Discover Northern France

Discover Northern France by Gate 1 Travel

This is my 7th land tour with Gate-1 Travel.  I am traveling with the DW (dear wife).  We visited the Provence area of France last June and really enjoyed it, so we wanted to book this tour as well.  

Day 0 - Tuesday, April 21st - Travel to Paris

We left the Villa at 11:30 a.m. and took a short Uber ride to TPA. The airport was not busy at all today, and we had time for a nice lunch at Chick-fil-A.  We took an AA flight to Charlotte, where we landed just as our trans-Atlantic flight was boarding.  We hustled to the International Terminal, where we soon boarded with Group 5 and headed to Paris.  

Day 1 - Wednesday, April 22nd - Paris, France

Our uneventful overnight flight landed at about 8:00 a.m local Paris time.  We went directly through European Union customs, then were very pleasantly relieved to see that our luggage had made the flight.  We were met by a private Driver that we had booked online from the Tampa Airport through Booking.com.  He was excellent, meeting us with a sign as we exited the baggage area and had us at our hotel after an hour drive at about 9:30 a.m.  We are staying at the M Social Hotel on Boulevard Hassmann in the Opera District of the 9th arrondissement.  It was built in the 1920s in the Art Deco style and operated for years as the Millennium Paris Opera Hotel.  For a reasonable fee, we upgraded to a larger room with a view of the Boulevard and took the early check-in option, so after a ten-minute wait and some complimentary croissants, juices, and fresh fruit from the Members Club in the Lobby, we were in our room straightaway.