds and 1200 francs. We probably got about 300 more pounds and 600 ff via the machines. Everything else was charged. The timing was such that all but a couple of England charges were on the statement waiting for us when we got home. It gave the pound/dollar amounts and conversion rate, which was better than I could have gotten here or abroad. And I know exactly how much I spent on the trip. <BR> <BR>We did have the "Bosnian beggars" in Paris and were careful carrying our money but had no problems. <BR> <BR>United has a nice feature where you can donate your foreign coins to a charity by giving them to the flight attendants. A good thing considering you can't exchange coins anywhere anyway.

Any suggestions for B & B or hotel in London?

As far as accommodations go..we stayed at the Fairways Hotel in Paddington. It is located at the corner of Sussex Gardens and Spring Street. Full English Breakfast included and one block from the Paddington Tube. We had a triple room at 90GBP. Not sure what single or double rooms cost. <BR>web site www.fairways-hotel.co.uk <BR>The location was great. It is run by a husband and wife and is exceptionally clean. They are also around in the mronings during breakfast and also sometimes do the cooking. There are 3 girls that help out. News shops, little grocery& fruit stores, restaurants, a laundromat, ATM, all less than a block away. We once even took a Bus #15 from downtown near Picadilly Circus all the way back to our Hotel to see a few more sights on the route rather than taking the tube. We took our luggage to the Paddington Tube the day we were leaving and checked it to Heathrow straight through to our next destination which was Paris and then took the tube directly to the airport when we were ready from paddington (they also have an express train there you can take) and it was so convenient with no luggage to worry about when we arrived. There is a Big Red Bus Tour in the city that takes you to all of the sights and one of the stops was Paddington so when we took the tour we were able to even get a drop back. <BR> <BR>If you want to know more about the Fiarways...let me know.

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