Hello 18 days to go:)
My husband and I are travleing to Lodon first and then on to Paris, we are shippng over our tent and sleeping bags for when we follow the Tour de France.
What do we do if we think that our stuff will get to Paris before us?
Is there a place we can ship them tat we can pick them up from that will hold the till we get there?
We are going to contact our hotel but feel they may charge us a fee?
|||
If I were you, I%26#39;d e-mail your hotel and explain your %26#39;problem%26#39;. Even if they should charge you a fee, it%26#39;s by far the best solution. I don%26#39;t think, they will charge you an enormous amount. You could send everything to a post office near your hotel as %26#39;poste restante%26#39;. However, I%26#39;d be more hesitant to do that.
I see more of a problem, if the tent and sleeping bags should arrive, when you are en route for the TdF already...
|||
We have had lots of problems with receiving packages, so I%26#39;d be hesitant to send anything by the regular postal service.
One of the problems is that we live in the 7th, which gives us the same postal code as Paris, TX. About 1/4 of our packages go there first DESPITE the Par Avion stickers and FRANCE written all over the boxes.Don%26#39;t know if this is true for those living in other arrondisements.
If it is something that I absolutely needed, I%26#39;d send it UPS.
|||
OK. UPS is a good solution. However, you%26#39;d still need your hotel to agree to hold the stuff for you and it won%26#39;t be cheap.
|||
To ship a 10 pound package to Paris by airmail will cost you somewhere around $50 at a minimum by USPS. UPS will probably cost you more. Declared value for insurance purposes will affect the cost, and you will have to investigate what options are available to you for getting proof of delivery and online tracking, etc. These will also add to your cost.
I%26#39;m wondering what the liklelihood is that the recipient of the package(s) might find themselves with some bureaucratic issues dealing with a possible assessment for import duty. Of course if you were bringing the items in in your own accompanied baggage, that would not be an issue, but if you ship them separately it might.
I%26#39;ve shipped a lot of packages to Europe over the years, but I%26#39;ve always tried to ship only stuff that the customs authorities won%26#39;t be bothered about, such as books and small gifts. Other items I have either carried myself or asked a visiting family member to take back with them and mail from inside Europe to the final destination.
In my experience most packages arrive in about a week, but I have known some to take well over two.
|||
WOW that is expensive
I found this store the Decathlon
would it be cheaper to just buy the stuff from there when we get to Paris?
Because we are going to London first we don%26#39;t want to bring the tent and sleeping bags, that%26#39;s alot to carry around.
|||
Not sure where you are staying in Paris, but there are several stores in the 5th around the rue des Ecoles called Au Vieux Campeur which between them sell just about everything you could possibly need. Each one carries a different line - so you might have to go to one store for a tent and a different one for sleeping bags, but they are pretty close together.
Many French campsites have cabins or mobile homes to rent, but at this short notice that might not work for you, especially if you will be in crowded areas with tons of other folk also following the Tour.
Honest opinion? Take a light backpacking tent and a good lightweight sleeping bag in a duffel. (You can make a single down bag and a zip in sheet thingie work for two people.) Buy a couple of el cheapo mattress pads in Paris, and off you go.
http://www.au-vieux-campeur.fr/gp/ Doesn%26#39;t seem to be an English version...
|||
Really if all of what you need is a tent and two sleeping bags, you should not bother to send them prior to your arrival. Buy them in Paris, it%26#39;s much, MUCH easier.
To get an idea of the prices, try au vIeux campeur as IR said, or Decathlon (www.decathlon.fr), whose camping line of product is Quechua (http://www.quechua.com/).
By the way, remember that the french word for camping is camping.
|||
we had looked at some camp grounds but I have talked with some people and read some reports about tent comunities that pop up onthe sides of the roads
when watching the tour last night we saw a lot of these and have planned on camping for 3 nights and we have a hotel for 2 nights in between
we have heard the cautions to make sure that we don%26#39;t camp where no one else is could be bad
we are staying in the 9th but I think I will buy the stuff over there it does sound like a better idea
No comments:
Post a Comment