We booked our rental cars - yes CARS for our sabbatical in France. Why are we booking 2 cars you ask? It's going to be a crazy couple of days when we first arrive. Remember, we are taking the Queen Mary II from New York to Southampton, England. It's the only way we can get there without having to put Dashell the Golden Retriever in the belly of the plane. So, instead of arriving in France, we arrive in England.
Now comes the tricky part. We will be arriving in Southampton England and we will have our luggage, 2 bikes in their plastic carriers and 3 dogs. I found out that you can not rent a car in England and return it in France - it has to be returned in England Great! And because of 911, the largest car we can rent is this Renault Scenic (above). Do you think everything is going to fit? Keep your fingers crossed.
Here's our plan. We'll pick up the rental car and see if we can get everything in. If we can, great. We will then drive 2 hours to Folkestone, England where we will take Le Shuttle (the part of The Eurostar that your car goes on - you stay in the car during the trip) and we will go under the channel to Calais, France (about a 30 minute ride). We will have a hotel booked in Calais (next on the to do list) and Bruce will drop me, the dogs, our bikes and the luggage off. He'll then turnaround and take the car back to Dover, England. Why Dover and not Folkestone? Well...the Le Shuttle doesn't accept "walk-on" passengers, only people in their cars. And the regular Eurostar leaves from London (too far away). So, he has to take the ferry from Dover to Calais. Dover is only about 15 minutes by taxi from Folkestone. AHHHHH! So, that takes car of the car from England...we'll have it for 24 hours, we just need to get all of us & our belongings to France and then we'll take it back (well, bruce will take it back). If we find that we can't fit all our belongings in the car, the we move to Plan B, we will either rent 2 cars or Bruce will take the luggage and bikes to France and I'll stay in a hotel in England and then he'll come back and get me and the dogs. I hope we don't move to Plan B.
Then we'll rent the same car (if we find out that all our stuff won't fit in the one we rent in England - we'll get a bigger one in France) and we'll drive from Calais to our new home (about 9 hours). So, we plan on staying the night in Calais and then leaving the next day for our home. It's going to be tricky and probably a bit stressful, but we travel really well together and the nice thing is that we are not here for a 2 week vacation, so we can take our time getting over and getting to the house. We will be keeping the French rental car for about 2 weeks, hopefully enough time to find another car to buy. Something that runs, is cheap and can just get us around, nothing fancy. We'll buy it and then sell it before we leave in September 09.
So, that's the plan, at least the plan now. Who knows what will happen when we get there. But that's the exciting part, that's the adventure. Stay tuned.
I'm sure it will be easy peasy to find a car to buy whilst you are in France. Try not to get too cheap (or small) because you will have guests arriving and driving trips you'll want to take.
Posted by: Colleen | March 28, 2008 at 04:49 PM
Wow. Complicated. But how is he going to get back to France after dropping off the rental car in England, if he can't get onto the ferry without a car? And why can't you rent a larger car?
Posted by: Megan | March 29, 2008 at 12:10 AM
Megan - Bruce will take a taxi from Folkestone to Dover (15 minutes) after he drops off the car back in England and then take the passenger ferry from Dover to Calais (35 minutes). Not bad...at least it's not a 2-3 hour trip over to france.
Posted by: Alisa | March 29, 2008 at 08:49 AM
Megan - because of 911, england won't allow cars larger than the one we are renting to be taken over to France. Security reasons I'm assuming, not really sure, but all of the car rental companies I spoke with told me the same thing.
Posted by: Alisa | March 29, 2008 at 08:51 AM
Awwww. Those itty-bitty cars are so cute! ;-)
Posted by: Becky | March 31, 2008 at 05:13 PM
and you can take the dogs into England ok? I thought they had a six month quarratine procedure. I might be flying with cats someday.
Posted by: zuleme | April 05, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Hello, I "met" you at the blog, Function of Time, and stopped by to read your blog. I too am undertaking an adventurous move of sorts, it is great to be encountering partners in crime!
Couple of comments, have you investigated the lease-back option for cars abroad? here's a link with more info: http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/articles/car_rentals.htm I've heard this is a good option for folks who want a newer vehicle.
I am staying longer and wanted a less expensive option. I purchased an older vehicle through a recommended source. I have 2 wonderful and trustworthy agents in the Dordogne who guided me through my home purchase and through them, I met a gentleman who refurbishes and sells cars. He had a wide variety in the $1500 - $3,000 Euro range. I needed a 'project' car that I could haul things in and he found several options for me. Anyway, if you are interested, drop me a note on my blog and I'll forward you his details.
Lastly, if you need any info on the dog thing, I'm bringing 2 dogs to France and have done a lot of research.
Ciao!
Posted by: Kimberlee | April 30, 2008 at 07:47 AM
Hello, I "met" you at the blog, Function of Time, and stopped by to read your blog. I too am undertaking an adventurous move of sorts, it is great to be encountering partners in crime!
Couple of comments, have you investigated the lease-back option for cars abroad? here's a link with more info: http://europeforvisitors.com/europe/articles/car_rentals.htm I've heard this is a good option for folks who want a newer vehicle.
I am staying longer and wanted a less expensive option. I purchased an older vehicle through a recommended source. I have 2 wonderful and trustworthy agents in the Dordogne who guided me through my home purchase and through them, I met a gentleman who refurbishes and sells cars. He had a wide variety in the $1500 - $3,000 Euro range. I needed a 'project' car that I could haul things in and he found several options for me. Anyway, if you are interested, drop me a note on my blog and I'll forward you his details.
Lastly, if you need any info on the dog thing, I'm bringing 2 dogs to France and have done a lot of research.
Ciao!
Posted by: Kimberlee | April 30, 2008 at 07:48 AM