I spent the last May Day Bank Holiday in Paris, France, with
my friend Estella. It’s amazing how this quick, cheap, minimal holiday turned
into one of my best holidays so far. We are definitely not seasoned travelers but we did learn a lot of things during our 3 days in Paris, here are some of
our tips -
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| French Flag |
1) Make a covenant to remain friends no matter what
It has always baffled me how people can go on holiday as
best friends and come back home with a severed friendship. Estella and I were
very much aware of this possibility and promised each other that we would fight
to stay friends no matter what! (sounds funny right!) This included choosing
not to make small things an issue, being flexible, praying together, dying to
self, putting the other person first (e.g Estella knees were killing her but
she still spent the day walking around Musse du Louvre with me because she knew
it was something I really wanted to do - what a sweet heart J) and working together
to make the holiday enjoyable for both of us. I’m telling you it really worked!
Estella and I came back from holiday even better friends.
2) Learn your maps as much as you can
There’s nothing that screams target than a confused tourist
reading a map. Estella is an excellent map reader but even then we had to be
careful. We were trying to get to a raw vegan restaurant on day 2 of our
holiday and it was raining so heavily that our paper map was literally being
dissolved by the heavy rain drops. We were on the right road but didn’t quite know
where to turn off so we spent some time staring at the map and out of nowhere a
man was trying to help us. He was quite persistent even though we explained we
were OK, Estella then firmly declined and we carried on our way. I questioned
her about it and she said “Be careful of those that are oh so willing to give
their help, especially in crowed places”. I don’t think she is saying that we should
walk around paranoid but that we must be aware of our surroundings as you may
find this friendly helper has associates (who you probably wouldn’t notice as
they look like casual by passers) that are helping themselves to your
belongings.
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| Musee Du Louvre |
3) Set rules at the beginning
You didn’t go on holiday on your own so be mindful that someone
else is accountable for you so you shouldn’t really try to do your own things
This was not an issue for Estella and I but we definitely think this is a
worthwhile tip. If you want to have a bit of independence while on holiday with
someone else, communicate this clearly and set rules from the beginning. For
example no wandering off, if you’re going somewhere say where you’re going, set
meeting places etc. This will allow the holiday to run smoothly and will also
provide accountability and safety.
4) Be careful when taking Touristy pictures at
night
We made this mistake when walking home on day 2 and ended up
being followed. Thankfully we managed to get away by asking a waiter if we
could sit in his restaurant until the men that were following us went away.
Once the coast was clear we watchfully hurried back to our hostel. We were so confused
as to why we were targeted and it was only when Estella took her phone out we
realised that it was because we were taking pictures which made it obvious that
we were tourist.
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| Good Vegan Food |
5) There’s no point of everyone bringing everything
This is key when going on a “Budget” minimalist type
holiday. Estella and I purposed to try and bring as little as possible on this
holiday in terms of clothes, toiletries, travel items etc. Estella is the
champion of this as she went with just her hand bag! She didn’t bring any
shower gel or tooth paste, which was OK because I had some and she knew she
could use it. Apart from my “pick pocket proof” bag I didn’t have a suitable
bag to carry around my non valuable items, but Estella had a fold away shoulder
bag that I could use. Some people may not be too keen on sharing personal items
but if you’re going on a short holiday where there may be times you will need
to walk around with your luggage then this would be the more logical approach.
Plus you want to leave space for your souvenirs and other things you buy on
holiday.
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| Tuileries Garden |
More tips to come in part 2 J
♥ Miss Daisy ♥
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