Whathello

'Your pissing contest is of no interest to me. '

I don't believe you for one second. You love having fan haters so you must be pissing yourself reading this thread.

"My wife and I have been embraced by Paris."
This city has a magic part, that can be felt by people who are open to it. For others, Paris is just full of awful people.
Maybe the magic is that Paris mirrors your own feelings and attitudes ?

NYCFoodSnob

Trolls. LOL.

jubilada

annhig and justineparis, I stand corrected. I don't remember that in Paris but it has been way too long since I have been there.
I guess it is more accurate to say that before bringing something from outside, one should be sure that is ok .

iris1745

NYC has shown her/his true colors as has happened in many other posts.

It's an opinion, fine, for me, I am happy to be in the TROLL category.

Leely2

Kristina, do you still update your blog with travel notes? I haven't been to Paris since 2014...always looking for new info.

Thanks, and glad this worked out for you.

justineparis

Does nysnob even know what the term " troll" actually means? Evidently not poor old thng.


Jubilada i absolutely agree, you must ask, and only in places that do not serve food.

Wit_Van_Brug

Just to try to cool down the personal abuse and name-calling :
I was in a self-service restaurant recently and saw two guys collecting their meals at the counter. They sat down and swapped plates before eating the other's meal I was curious and asked why they had done this. They pointed to a sign on the wall which read "CUSTOMERS ARE NOT ALLOWED TO CONSUME THEIR OWN FOOD IN THIS RESTAURANT"

IMDonehere

We ran into an unusual situation in Ypres a few years ago. We had a confirmed reservation at a hotel and we arrived early but the fellow would not hold our luggage until the room was ready.

Unless there is a that rare sign at a bar or some sort of eatery that says "Outside food welcome" one should assume it isn't.

And in the US because of our Puritanical heritage and often the bribery necessary to obtain a liquor license, the rules and prices for the "corkage charge" at BYOB establishments are often ugly.
__________________________
On my first trip to Paris, over 40 years ago, we were riding in a crowded train from Luxembourg, when a women said in her haughtiest most dismissive voice, "Their first time in France."

I want to lie and say, "Deuxième," but my French is limited and my accent abominable.

A few days later, my wife was admiring the wrought iron work on the doors of Notre Dame and an elderly man asked what we were doing and invited us for coffee. He said he always tried to thank Americans, even in the smallest way for what they did for France. When we protested that we were too young and did not deserve his thanks, he told us to thank our parents.

irishface

Iamdonehere, I loved your last story. It brought tears to my eyes. Thanks for telling that very touching incident.

littlejane

I like Dukey's suggestion of offering 10 euro (although maybe 10 is too low) - I know in the past when we have rented apartments, owners are receptive to requests for discounts - the most they can say is no, and they are trying to make a few extra euros, so if you were to say that 40 seems steep but you would be happy to pay say 25 more than the current price, I would be surprised if you didn't get a deal. Only EUR15 I know but psychologically it might make you feel happier about paying it.

NYCFoodSnob

"owners are receptive to requests for discounts"

Too cheap, or not too cheap? That is the question.

As an owner, if I have to pay a housekeeper 40€ to adjust her schedule, there is probably no room for negotiation on the cost side. If a first-time customer asks me to reduce the early arrival fee, without knowing the cost details, then it is quite possible the customer will be asking the owner to pay the difference out of his/her own pocket. As an owner who doesn't appreciate serial bargain hunters as first-time customers, I would tell you to find another property.

rtwin80days

Businesses exist to make money. Period. As a customer, does the 40e pinch, when technically the apartment is ready to move into? Yes.

Everybody assigns a different value to their travel time, their convenience, their fatigue levels; and how rare their visit to that city is, makes a lot of difference.

For me, it's simple. I don't WANT to pay the 40e, if possible. But I WILL pay. If I'm in Paris for 7 days, and 2 of us have spent 800$ X 2 in economy flights, plus lump sum 300e expenses daily including accommodations, I'm talking about a 7 day vacation costing us ~4,000$. If the time available daily for actual travel experience is 14 hours, I'm talking about 14 x 7 x 2 = 196 hours of total time for both of us. So, I'm already willing to spend 20$ an hour per person for being able to enjoy my travel (4000/196). 3 hours x 2 = 6 man hours extra for us for only 40? TAKE IT.

Time is at a lot more premium than we realize. And if I'm on a super tight budget, I'd rather skip shopping or tone down expensive meals (even though I love food) because I'd much rather have more time.

rtwin80days

Case in point: we went to Yucatan, Mexico for 10 days in March this year. We maxed our time there by taking a Friday evening flight depending on what's the earliest the office could be kissed goodbye, lol. We stayed at a 100$ basic 3/4* hotel in Cancun downtown for the night. We got good sleep and started for Valladolid early morning the next day. We easily saved half a day instead of flying on Saturday morning to Cancun. We were in Valladolid by the time we would have been mid-air to Cancun had we taken the later flight.

Even if you're not emotional in equating your travel experiences as invaluable, at the very lowest, your own total trip expenses divided by actual travel time available is a good indicator for taking decisions of time vs money.

Looks like I'm geeking out, but I guess this is the sorta stuff MBAs do. "Quantify subjective problems to take informed decisions"