Only Four Days in France
If you had told me a month ago that I’d be flying to France during my second week at a new job, I probably would have laughed. Yet that’s exactly what happened. As many of you know, I recently left 26 North Yachts and joined Groupe Beneteau, the world’s largest recreational boat builder, as Boat Shows, Events and Marketing Director for the Americas. I had barely figured out where the coffee machine was before they were sending me across the Atlantic to meet my new colleagues.
Since my flight departed early Sunday morning, Scott and I decided not to take any chances with South Florida traffic. With the World Cup bringing extra congestion to Miami, we hopped on the Tri Rail Saturday afternoon and spent the night at the Miami International Hotel inside the airport. It turned out to be one of the best decisions of the trip. We enjoyed one last evening together before I headed off on what would become one very memorable business trip. This is certainly not a fancy hotel, but be prepared to pay over $350/night. This was not covered by my employer, as it was not a necessary stay.
The Adventure Begins at JFK
My first stop was New York’s JFK Airport, where I had what I thought was a comfortable two hour layover before boarding my Air France flight. I quickly discovered that two hours at JFK isn’t nearly as much time as it sounds. I had to take a bus shuttle between terminals, then catch the AirTrain, and practically jog through the airport before arriving at my gate just as boarding began. So much for grabbing lunch.
The overnight flight to Paris was my first experience flying Air France. Their amenity kit included a pillow, a blanket and ear phones.
Fortunately, no one was seated beside me, which made economy a little more comfortable. The service, however, was a different story. Dinner arrived a couple of hours after takeoff and I failed to grab a photo of it. Probably because it was not that great. Then the cabin seemed to disappear for several hours before I finally tracked someone down for a glass of wine. Thankfully, I managed to get a little sleep before we landed at Charles de Gaulle just before six o’clock Monday morning.
My Very First Lesson in Paris
I had done my homework before arriving in Paris. ChatGPT had given me very specific instructions on how to find the official taxi stand and warned me not to talk to anyone who approached me outside the terminal. Naturally, I ignored every bit of that advice.
A friendly gentleman named Jacques asked if I needed a taxi and quoted me the standard fare of 65 euros. Perfect, I thought. Before long, I realized I wasn’t climbing into an official Paris taxi at all, but rather his private Mercedes. To be fair, he gave me a wonderful tour of Paris, driving past the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, and along the Seine before dropping me at Montparnasse Station.
Unfortunately, that sightseeing tour came with a hefty price tag. Instead of 65 euros, he charged me 181 euros after adding extra time for traffic. It was an expensive lesson, but at least now I have a good story to tell. Next time I’ll be heading straight to the official taxi line.
Learning the French Train System
I arrived at Montparnasse Station with nearly two hours before my train departed for La Roche-sur-Yon. The first challenge was finding a restroom, only to discover you have to pay one euro to use it. Luckily, I had stopped at the ATM at the airport when I landed to get some Euros. Since I only had larger bills, I bought a bottle of water just so I could get enough change to use the restroom. Welcome to France!
I booked my train using Trainline.com and it worked fine. However, my colleagues told me to use SNCF, the official ticketing agency for the TGV. When I tried doing that online, it could not verify my bank account and it would not work, so I ended up using Trainline after all. One thing to note though, is the platform your train departs from, is not listed on the board until 20 minutes before your departure time. As departure time approached, I started getting nervous because I couldn’t find my train listed on the board. After a few minutes of panic, I realized the departure board lists the final destination of the train, not necessarily your stop along the route. Once I figured that out, I made my way to the platform.
I had booked a first class seat, which sounded wonderful until I realized my luggage and I had to climb a narrow staircase to the second floor of the train. By this point I had been awake for nearly twenty one hours, and hauling a heavy suitcase upstairs almost sent me tumbling backwards. Thankfully, the ride itself was beautiful and peaceful.
A Tiny French Town
Three and a half hours later I arrived in La Roche-sur-Yon, where another surprise awaited me.
My rental car office was closed for lunch. Let’s go back though, a couple of weeks. When my HR Director in France asked me if I had an international driver’s license? What?! You have to be kidding me! I’ve never driven in a foreign country – not even Canada! Turns out getting one was pretty easy. AAA offers international driver’s licenses for an application fee of $20 and of course, they convince you to join them. I walked right in at 9am here in Florida and 30 minutes later I was set!
After waiting about an hour, Avis reopened and handed me the keys to a tiny Peugeot hybrid. I asked the agent how far my hotel was, and he simply pointed across the street. I had spent the last hour waiting for a car only to find out I could have checked in to my room!
I stayed at the Campanile hotel, which is somewhat of a budget hotel. My three night stay cost about 296 Euro. The hotel itself was comfortable enough, although the air conditioning struggled to keep up with temperatures in the 90s. After unpacking, I walked to a nearby grocery store for bottled water, snacks, and yes…a bottle of wine.
French Dining Hours Take Some Getting Used To
When I asked the hotel receptionist where I could have dinner, she politely informed me that most restaurants wouldn’t open until 7:30 that evening. By then I had been awake for almost twenty seven hours and couldn’t imagine staying awake another two hours.
Thankfully, the hotel bar served food. The bartender disappeared into the kitchen and emerged a minute later with what was obviously a frozen pizza. At that moment it tasted like the best pizza I’d ever had.
My reservation did include breakfast, so each morning I headed down to the breakfast area. This included the basics of scrambled eggs, sausage (actually small hot dogs), potatoes, pastries, cheese, lunch meat, fruit, yogurt and cereal, along with juice, coffee and tea. Every day I had the same thing – croissant, ham, cheese and some eggs!
The following evening I decided to be a little more adventurous and ordered the lasagna. She grabbed a jar that was on display and disappeared into the kitchen. A minute later, she brought out the jar on a plate with two pieces of plain bread. When I touched the lid, it was scalding hot! Looking inside, it was olive green in color (and looked like it might have livers in it), and after a few bites I realized it was spinach and goat cheese lasagna. Let’s just say it wasn’t my favorite French meal. I quietly ordered another pizza and called it a night.
Driving in France
The next morning I climbed into my little Peugeot, ready to drive to Groupe Beneteau’s headquarters. There was just one problem. I couldn’t figure out how to start the car. One thing I should note, is that most European rental cars are not automatic transmissions. Though I know how to drive a stick, I didn’t want to deal with that in a foreign country, so I asked my travel planner to be sure to book an automatic for me! Thank God.
After several embarrassing attempts, I walked back across the street to Avis where the agent smiled and explained that I simply needed to press the brake pedal while starting the hybrid. Problem solved.
Driving through France turned out to be much easier than I expected, thanks largely to Waze. The endless roundabouts initially looked intimidating, but the app did an excellent job telling me exactly which exit to take. Before long I was comfortably navigating both the small villages and the highways.
Meeting My New Team
The purpose of the trip, of course, wasn’t sightseeing. It was to meet the incredible team at Groupe Beneteau.
Over the next few days I met colleagues from across the organization, toured the facilities, learned about the brands, and began building relationships with the people I’ll be working with throughout the Americas and France. It was fascinating to see the scale of the operation and understand how much collaboration takes place between countries.
For someone who had only been employed for about a week, I felt incredibly fortunate to have this opportunity. It made an already exciting career move feel even more meaningful.
Finally Exploring La Roche-sur-Yon
On my final evening, I finally had enough energy to explore the town.
La Roche-sur-Yon completely surprised me. Beautiful gardens lined the streets, historic buildings surrounded the town square, and restaurants filled the outdoor plazas with people enjoying the warm evening. I stumbled upon a wonderful restaurant called Tribu where I sat outside and enjoyed a cheeseburger, French fries, and a much deserved glass of wine.
After dinner I wandered through the town, eventually finding Napoleon’s statue overlooking one of the parks. A choir was performing nearby while families relaxed along the canals. It was one of those moments where I finally stopped thinking about work and simply appreciated where I was.
One Last Night in Paris
The next day, I headed back to the office for a half day’s work. After wrapping up my meetings, I drove back into town, returned the car and walked over to the train station. Luckily, I noticed people walking down a set of stairs at the station and it turned out, we had to get to the other side and so we went under the tracks. This proved to be painful on my back, as my luggage was so heavy! The three and a half hour ride through the French countryside was easily one of my favorite parts of the trip. Vineyards, rolling farmland, historic churches, and beautiful stone homes seemed to stretch endlessly outside my window.
That evening I checked into the Mercure Hotel near Montparnasse Station. As I checked in, the receptionist apologized because the hotel’s air conditioning had failed. Apparently broken air conditioning had become a recurring theme during my visit.
I walked across the street for dinner at Ernest, as I was not up for walking around. It was raining on and off and it was very humid. Ernest was lively, with indoor and outdoor seating. I grabbed a seat inside, but near the doorway as there was no air-conditioning. I ordered a chicken wrap that was delicious and a glass of wine. The prices were reasonable, but the glass was only about 2 or 3 oz in size! LOL.
A Memorable Flight Home
The next morning began with one of the nicest hotel breakfasts I’ve ever experienced. It reminded me of the breakfast buffet at Sandals resort. Fresh fruit, made to order omelets, crepes, salad, bacon, potatoes, salad, pastries, cheeses, and just about anything else you could imagine made for a wonderful start to the day.
Then, just as I opened my hotel room door to leave, the fire alarm sounded throughout the building. Now, I know exactly what you’re supposed to do. Evacuate immediately.
Instead, I brushed my teeth, finished packing, and figured if nobody else seemed concerned, I probably didn’t need to be either. Thankfully, the alarm ended a few minutes later.
The ride to Charles de Gaulle Airport went much smoother this time. I made sure to use an official taxi, and sure enough, the fare was exactly the 65 euros I had originally expected a few days earlier.
Air France
Air France is in the 2E Terminal. When you arrive, you will see that there are about 15 gates or counters for Air France, depending on your destination. I also noticed there were a ton of restaurants on the outside of security. Unfortunately, Air France ended my trip on another disappointing note. As I approached the line for security, Air France diverted me to the left, where I saw an attendant weighing luggage. Even though I had carried my suitcase on during the outbound flight, they insisted on weighing it in Paris and forced me to check it. So I had to find my check-in counter for Miami, which was number 8 to check my luggage. Back into the line for security and it went pretty smoothly. They were not the friendliest people though. Once through, I immediately noticed all of the shopping, from perfume, to Coach, Cartier, Hermes and many more.
Unfortunately, once I passed all of the shopping, I noticed they did not have any restaurants where you can sit for lunch or grab a glass of wine! Instead, you can buy a sandwich and a bottle of Champagne at the Relay Store (similar to our Hudson’s). So I sat in the standard airport seating for over two hours.
Once again, I did not have anyone next to me. I was a bit annoyed that the bins above me, were practically empty, so I could have carried on my bag.
Dinner was a little better on the way home, offering a pesto gnocchi.
During the nine hour flight to Miami, cabin service was once again extremely limited. At one point I walked to the galley and asked for a glass of wine, only to be told they would bring it later. Hours passed before service finally resumed, and by then they informed me they could no longer serve alcohol because we had entered U.S. airspace. That was certainly a first for me. One cool thing about this airplane, was they had a camera under the plane, so you could see below. It was mostly the ocean, but still cool to watch.
Looking Back
Although the trip was exhausting, I wouldn’t change a thing.
I learned to ignore unofficial taxi drivers, discovered that French restaurants don’t believe in early dinners, survived questionable lasagna, learned how to start a hybrid Peugeot, and somehow managed to stay awake long enough to meet an incredible group of new colleagues.
Most importantly, I came home even more excited about this next chapter in my career. Seeing Groupe Beneteau firsthand, meeting the people behind the brands, and experiencing a small part of France reminded me why I accepted this opportunity in the first place.
Sometimes the best business trips aren’t just about the meetings. They’re about the stories you bring home. And this trip certainly gave me plenty of those.
As always, thank you for following our blog! We’re heading home to Seattle for the July 4th weekend next week and we’ll hopefully have some great stories to share with you (and not lose another drone!). In August, our big trip will be Montreal and Quebec, so be sure to tune in and follow along. If you are not subscribed to our YouTube Channel, please sign up today! We appreciate the support.
Cheers, Scott and Ally