Anytime we move, a hotel stay is usually figured into the mix. There have been a couple of moves that allowed us to move directly into the home we were renting, but I’m not sure I was fully prepared for what hotel living was going to be like. Since we stayed in a small hotel – family owned, not that many employees – we got to know almost everyone who worked in the place. We only didn’t know one person and she worked one day a week so it makes sense that we didn’t really know her. The rest of the employees we consider friends, we see them regularly, and a couple have even helped us by tutoring our children.

When you spend that kind of time in a hotel, it becomes your home. You need to do whatever you can to feel comfortable in your space. The first room we occupied was the hotel’s apartment. This hotel has one two-bedroom apartment and unfortunately for us it was only available for a short time before it had been booked by someone else. This was a great introduction to our stay. The apartment was spacious, the windows here must all be double paned because despite being on a busy street we heard nothing from outside, there is a computer in the apartment, a stocked kitchen (not food but pots, pans, kitchenware, etc.), and what I think is really high up on my list of best things about apartments here – rolling window shades that are on the outside of the window and create a pitch black room. Seriously, these are amazing and wonderful and I wish we had them in the US. Actually we do, they are the same type of shades used on some storefronts, those pull down things that protect windows from being busted out. The difference is that these are widely used here on home and apartment windows and storefronts.

This is the master bedroom, taken around 11AM and okay it’s a little cloudy outside and the picture makes the light look a lot brighter/more than it is. Really those are very thing slits, if the blinds were fully closed the room would be pitch black.

Maybe we lucked out and we were able to find this small, not too many employees hotel. Maybe it was luck that everyone working at the hotel is so nice, and they offer really great customer service. And I’m okay with that. I walk around the city now and I see other hotels that I contacted and though I’ve never stayed at any of them, I know we made the right choice. But even better, I know we were able to trust the recommendation from others who stayed there.

My tip is this: be nice to the hotel staff and they’ll be nice to you. Will every hotel have nice staff? No, probably not. And some days those nice staff people will have a bad day. And some days you will. But being nice can get your luggage out of your own space, it can get you to be the last room to be cleaned so you don’t have to rush to get your kids out the door, it can get extra smiles when you are just sick and tired of washing your clothes at the laundromat and you just need your own bed. And it can get you a group of people who can help you with schools, restaurants, best places to hang out at, and more.

I mentioned a little about the apartment we are living in, but let’s back up a little and talk about getting here. Getting here as a family of five and fourteen pieces of luggage! Each airline has different rules for military people flying – some will offer a certain number of free luggage pieces, some will offer free up to a certain weight limit, check with the airline to see what their rules are. And keep in mind that the airline website may say one thing and someone on the phone can say another. Take something in writing to the airport if you want to be sure.

When you move with as much luggage as we had, you need a much larger vehicle to get from the airport to wherever you are going. We didn’t risk hoping that the available taxis would be big. A little searching online and you can find so many travel forums! Look to a well established forum and see what others have done in terms of renting a large vehicle to get you from the airport.

We found a company and rented a large passenger van that met us at the airport. It took a few trips from the area of the airport we were at and the taxi area because the elevators are so small and we just couldn’t fit. A half hour or so ride into Paris and we made it to our hotel!

So much of overseas feels small – elevators, vehicles, roads, portions (they are regular size, not super size like in the US), and more. It just takes a little reaching out to realize that it’s okay, it’s manageable and you will be fine. I did have some moments of freaking out because I found a company to rent a van from – and then I kept looking! It was hard for me to judge who to trust so I had to leap. Once we got to our current location, we had to find another van to pick us up – except this time the awesome hotel we stayed at made the arrangements for us. I was so thankful to give that over to someone else to take care of for me.

My tip is this – military spouses are a great network to turn to for help, but if you are moving to a remote location with no other spouses to lean on, you have to ask the stranger at the hotel reception desk, you have to ask the strangers on the travel forum, you have to trust that one bad review isn’t the be all end all. So don’t be afraid to ask someone for help booking your transportation or finding a really great hotel to stay in.

Check out my four tips for moving overseas for a bit more info.

 

 

 

We have been here for almost a year. Wow. It’s kind of surreal to think about that. After a few days in Paris, and a month and a half in a hotel, we were finally in our apartment. And the apartment is great – everyone says if you can’t tell we are from the US from looking at us or talking to us, one step into our apartment shows it. The apartment is large, it’s a good size for us but for the French it is huge. It is one and a half floors, three bedrooms, space for me to have a sewing area, and the kitchen has small European appliances.

Over the next month I will highlight what it is like to live here – including finding a place to live, schools for my children, friendships for me, language issues, and more. The first thing I will say is our month and a half in a hotel gave us friends that we will probably continue to have once we leave. We stayed at a really small hotel, with a really small staff, and owned by a family. The family’s son is in charge for the majority of the time and he’s around our (my husband and I) age. He’s fluent in English and was an amazing help for us upon arrival. His help started when we were in Paris and he arranged for a van to pick us up at the airport.

My tip is this – have someone recommend a hotel they have previously stayed at if at all possible. Hotels in Europe in general are very different compared to the US. For one, they are strict on the number of people staying in a room. And you won’t be very interested in arguing with them because the rooms are typically very small. For our six weeks we first stayed at the hotel’s apartment, then we moved into two bedrooms, and finally into three bedrooms. The way this hotel is set up we were able to have the top floor of a small building which was the three bedrooms, closets they used for storage, and a bathroom with a separated toilet and shower (I mean they were in separate rooms). They were also kind enough to store some of our extra luggage for us in a space that was not the rooms we were in.