Don't Stop Believing .... I AM GOING TO FRANCE!

originally posted by: mblahnikluver
a reply to: Mike Stivic


OH that is most definitely happening. My Nana did it when she went to Europe. I don't remember her telling me about France as a kid because she didn't live in the same state but I wonder if at some point she did and that's how I became so obsessed with it. I have a nice leather bound journal I have never used that I plan on using. I'll save receipts or tickets in it, like a mini scrapbook.

I know people have concern I'm going to meet someone but I am an adult. I am careful and will be. He is not some crazy killer set out to destroy me. He is just a nice down to earth guy I met online quite some time back and we started chatting more and more and I decided to go visit. He was going to come here but I said oh heck no I'm coming to Europe, the states are boring LOL. I have no expectations but to have a good time with someone who has similar interests and wants to show me a good time as well in a place I have never been but always wanted to.

You are a street-smart, strong ,independent woman, I have no doubt you can take care of yourself.. in my family it is a custom to say Be safe when someone leaves, it's just how it it is ..

Also I should've known you already had a journal picked out..

I hope you have a blast!

Respectfully,
~meathead

originally posted by: camain
a reply to: mblahnikluver

Thats basically how I met my wife, she is from Latvia. check out flights.google.com. Go through the airports near you, and see which is cheapest. Once you do that, play with the dates, and find the cheapest of the cheapest. Amsterdam is relatively cheap to fly to and I usually fly through there and copenhagen to get to eastern europe. Also for what its worth, I take cruises from latvia, estonia to stockholm, norway, and finland on talin. My last trip was 80 bucks for a room, it sleeps 4. food is expensive on the cruise, but hey you get to see another country.

Ah cool, see you never know what may happen. I don't have any expectations of a relationship just to have a good time but we are both open to the possibility. We will see how things go.

Oh I already have my ticket. It wasn't bad at all cost wise. My friend is planning everything on his end along with travel accommodation to wherever he is planning. I just supply the information of what I like and answer his random questions so he can plan lol.

He travels all over too, he said it's very cheap to do so just like you mentioned. He is always going somewhere on the weekends.

originally posted by: Flatcoat

originally posted by: mblahnikluver

originally posted by: Flatcoat
Beautiful city.....don't forget to visit the catacombs.

Definitely. Told my friend I wanted to see those. Most people don't visit them but I"m a bit twisted lol so yea I want to see them.

I was lucky. I got to see a section that's not open to the public. The entrance was inside an old abandoned train tunnel...benefits of having a good friend who lives there.

Oh that is cool! If I had a good friend that lived there I would beg them to hire me as their maid and cook so I could live there. I don't know a soul in France. I know people in many other European countries but not France. I have French Canadian friends from France, does that count?

I offered for years to drive you to King’s Island to see the scaled tower and New Paris is even less of a drive. Not that impressive though.

Eat some of that great pastry for me. My daughter has been there twice, maybe even three times and she tortures us with stories of the breads and pastries.

There is a food blog here, post some pictures and reviews.

I am so excited for you! It was my dream to go to France for most of my life but never happened. I've been all over the world but not France and my father was French.

Go without expectations if you can and make every moment count. I heard the lock bridge was replaced. I desperately wanted to go there with my ex but glad we didn't because he would have ruined it for me now it can stay in my dreams for the future.

You have a blast--and be watchful and smart! And send pics!

a reply to: mblahnikluver

Hope you made a WILL

I'm so happy for you, lady! You must post pictures for us and tell us all about it!

Does he have a brother? My love is the Caribbean so I would prefer he take me to the beaches of the Yucatan peninsula, but I could settle for Europe.

originally posted by: mblahnikluver
OK most will have no idea what a big deal this is for me but I AM GOING TO PARIS!

Beautiful city.
People can at times be a--holes but meh, you get used to it.

I would highly recommend picking up as many survival french words as possible
(Hello, thank you, check please, excuse me, etc)...if you don't make at least an attempt to use some french words, you will get the cold shoulder.

Oh, and channel surf for a bit...the programming is just terrible, yet soo very french. I still got the strangest visions from watching some local TV in my hotel room...Its an experience.

Have a great time.

I lived in Paris for 20 years, and I was as stoked as you are before I left.

I had a wonderful life there and best of all I learned to speak read and write French, and I became a French to English translator, a profession that I still practice.

Holland is also lovely and a great place to start, especially with someone you want to be with.

All I ask is that you make sure you have a plan B. If anything goes wrong in Holland or France, make sure you can communicate with someone to let them know that something went wrong and that you need assistance or you need to go to a place of safety. I would say this to any woman embarking on such a journey. If you feel unsure at any time, you should be able to just walk away...

Godspeed.

a reply to: mblahnikluver

Don't get your hopes up it's a total #hole. Worst place in France.

For some reason I had always thought you were hitched???
Hope you have a ball on your trip and if it doesnt work out with the dutch bloke hit me up

Hope you have a great time!

Heres some handy hints :

Make an effort to speak french when you can - use your Bonjour! When you enter a shop or restaurant, when you are going to ask someone a question, you must say Bonjour first. If you don't, they will consider you very rude and you will get a nasty reaction. Americans make this mistake a lot and then just assume the french are rude... without knowing they were rude first!

When you leave a store or restaurant, say "Au revoir" too.

Keep your eyes on the ground - there's dog poop everywhere and if you are too busy looking up you'll walk in it.

Remember it is a big city, and like any big city, there's lots of crime. Be very alert to pickpockets. If your friend has been there often he'll know these things.

Go to the Louvre! Take the Bateau Mouches at night!

Will you get to any other parts of France?

I wish you a good trip and look forward to hearing how it went!

Many people(musicians on tour too) that wanted to do a europe trip and started in Holland(the Netherlands) never left Holland.
Because of nice people, nice food, and very good and legal cannabis...

I remember ODB(R.I.P.) of the Wu Tang Clan. He was so stoned that he got lost in Amsterdam. Then he met some HipHoppers, they invited him to a party and so he missed his own Wu Tang gig.

a reply to: mblahnikluver

This little (LOL) shop may have something you want while in Paris. Of course, I imagine that you will want to spend your money on other things while there.
PRINTEMPS HAUSSMANN
64, bd Haussmann
75009 Paris
France

Be safe and good luck on your journey, how exciting!

Eat a philosopher's stone in Holland for me.

Wots 14 Euros for some truffle eh?

a reply to: mblahnikluver

I have only read your opening post.I am happy for you to finally
get to see Paris.Mama still wants you to keep in touch with all of
us here.Like updates and pictures,maybe a quickie thread...

After reading some of the other posts...I do want you to keep
in touch DAILY with your family and ATS family.

Do you know where you'll be staying in Paris? There are A LOT of sh#thole 'hotels' there. You should really look into that. Paris and France in general are fun places to be, if you can stand the French arrogance...

That being said, you'll probably like AMS too, but there's soooo much more to see in the Netherlands besides that one city.


Have fun!

originally posted by: mblahnikluver

originally posted by: camain
a reply to: mblahnikluver

I went through paris on a trip. First, I would strongly urge you get get to the tower REALLY EARLY or look at the skip the line tours. I never used them, but I had a friend who did and said he could jump the line. Its about 60 bucks per person. IF it works, it will save you HOURS AND HOURS in line. I never got to go up because the wait time was 3.5 hrs for me, when I visited and I only had a 10 hr layover and didn't want waste the time. That said the Seine, path is beautiful. Notre Dame is in walking distance, so isn't the Louvre.

I don't mind waiting. I actually want to. I can soak it all in. I am slightly obsessed with the Eiffel Tower so waiting in line isn't that big of a deal. I mean people wait that long for a ride at Disney, me I would for the Eiffel Tower. Good to know they have skip the line tickets though. Yea I have a few friends who are from Paris and they are giving me their "must see" places. I only know of The Eiffel Tower as one place we are going, my guy is planning everything else. I told him he is in charge. He knows what I want to see and I think he will pick the right places.

All that said, from your post I take it your a women. I can not emphasis enough that you need to be careful going to Europe, which sounds like alone, to meet a man? Have you met him before? There is alot of sex trafficing over there, just thought I would mention it, just in case nobody has.

I am a woman and it's not the first time I've gone overseas to meet someone. I don't think he is a sex traffic master mind but thanks for the concern. We have never met no but we talk every single day and video chat. I swear I know more about him than the last two guys I dated and they lived in the states. We are not dating or anything like that. We are just two friends who want to meet in person and go from there.

Good luck, and I hope your dream and vacation is everything you wanted it to be.

Camain

Thanks. I think it will be great. The last time I went to Europe I was there for 3 weeks and had a blast but I didn't get to France while I was there so this time will be even better.

I went up the Eiffel Tower in February and didn't have to wait at all. It was many years ago but I'm pretty sure March will be okay. It's still off peak season.

Paris is beautiful... If you want to see from a diff perspective try to find the hot air balloon...