Explore our travels around France on the map or check out our articles.
Travel in Western Europe can be expensive. There are plenty of ways to save money and one of the big ones is to avoid big cities like London and Paris…but where is the fun in that?! If you are in France, Paris should absolutely be on your list but if you are on a budget, you need to be a little more mindful to avoid blowing the bank. With these tips for visiting Paris on a budget, you will soon be backpacking in pairs like a pro!
Paris has quite the reputation as one of the most romantic cities in the world. From courting couples to those celebrating important wedding anniversaries, there’s a beaucoup d’amour and I decided that I wanted in! What could be more romantic than a sunset cruise on the Seine with Mr Fluskey, fancy French cuisine and lashings of champagne? Read on for our Bateaux Mouches dinner cruise review.
It is often thought that visiting Paris, France costs a small fortune. Well, it doesn’t have to! There is are plenty of ways to save money and still have a great time. Throughout the city, there are hostels and boutique hotels that cater for backpackers and flashpackers alike! On our latest trip to Paris, we chose Caulaincourt Square Hostel that helped us save those all-important euros. Read on for our full Caulaincourt Square Hostel review.
Are you a dark tourist? What is dark tourism? Here at Flying Fluskey we most certainly are dark tourists! That is why we are sharing (what we think are) the best dark tourism places around the world. But first:
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You have read the travel magazines and the blogs, seen the TV shows, and thousands upon thousands of Instagram photos, but there are still some places out there that you don’t really know. You may think you know them, I bet you’ve heard about them many times but here are nine cities that may surprise you.
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Have you passed your 26th birthday? Does the cost of European travel leave you blue? There’s no need to fear, Eurostar Snap is back! This is THE best way to find the cheapest Eurostar tickets. Welcome Euro Traveller to the wonderful world of our Eurostar Snap review.
Unfortunately, it’s not a clever new bewitched-style self-transportation system, but it is still pretty magical.
Basically, it sells off the remaining Eurostar tickets to those of you who have a some flexibility in your travel plans. It represents the best in great value train travel. You can get tickets from just £35, depending on the cheapest fare of the day.
Let me start by saying, I adore taking the Eurostar. Check out our trip via Brussels – A Eurostar Adventure from London to Germany by Train.
Are you over 16? Then you may proceed!
The first thing you’ll need to do is visit the website.
Eurostar Snap is available between London and:
Pick your destination and select a travel date, up to two weeks and one day in advance. You will see a variety of prices around the date you select so you can “snap” up the best bargain (you see what I did there!?) Prices start from just £35. That’s £4 cheaper than you can get their standard rate when booked well in advance. When Snap was first launched, you could choose whether you needed a morning or afternoon train but now, you could be on any train on that date. Leave the whole day free for travel if you are planning to use this service.
Looking for somewhere to stay in Paris? Check out A Bed in Montmatre, Paris – Caulaincourt Square Hostel Review
At least 48 hours before your chosen travel date, you will receive your ticket online with details of the train you will be travelling on. You will be assigned seats on whichever train has them spare. This could mean the “oh my gosh” o’clock in the morning train or the sleepy-eyed late train last thing at night. It’s all part of the gamble.
I have good and bad news here. One person can book up to four tickets so you can take some friends with you, and you will all be on the same train. However, as your seats are assigned by Eurostar, there is no guarantee you will be sat anywhere near your buddies during the train journey. This is the main reason, all members of the group have to be over 16.
In a word , “No”.
Once you have purchased your oh-so cheap Eurostar tickets, you can’t refund them, change your travel time or date, or change the name on the ticket. Nor can you upgrade, so it’s Standard Class all the way.
I truly believe this is a wonderful scheme for those of you who can handle the uncertainty. Paris is not a cheap city, and so anything you can do to save some cash is a great thing. Plus, it is better for the environment than flying and you go from city centre to city centre…which is always nice.
With fare creeping back up on Eurostar services, anything you can do to make the journey cheaper has got to be a good thing.
Have you travelled using this service? How was it for you? Leave us a comment and let us know!
Rosie xx
In the last few days of our grand tour of Europe (otherwise known as the Ryanair jaunt) we were residing in Aix-en-Provence at our friend Phil’s house. We all decided to take a day trip into Marseille as it is only a short bus ride away.
En route to the bus stop, we were walking towards the spot we knew there to be a lovely fountain, confused about why we couldn’t see it. Getting closer we realised that the view was being blocked by several large tractors. Drawn by a never-ending need to stick our noses in, we wandered over to see. As we walked around the fountain we found out what was going on. “PAS DE T.G.V” was scrawled on a large sign attached to one of the tractors. The local farmers were protesting the building of a new high speed train line through the area.
Naturally we posed for a photo or three before catching sight of an Aston Martin stuck amidst the chaos. Although we secretly laughed at the self important chap, Karl took pity on his beautiful car.
When we finally reached Marseille, 45 minutes later, we took a stroll down one of the main shopping streets, Rue De La Republique. I had to nip into H&M. Being so frugal for nine days was really putting some strain on my consumerist tendencies. I picked a polka dot dress that I thought looked very French. I still have it, I still wear it, I still love it.
Arriving at the port front we bumped into another protest. We were a little more wary of joining in with or pushing past this one as they looked really quite annoyed.
Instead we walked south towards a basilica perched atop a hill. At first we bounded up the hill towards Notre-Dame de la Garde, but as we hit the stairs, our lack of fitness became all too evident. We puffed and panted our way up the rest of the staircase. Phil on the other hand does very silly things like running marathons for fun. He was still bounding, even showing us up further by throwing in some gymnastics.
The view from outside made the climb worth it. Overlooking the bay, in the bright sunshine, with a gentle breeze blowing we almost managed not to look like the unfit sweaty messes we were. The basilica itself is a beautiful piece of architecture. It has been rebuilt several times, but the current model dates from the 1860s. They had just completed a seven year renovation so we got to see it in its new gleaming glory. I really liked the organ, it seemed a perfect little specimen.
Marseille has a bad reputation. It still comes 3rd on Europe’s crime index. Mind you, Manchester comes 8th and I’ve had some great times there without feeling threatened. The last time I heard about violence in Marseille, it was football riot and, as the rival team, we were equally to blame. The Old Port itself seemed lovely with lots of room to wander, some gorgeous French buildings and lined with many a bistro proffering bowls of bouillabaisse. This steaming stew of seafood and vegetables is a warm hug in a bowl. I am such a sucker for seafood though.
Walking just a tad farther from the Old Port to catch the bus, and we could see a roughening around the edges. Buildings were left derelict and the walls were daubed with hastily scrawled tags, with no sign of the street art that is eternally snapped by photographers elsewhere.
Wondering what the real city was like, and what it feels like to be out after dark, we were whisked back to the entirely un-intimidating Aix-en-Provence for yet more French over-indulgence. Is it any wonder we struggled to climb that hill!?
In all to brief a time, we were homeward bound. We had become accustomed to a much more casual attitude to all things Ryanair on the continent. Security in the smaller airports had seemed little more than vaguely interested, and the size of some of the carry on luggage left me flabbergasted. You would be charged a small fortune for trying take that from Stansted!! I was so paranoid about the tiny extra bulk of my dress, that I had to convince Karl to take it. At the boarding gate, my emergency travel document was subjected to the most intense scrutiny yet. After what felt like a full ten minutes, we were permitted to pass through the gate.
We had managed to see six towns in ten days. The seeds of an incurable wanderlust were sown.
Want to read more about the trip? Start here with our first day of the trip, Berlin – Bargain Flights and Big Mistakes
Rosie xx
Oh the joy of having friends who live abroad. OK, so you don’t get to see them that often, but it means that you get to visit them. Back in 2008 we had the chance to visit our friend Phil in the south of France, and so I can write this Aix-en-Provence travel blog. It is not “the best of Aix-en-Provence” but more a couple of highlights and a sense of time and place.
Marseilles Provence airport, Marseilles and Aix-en-Provence form a triangle on the map. The airport is roughly 25km from each of the towns. It has been cited as one of those mislabelled small airports that low cost airlines use, named after big cities, but it was perfect for our to visit Aix-en-Provence. When we arrived at the airport we jumped on a bus from just outside the terminal which took just under half an hour to reach its destination. Two of our friends, Phil and Abi were living and working in Aix-en-Provence, and Phil was putting us up for a couple of nights.
We arrived in the main square to an absolute deluge of rain. We were wildly under prepared but Phil, sensible chap that he is, had brought his umbrella and donated it to us, so Mr Fluskey and I huddled under it as we climbed the hill towards his flat.
Aix-en-Provence is a wonderfully compact slice of French perfection dans le sud-est de la France, (oh that GCSE has NOT gone to waste!) It is just the kind of place I had imagined when I read Chocolat. There is an outdoor market piled high with fresh produce. We visited on our first morning and I marvelled at the French people shopping fresh and local.
In the UK it would have been a farmer’s market with half of the stalls preparing hot meals and the other half way over priced and “artisan”. We watched as a grande Madame inquired about the price of some vegetables. She didn’t like the answer. “Oo la la!” she cried and plonked them back down with a haughty flounce. It was all we could do to contain ourselves.
We were invited to eat dinner a couple of times at Phil and Abi’s friend’s houses. These evenings went by in a blur of great company and great food. I must have chomped my way through at least three feet of baguette and four wheels of brie, topped with litres of tapenade and washed down with lashings of white wine. If this was the way they lived, it is a wonder anyone can still fit into a size eight. My bulging belly ached in glorious agony. I now understood why Phil used his bike to get around the hilly town.
I couldn’t write an Aix-en-Provence travel blog and fail to mention the museum. Aix-en-Provence is a meandering place, a place to sit in street cafes and people watch. It is a place to soak in slowly, like a luxurious bath. It is not packed with must see attractions. We decided to take a punt on the diminutive Natural History Museum. Aix-en-Provence being in France, all the signs were in French. Now we should have expected that, but speaking English as a tourist is so common that we often forget that the whole world isn’t set up for our reading pleasure. The exhibits went from the dull (rocks) to the terrifying (taxidermy). Stuffed animals that looked as if they had been possessed leered at us from their dusty displays. We didn’t manage more than an hour.
The museum is moving to a new site, and I’m sure they are taking the chance to revamp it. It is closed for the whole of 2017 except for special children’s events.
Realising that our greatest chance of having a lovely time was just to settle into Aix-en-Provence life, we went for a drink with our friends. Abi convinced me to try a demi-peche. It is a highball glass of lager with a huge glug of peach puree. The drink had a very pleasing golden hue and I decided to approach it with an open mind. Now, I have tried easing myself in with a fruit beer a few times, we had kinder-bier in Berlin (read about it in Berlin – Bikes, Barricades and Beers), but after the first taste of fruit, it all gets a bit…well…beery. My demi-peche was the closest I’d ever come to enjoying a beer. Lots of fresh peach seemed to do the trick. I may have had to wash it down with a few large glasses of white wine though.
Why not read about our day trip to Marseilles from Aix-en-Provence. For now, I shall bid you a hiccuping adieu.
Rosie xx