After a year of careful planning, we set our sights on Paris. This intentional approach helped us save money and transformed the trip into an opportunity for exploration and learning. The planning process was a joyful adventure in itself. I thrive on discovering insights from conversations, travel blogs, and inspiring videos. With Rick Steves as our trusted guide, we embrace each new destination, armed with his app and tailored guides to enrich our journey.

Our time in Paris, France, was nothing short of magical—a true delight for any traveler. Upon our return, the sense of awe we experienced continued, filling us with overwhelming gratitude.

I also have great friends who share their itineraries and advice!

Airline: TAP Air We will spend 2-3 months finding the right price and flight using either Momondo or Google Flights. On Google Flights, you can set up notifications if you know when and where you are going to track prices. Getting your tickets in advance and having flexibility with dates will allow you to find the best price. I’ve used Go to Gate to organize the flight, which is a third party, but you can go directly to the airline once you’ve found the best fit for your travel. I highly recommend TAP Air for their service, leg room, and comfort. We spent a little extra money getting a seat together and a seat with more legroom. It was worth it. We flew into Lisbon, Portugal. This airport is the best! Great food! Easy to understand and navigate, and the best shops! From Lisbon we went to Orly airport in Paris. After a long flight, we treat ourselves to a private driver to our place. Your hotel or host/hostess can help with this, or if you use Booking.com, this feature is easy for you to select. It’s worth it and pretty much the same cost as an Uber or Taxi. The driver knows your flight and will follow any changes in time, text you when they are there, and help you find them through texting or calling once you land. They also use a name board so you can locate them. Have Euros to tip them.

Where to stay: Google search “Where to stay in Paris?” and you will get all of the 20 arrondissements (subdivisions or districts) within the city. This is truly a personal choice and would be based on your desires and the trip’s outcomes. We first had a place near the Eiffel Tower, and then after research, we decided to stay in the Latin Quarter near Notre Dame.

Our place: Hotel? AirBnb? That is a personal choice, too. We love staying in authentic, old buildings with more room, features, and a washer/dryer. Some folks love the posh of a hotel with a free breakfast, a front desk to ask questions, and someone to clean your room each day. This is where I love Rick Steves books on travel. Purchase his books and he will guide you on places to stay and suggest a trip itinerary based on your length of stay. You can also access some of his writings online.

Notre Dame Elegance is where we stayed. I used Booking.com to search for places and saved them in a folder on the app to narrow down and remember what I loved.

Organizing Your Trip: We adore TripIt! It is free to use, but purchasing the yearly subscriptions allows you to upload more documents for your trip. When you run out of space for documents, a workaround is to add another trip and call it something like “Paris Part 2.” You can also share the trip with travelers and family members so they can follow your trip! Here is a view of the itinerary we created. Remember, the app has the documents, tickets, and links. You can also add notes; the app monitors your flight and location changes. You will get alerts as needed.

My next post will be about our first night in Paris! We got to our place around 4:00 P.M. Instead of going to bed (5-hour time difference and long flight), we kept it moving to keep a regular schedule of going to bed at our usual time.

Lessons learned: You need unique adapters to use a US plug (curling irons, phones). We took a standard one, and Paris is different. Research this. I also treated myself to a Paris curling iron. Apparently, they do not have voltage adapters in Paris. Our hostess helped us find local stores to stock up on things we needed and to shop for these items. The stores were a part of our walking tour that Rick Steves recommends on your first night in Paris! All went well! Also, have your own grocery bags for smaller/food markets, or purchase one upfront when you put your items on the counter.

A Paris Outlet.

See you on our walking tour of the Latin Quarter very soon!

Here are some pictures to enjoy! I loved our family time the night before we left and stopping by Spencer’s soccer game. Thank you, Victoria and Valentina, for bringing food and spending time with grandma. The pastry highlighted in the pictures is called Bola De Berlim.