Michael Osman Rocks!
 

Just got back from Paris 2 days ago. My family and I hired Michael Osman as our guide on Monday, July 5. I can't say enough good things about him!! Our group was larger than his usual and we had several young children. Michael was awesome! He was so conscientious and patient with the children especially. They asked a million questions and he was much more patient with them than their own parents were.

Michael also was very knowlegeable and friendly. He is just a really nice person. He brought us to interestting places and tailored the tour to our unique needs.

The day after our tour he dropped off info at our hotel (restaurant and chocholate shop stuff) that we had asked about on the tour, on his own, just to be nice and helpful.

I would highly recommend Michael to everyone.

I wish I could have experienced his outstanding trips as often reported here.

I was in Paris for 4 days recently and offered any/all parts of the 4 days for a tour to meet his schedule. I wrote a couple of times in March and early April... to no answer...nada, not he was busy, on vacation, nothing.

I met Michael at a social gathering and then saw him several times in museums afterward. He is sometimes hard to reach but he really is a very pleasant young man. And knowledgeable.

It seems like alot of you really like him and his services. And I'm sure he's really great. But if he works as a personal tourguide for a living, he should always make time to respond to emails.

I think the operative word "works at this as a living" is the crux. He is an art student--does this as an adjunct.

So even if he's doing this work on the side don't you think he should be consistent and check his emails?

Francphile..have you ever used him ,have you ever contacted him?

I have found that ANYONE who has and uses AOL has problems getting messages ..even my own family.

When I'm away I certainly don't check my email every day. And there are times when a 1 person enterprise might be out of contact.


If you can contact him and arrange a tour, then be very happy because you will have a real treat!

No, I haven't used him nor intend to so that's more time allotted for his followers.

I still do not think it's right to not check in periodically to scan your emails. The majority of comments here are in support of him while there are a few who have not been able to get ahold of him. It would be interesting to know if the all had an AOL email problem as the cause for not getting a reply from him.

He is not the only tour guide available in all of Paris.

But he is one of the best!

Michael Osman is absolutely fabulous! We spent 2 says with him last June and he made those days extaordinary!

We initially booked him for only one day but we enjoyed him so much that we asked him if he would be available the next day as well and, to our very good fortune, he was.

Michael Osman loves people and really enjoys what he does. He easily spent 10 hours with us each day because he wanted to make sure that we saw as much of his beautiful city as possible.
Everything we did was completely tailored to our interests.

I cannot say enough wonderful things about Michael!

Have been trying to get hold of Michael for our tour to Paris in December. Perhaps it is just as well that he doesn't respond, because he doesn't sound very reliable, no matter how wonderful he is supposed to be. I have sent him 4-5 e-mails since June and no response.

Sheesh -- Michael DOES rock. He IS a delightful person -- I can say this because I have actually met him. I realize those of you busy casting aspersions on his epistolatory prowess have not -- thus impugning motives is less than saluatory.

Re: December -- it may be a little early for him to know where he will be ... when he knows he WILL write.

Folks - let's do a reality check. Anyone who has had the pleasure of Michael's services know he is the best. That is now a given. Imagine this, you are young living in Paris, an art student and to make some money you offer your services as a tour guide. You choose to give your customers 150%. That means 12 hour days with research and planning for the next day to follow. Somewhere along the line you would like to enjoy your personal life (let us not forget weekends are popular for guides) and of course paint. Then there are e-mails. We have grown used to the assumption that when an e-mail is sent, responses should be near instant. Kind of hard to do when you are working and lets not forget, not part of the infrastructure of a large tour company. Have patience, as time permits, Michael will get back to you. Perhaps the lesson is just as we did 20 years ago when using the international post, you do need to plan ahead.

Michael, again, is an excellent guide.....

Based on what I have read here, in previous postings as well, I would love to have Michael Osman as a guide, when visiting Paris later this year with my daughters, but how on earth can I arrange this if he doesn't reply to Emails? Is there another way to get hold of him? I have already tried to Email (months ago), but like others, have not received a reply. And I'm not on AOL. Is there another private guide that someone can recommend?

tulips, you might try Paris Photo Tours.com. I used to be on AOL and know them from those message boards. I was sure to book mark them before I left AOL so I would have them for future reference. I haven't used them personally but will probably contact them before my next trip to Paris. There are two women: Chris who I believe is from Belgum, lives in Paris and lived in Boston for quite some time. Linda Mathieu is from Texas, married for a Frenchman and moved to Paris (also has a house in Provence) and writes articles for bonjourparis.com and is a photographer. They will tailor tours for you...photos, shopping, etc. You might give them a try. Maybe this will help.

Thank you, I will try that. We live in Belgium, so a Belgian guide would be good!

I haven't used this company but I have read good things about them in guidebooks. I believe it is pariswalkingtours.com. English and American guides tour areas such as Latin Quarter, Marais area, etc for 2 hours,10 euros. You can hire them privately too. I plan to try one of their tours when we visit Paris next year.

I don't know Michael Osman, but I was curious why no one tries to phone him if e-mailing doesn't work. I did a quick search and found his phone and fax numbers listed on his site here:

http://hometown.aol.com/parisfind/my.../business.html

ilovetulips, I think you will like the Paris walking tours. I took five of them and would liked to have taken more.

willtravel, thanks for the personal rec. I am looking forward to taking one or two of these tours.