Everything you always wanted to know about France - from France

Rentals France Newsletter. Number 21, March 21 200

Hello from a warm and sunny south of France. The winter log-pile is not shrinking any more and I filled the pool last weekend. A sure sign of bad weather to come.

I am still offering the same hand-picked homes and villas we offer for rental but you will also find a lot of links and advice about car rentals, flights, and tickets plus a lot of other links to other sites offering a wider range of travel and vacation services.

Some of the sites pay a commission to us if you visit, use or order from them, but I have checked them all personally and only put their link on if they seem very good value or offer a special service. My favorite is the "Wickers" site, have a look and you will see what I mean.

I have has some super advice from your mail about what you want to see on the sites and read in newsletters. I am planning a kids page, yes including Pokémon, and a pen pal page. I am still waiting for some more car rental companies to write to me but there is now a car rental page on the site which has companies who offer leasing deals in France.

Air tickets can be compared and bought from the site as well. I had this letter from a subscriber, Mary G, who gives the following advice about buying airline tickets...

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From MG

Regarding cheap flights to Europe. I've had great luck using priceline.com the auction site for airline tickets in the US and to Europe.

My tips are, first research the low or average fare to your destination. Ignore what the priceline instructions say regarding putting in your bid 25% under the price and enter it at 1/2 or slightly less than the going rate.

They will offer you money from $10 to $50 to add to your bid. I always take the highest one even if it means applying for a credit card. I'd do a lot for $50 off the cost of my ticket. Most likely your bid will be rejected. Just come back in with a $20 increase. You're encouraged to change more but I never have. Although it doesn't to hurt to try a few different days i.e. Tuesday and Wednesday. Understand that Sundays will always be difficult.

The last US ticket I bid was round trip Washington D.C. to Watertown, S.D. with a connection in Minneapolis. Northwest Airlines ,the only carrier to Watertown wanted approximately $650 17 days in advance. After a few hours I had a priceline ticket out of convenient Reagan National on Northwest for $277 including their service fee airport taxes and the $20 surcharge and applying for a credit card meant I only actually paid $227.

I follow fares judiciously like some people do stocks. If you hunted for several days you may be able to find a special as good as priceline but not always and who has the time. 50% or more savings is good enough for me. Because of my schedule I seldom have a 21 one day advance possibility.

In November I flew to Geneva from Washington Dulles round trip on Lufthansa for $248 including all fees on a priceline ticket.

One disadvantage is that you can only choose the day not the times and in the case of having to meet a cruise ship departure it is too risky unless you fly the day before.

Another disadvantage is not getting frequent flyer miles. However on the plus side, some friends of mine got priceline tickets for the two of them from Michigan to Florida with innumerable stops. At the airport the plane was overbooked and they volunteered to be re booked on another flight accepting the $500 each received for this act of kindness. The new flight was more direct with one stop and the plane wasn't packed full.

I did have to change some days and was charged a $75 fee of which $25 was waived when I re-booked with priceline.com.

I've tried a few other auction sites for trips or flights but find priceline pretty easy to use (well after the first time or two) fast and pretty comprehensive. None of these sites will say who the airlines are that they have agreements with.

(Many thanks for the advice Mary)

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We are often asked for accommodation for people wanting a stay in France for times up to a year. We can usually help find a suitable place and give advice. I am copying a letter received this week which has a few of the points I like to cover before we take any bookings..

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Dear Tony:
My daughter and I are planning to spend half a school year in France and are looking for a nice, cozy, 2 bedroom, 1 bath, air conditioned, full kitchen, all-inclusive rental for five months beginning January 1-15, 2001 and ending June 1 - 15, 2001. One property we are interested in is the renovated windmill in southern France. Please email me with some suggestions and long term pricing for some of the properties you may have that will fit our requirements. Air conditioning is optional depending on the expected temperature during our stay. Maybe you can let me know the average temperatures during this time. Thank you for your help!
J & A

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Dear J and A

Thank you for your mail. We can offer you a number of properties which are available for the time you mention, January to June 2001, including the windmill, I am certain we can negotiate excellent rates for you for this length of rental.

I would first like to get a little more information from you as to you thoughts, ideas, dreams and wishes for you visit.

I assume you will be renting a car, please check with me as we have a lot of experience of guests renting, for example you can save a lot of money by a lease from Renault or Peugeot for a term from 19 days to six months.

Do you wish to be near a town or village or are you looking for something isolated. The windmill is charming, very comfortable and to the highest standard, but it is a windmill and in the countryside (where there is wind) and it is about 15 minutes drive from the nearest village and half an hour from a town.

In France, generally speaking, most properties are in villages or small towns, country properties are frequently very isolated or very large complexes of farm buildings. The village properties vary from very small town houses which were built for the working farming villagers to the "master" houses of the farm-owners. Very few of these had gardens as the villages and towns are all surrounded by fields. And for two thousand years the villagers had to protect themselves from wild animals (and each other) and invading hoards (often the English and Vikings). I believe it is these village properties which offer the best value and facilities. You are assured of privacy, the French are warm, friendly, polite and also great respecters of privacy, but you are always only a short walk to the bakers shop, cafe and village square.

All through the year every village will have regular festivals, village meals, carnivals and "events" these are for all the people in the village and visitors find them a taste of the traditional French way of life. Last week we had our own village carnival. I will be putting a page of photos on and linking it to our next newsletter.

Apart from le Moulin, we are not offering any isolated 2 bed roomed accommodation, we only offer that one because it is exceptional, but I do not think that it is really suitable for a long stay except possibly for a painter or author seeking true peace and quiet.

Regarding Air Conditioning, this is only ever needed, very rarely, in the hot months of July and August, very few houses have air conditioning, the climate is warm and dry. Our house, for example, has stone walls over six feet thick and up to 20 foot thick in some places, we certainly do not need it.

The weather in the South of France is mild, we usually have a log fire in the evenings from November through to March, but it can be chilly in the evening up to the middle of April. The days can be hot and sunny, rain is infrequent but sometimes is just drops from the sky in buckets for an hour and then disappears for months. To the East of us in Provence the wind (the Mistral) is a harsh and cruel menace from September through to May and is best avoided. To the West there is a strong wind called the Tramontane, fierce but not cruel. Here in the heart of France (the Midi) we are sheltered and have the best all year climate averaging 300 days of sunshine. Daytime temperatures from January to June normally vary from 9 to 28 °C (50 to 85 °F).

We have a selection of properties on our sites and we also have private lists from owners who are looking for good tenants and who do not wish to publicize their properties openly.

Please write back with you comments and I can then make some other suggestions

Best wishes

Tony

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In that reply I mention the carnival, this is a tradition dating back over two thousand years in many French villages, a combination of Pagan, Roman and Christian festivals celebrating the solstice or the ides, the end of the winter and the birth of a new year. In Nizas we make a figure of Mr (or Mrs) Carnival, at the end of a procession and music he (she) is then accused of all the things which went wrong in the year, poor weather, lost crops, too much homework at school, the high cost of telephone charges, anything you want to "exorcise" all the village accuses this figure very formally. It is then judged by a tribunal and always found guilty and burnt in the village square. All the village then makes a circle holding hands and dances slowly round this burning figure chanting a strange medieval dirge.