Road to France Pt. I

One of the things I’m most looking forward to about 2015 is France. I love traveling but, until four years ago, the only place outside of the United States that I had visited was Canada.  Does that even count?  My father has never been big on traveling so the farthest my family would go was Disney World (a three hour plane ride). But me? I’ve had a list of places to visit since I was able to point at a map. My list is long—very, very long— so I try to check at least one place off my list a year now that I don't have to rely on my parents to plan vacations.  France is where I’m headed this time around.

I’ve been saving up for this year’s adventure for a while now, basically since I got back from my last trip in September. As the money has started to add up, the trip has begun to feel more real to me. And as that happens, France becomes even more of an obsession. The language, the culture, the food, the history, and the art fascinate me, but experiencing it all firsthand is still many months away.

So in the meantime, I’m getting my French fix by thumbing through my Fodor's travel guides. They have everything I need right there— detailed information on places to visit (both the major tourist attractions and the ones on the roads less traveled), cultural and historical facts, useful phrases and etiquette, not to mention vibrant photos that make me feel like I’m already there. I relied heavily on my Fodor’s guide to plan my trip to Italy and had an incredible time, so Fodor's is once again my trusted travel companion.

I have two guidebooks for this trip—France 2015 and Paris 2015. While France 2015 has a section on Paris (how couldn’t it?), I knew I’d get way more information on The City of Lights from a book focused completely on it. I don’t know much about my trip yet, I do know that I’ll be spending most of my time in Paris before jetting off to another region of the country. With Paris 2015, I have tons of information at my disposal for my time in and around the city (probably way more than I need); but France 2015 is already helping me to decide where else to go in France and what I’ll do while I’m there though, so it was money well spent.

Are you looking forward to any trips this year? I'd love to hear where you'll be headed! xx