We have purchased insurance from CSA for our upcoming trip.
Check you homeowners, automobile, and health insurance and credit cards to see what is covered.
The main thing is health coverage and emergency evac coverage.
Other things matter if you cannot afford to lose the money such as flights and accomodations.
It costs a pretty penny but if you need it, hopefully, it will come into play.
We have our trip covered for flights and one tour we are taking for 10 days out of a 31 day trip.
We bought this 10 days before my H ended up in ER for a twisted intestine while recently traveling in CA…
Thank goodness I insisted we get it when we did. We were leaving for a little USA trip and I insisted that this be taken care of for our April trip to Italy. Yep, as soon as we landed at our Palm Springs trip he ended up in the hospital for a twisted intestine. So at least we are covered for the majority of out of the pocket expenses if he cannot travel in 5 weeks to Italy.
We were in Spain in June of 2013 and did not have any trouble with our credit cards sans chips.
The chips are most necessary for buying train tickets. You cannot use non-chipped cards for that purpose. That’s a pretty big use. “Just buy from a human” can mean the difference between 5 mins and you’re on your way vs an hour in line.
There’s no harm in getting the chipped cards; it’s one phone call.
The only problem we have had with non-chipped cards was in gaining entry to a garage where we had parked our car in the Hague. We had to go to an ATM and get cash as our credit card did not work. The way the garage worked was you had to enter the parking spot # and then swipe the chipped card for entry/billing. This past fall we found that tolls in France were unpredictable. Some took our credit cards, some took only cash, some took our ATM cards, some had people tending the toll booth and some at no people anywhere in sight. It was hard to tell approaching a toll what the situation was going to be but we had no problems. Friends of ours did a similar trip driving from Brussels through France and they had many more confusing situations at toll booths.
I haven’t read this entire thread, but thought I’d offer some “local” suggestions. AAA has euros on hand. I got one of the Chase credit cards for our last trip. It had the chip and no foreign transaction fees. I also opened an account at the credit union across the street from Costco because their ATM card had no transaction fees. We don’t like to carry a lot of cash when traveling and we needed cash for one of our drivers, a few of the tour guides we hired in different cities, and in one small town, EVERYONE insisted on cash (hotel, restaurants,shops,etc,).
I forgot that - this will probably be irrelevant for abasket since she is visiting her relatives, but when I’ve hired tour guides in various cities, they typically want cash (and it’s worth discussing ahead of time whether they will accept American dollars). They are often independent contractors so it’s not worth it to them to set up for credit cards.
Me again. I’m ALMOST ready to click “buy” on the tickets - just waiting for my D1 to check on exact date she has to be back to work.
Question regarding travel insurance. I think some people recommended NOT purchasing throught the airline (probably will be Air Canada for us). If not, do you have a company you prefer or one you avoid???
I was comparing plans at insuremytrip.com and was looking at Allianz Global, AXA Assistance and Travelex. Any of these familiar??? Looks like I can get something in the arena of $250 give or take a few dollars to cover the 4 of us ages 81,55,26, 17 - does that sound in line???
Finally, is it correct that in general you have something like 14 days after purchasing tickets to purchase insurance??
Questions are always good.
We bought CSA for our upcoming Italy trip.
Some policies do have a time line on purchase, ours did not.
Pay attention to the 81 age as I have noticed that some companies have different info. for those over 65.
Cannot say if CSA did.
On the issue of traveling with an octogenarian, I know that my parents always arranged to have a full medical documentation on hand with the translations of any prescriptions of their parents. If something is out of the ordinary, you might check the customs sites before travel. The UK, for instance, has been difficult with certain medication. The good news is that all of this is pretty easy to do with google and a bit of effort.
One easy way to store the “documents” is to scan them in your cell phone or simply email the scans to yourself before departure. Same thing for copies of passports and other documentation. If all fails, you simply check your email, and you have everything listed. There is no need to carry all the paperwork.
I didn’t read every reply just skimmed quickly, but here are some ideas. While you are making copies of passports, driver’s licenses, etc., make sure you have credit card/bank card phone numbers and copies of health insurance cards. My husband’s wallet was stolen within 20 minutes of us arriving in Paris. He gave me his cash to trade for Euros and out of habit put his wallet in his back pocket - big mistake. They didn’t get cash, but we spent 2 hours on the public phone in the Louvre trying to get credit cards/driver’s license/HSA credit card cancelled and ended up with a huge phone bill. We were only in Paris for the day and had our copies in our hotel in London, I didn’t think to put them on our phones, If you do put copies on your phone also keep a copy somewhere else. iPhones/iPads are easily stolen. If you are planning on seeing Paris, watch out for scam artists trying to distract you while they steal something. It got really annoying in the big tourist areas like the Eiffel Tower. But, if you firmly tell them to go away they do. Most of them were young kids.
Also, we had no problems anywhere using our old fashioned credit card - no chip, but we stayed in Paris. In smaller towns it might have been a problem. It’s a beautiful place, you’ll love it!
@GMTplus7 – yes, Euros on sale! I wish I could go! We went last year, when Euros weren’t on sale. But, I’m not complaining. It was a wonderful trip. Even if we did take the wrong train at one point which wiped out a day and some $$. Actually, my husband says that is his favorite memory of the trip. Go figure. My advice is make sure you know where your train is going if you take the train.
My extremely well traveled husband was leading us (him, me, 10 year old son and 15 year old daughter) through Rome. To which he hadn’t been in, like, 3 decades, but took on the leadership role because, you know. He’s THE MAN. He’s well traveled. Daughter, however, was dubious once we started walking and walking and walking. Suddenly, she stops and says, “Great, we just walked in one huge circle.” My husband huffed, “Katie, stop it, I know what I’m doi—” at which point he realized we were right back where we started some 45 minutes earlier.
So we discovered two things: DH can be, goodness me, wrong. And DD has a better sense of direction than he does. Yes, it’s a favorite travel memory for us all, even DH.
Don’t shoot me that I haven’t booked this flight yet - I could kick myself, believe me.
Is 1 hour 35 mins too short of a layover in Paris??? No changing airport, just within CDG. Would be flying in from Toronto.
Also, anyone ever fly Ailitalia? One flight I’m currently considering is Air France to France, Ailitalia return flight.
My other option is Air France both ways but a change in airport on the return in Paris - I really did not want to do this. Right? Changing airports = big hassle (with an 81 year old mother - I shouldn’t even ask, I cannot do that to her!!)
I went with the simplest of airports and flight switched for my nearly 90 year old mother, make it easy on yourself, even if it costs a bit more in case, the emotional wear and tear will be much better
For the inbound flight, I don’t think a 1.5 hour layover is sufficient at CDG, especially for inexperienced international travelers who are unfamiliar with the airport and traveling with an elderly passenger. You may luck out, but if a number of international flights are arriving at the same time, the passport control lines could be long. Your plane may come into a gate at a remote terminal. Signage at CDG is confusing. Your mother may be moving slowly after a long flight. I personally would prefer a bit more of a cushion, 2 to 2.5 hours.
On the other hand, if there are several flights to your final destination after the one you are booked on, it is less of a risk because if you miss your flight you would likely get on the next flight out.
On the return flight, it is less of a concern bc you won’t have to go through passport control in CDG.
The minimum connection time depends entirely on the way your tickets were purchased and if the luggage is checked through. Here’s a link to read more about how it might impact your travel plans:
And a link to plenty of QAs that might apply to you. All in all, I think it probably will be doable with some preparation. Knowing where to go and what to expect is necessary. The problem of CDG is that the signage might be confusing and the local help might have a bad day if the baguette was cooked too long.
PS You can google your flight numbers and it will show the normal routes for that flight. Chances are that you are on the 351 and 7662. They use the 2E and 2F terminals.
For CDG, 1-1/2 hr is the absolute barest minimum. It’s a confusing airport (when u see it, you’ll understand), and u will have to clear immigration (it’s your 1st point of entry into the Schengen Zone) and must go thru security screening again.
Last month, I had about that much connection time in CDG, but missed my connection to FCO bcs my arriving flight was a 45 min late.
Xiggi makes a good point that if u miss your connecting flight, there are frequent subsequent connecting flights. The only limitation to getting on a later connection is availability of open seats.
I’m ALMOST ready to click “buy” on the tickets - just waiting for my D1 to check on exact date she has to be back to work.