Set for Paris

My husband and I had a week’s vacation in Paris in March ’05. For the second time in five years, we used Go-today.com for our travel arrangements. They offer a package with flight and six nights in a hotel plus breakfast for very reasonable rates.

We paid a total (for two) of $1,752, including add-on airfare from San Francisco (the base rate is from New York) and a shuttle from the hotel to Charles de Gaulle Airport on departure day. (Go-today no longer seems to offer shuttle service, upon one’s arrival, from the airport to the hotel, so we ordered and paid for that separately, about $45, using www.airport-connection.com.)

For this price, we stayed at the cheapest of the hotels offered, the Tim Hotel Nation (near the Nation Métro station, in the 20th arrondissement). This is farther out than we’ve ever stayed before, but, with the excellent Métro service in Paris, we didn’t view this as a problem. The hotel was clean; the staff was friendly and helpful, and the buffet breakfast was generous and varied.

Our nonstop flight on an Air France Airbus from San Francisco to Paris took 11 hours. The flights both ways were completely full, with seats a bit more cramped than we’re used to on American Airlines, but the service was pleasant and the meal and wine service were okay.

Each time we arrive in Paris, we pick up a copy of Pariscope magazine (40¢) at a newsstand. It’s published once a week, on Wednesdays, I think, and lists all the goings-on in Paris for the week. We like to go to concerts/recitals in cathedrals, and they’re all listed (many are free).

KARLETTE WARNER
Palo Alto, CA