French Adventure :
Flights / Hotels / Cars / Misc
Just in case you do want to go over to France and visit the retreat (or anywhere else for that matter), here are some useful contacts / details. There are also some details of other useful services if you are planning to spend any time in the country or need to undertake postal business.
Opodo seems a bit of a silly name but they do offer a pretty good service for booking hotels in foreign countries. I normally stay in Limoges at the Relais Mercure Limoges Centre, 14, Rue Chinchauvaud, Limoges, 87100, France Tel : 05 55 79 81 10 and it is an easy hotel to find (just aim for the main railway station in Limoges). However, I noticed last time that the station approaches also appear to be where a fair number of street walkers hang out. Be warned that some of these women look truly frightening (no, this isn't an exaggeration as I don't scare much, but some looked like they would knife you as quick as look at you) and none of them were like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman (Hollywood has lied to me once more !). Me, as always, smiled sweetly with a pleasant "Bon Soir" whilst walking past but got no response (I have this effect on all women!). From this I decided that they seem to only aim for punters in cars so there's none of that Kings Cross, London "charm" of "fancy a bit of this, lover" to deal with (or possibly after I passed by they all went into a huddle pointing out that a really rough looking guy had just walked past, speaking in bad French and he was certainly no Richard Gere !). Exactly how to walk past a prostitute in a foreign country was not in my guide book but if you perfect the technique, maybe let me know!
Easiest place to fly into to get to the retreat is Limoges (45 minutes drive) although Rochelle isn't far (probably 2 hours drive) neither is Bordeaux (probably about 1.5 hours) or Poitiers (1.5 hours). Buzz who I used to fly with went to all of these destinations but they have now been bought out by Ryanair. A direct flight (return) from London Stanstead to Limoges costs ~ £70 (depending on date / how easy you book etc). This is significantly better than the £560 I was quoted from AirFrance (which also included a fun filled and most likely impossible 45 transfer time at Paris Charles De Gaulle). Limoges airport is only small at the moment (it has 1 toilet and that has 2 stalls and 3 urinals ! Remember to go early and not during the rush that starts just before take off !) but is being expanded in the very near future as the Limousin region (for which Limoges is the capital) is trying to become a big tourist area. The airport is fun and relaxed with a nice cafe but very little else. Be warned that the security on the X-ray checkers on departure duty are very thorough and will go through everything in your hand luggage and hold it up to general scrutiny / discussion to everyone in the queue (so take out any incriminating evidence or embarrassing items before you get there !). It takes about 20 - 30 minutes to drive to the centre of town.
Driving in Limousin is very easy, even in the towns at rush hour. Everyone seems very relaxed about it all and it is a very polite series of hand gestures that will greet you when you are on the wrong side of the road for an instant ! Remember to smile and wave rather than giving them the more traditional "V"s ! Avis car rental doesn't really need much introduction but they do have an agent at the airport. Go out of the "Arrivals" door (which is very similar to the departures door and, what a surprise, comes to the same place !) and the car rental building is just ahead of you. There is also Europecar (who I don't like much; seem to overwork their staff and then expect them to be all enthusiastic) and I think Budget too (and possibly one more dealer, possibly Hertz. I'll check next visit). However, Avis do a fairly good deal and so I still go with them. However, do check you car very carefully before driving it off. I was stuffed one time after closely examining the body work for scratches, finding a few (which I duly reported feeling like I had done well to avoid those charges) and then driving off only eventually noticing the broken wing mirror when I got to the motorway ! Best £40 I ever paid for someone else's damage, that's all I can say as I was soooo happy ! Last time I went there was a dent and large scratch which wasn't disclosed on the contract paperwork and a number of people I've spoken to have found similar things.
It's always worth checking the exchange rate before setting off on a foreign trip and I use X-Rates. For all of your budding currency traders, the site has a very useful series of searchable trend analysis graphs which can be very useful when you thinking of buying somewhere. When I was buying the cafe, I gambled on the Euro continuing to fall and transferred my money to the notaire much earlier than needed. Saved me about £500 overall as my gamble paid off.
I often use this translation service when I'm writing letters in French but you have to check them very carefully after the autotranslate to make sure they are saying what you planned. My friend Jo Ann (from Central French Property Associates) said that when she was starting in France she used to use it to send to French friends who then took great pleasure in pointing out the mistakes. Thankfully both she and the French love to laugh so it all worked out well. If your language skills are not quite so good, checking documents is quite a good way of learning new words but careful choice of words for initial translation is important.
There is a branch of Caisse-Epargne in Chateauponsac (which is the closest market town to the cabin) and so I thought to start an account with them. Not quite sure but I think they are similar to the UK National Savings bank (as opposed to being like Barclays, Lloyds etc). I visited the bank manager in Chateauponsac (a Mr Longqueue which, if he had been in the UK, would have been a rather appropriate name !) and he said to fill in the on-line forms. As it happened, my French was eventually not up to the task of following the online links and so I went into the Limoges Branch of Banque Populaire Centre Atlantique instead and opened my account with them. One thing to bear in mind is that French banks are not like UK ones where you walk in and queue. In France, you have to queue in a foyer and then "buzz" for someone to open the door.
Weather reports can be useful when deciding what clothes to take worth you on a trip. This site is good for short term predictions (typically 5 days).