So you have finally decided that this year you’re gonna spend your vacation in France. Well done. I guess you’re about to travel in summer so there is still some time to prepare everything to make the trip absolutely perfect. Today I have two tips that will make your trip easier and more enjoyable.

Guides
Do yourself a favour and purchase at least two, better three guides and pay attention to buy the most current editions. 2009 editions of the most famous guide books should be out by now or will be in the upcoming weeks. Rough Guides or Lonely Planet Guides are well known for their independent view and they are a great choice for backpackers. These are in-depth guides printed in small letters on a thin paper to pack as much information as possible and still keep the volume small enough to fit into your luggage. If you prefer plenty of colourful photographs on a quality paper, then you will do better with Dorling Kindersley Eyewitness Travel Guides or National Geographic Guides. My preference is to take one of each type. But don’t be fooled just by stunning photographs, most likely your real experience won’t get even close to what you see on the photographs. But hey, we all know that photographs in guide books have been retouched and the photographers had been waiting for hours if not days for the perfect setup to make the photographs. And that is a luxury that you can hardly afford. Do study your guides before you leave, so that you can better plan your trip. You will know exactly where to go (or where/when not to go), and what can be seen there.

Language
You have heard of French being proud of their language and although they learn English at school, they hesitate to use it. Well, what can I say about it? More or less it’s true, but you would be surprised by the change in their attitude if you show some respect for their language. You are a guest in their country so it makes more sense to make the first step. I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to learn a couple of phrases and a bunch of the most common french words if you want to get the most out of your trip to France. You’ll be amazed to see how far a little french will go. It will literally open doors to their culture. If they see that you try, they will even start speaking English. Well that is a bit too optimistic, but they will understand what you say in English and they might respond with a mix of English and french. But with help of mimics and hand you will get your message across, that’s for sure. Don’t be scared by learning a totally foreign language. When you start, you will see that french is actually very close to English. Many times words are spelled the same and differ only in pronunciation. There are some great resources on the net that will help you get up and running with the basics of French either completely for free or for a very reasonable fee. BBC offers basic language courses for holidaymakers, and French is very well covered even with pronunciation. Check out the BBC website. If you are an iPod owner, you will find some very good French learning podcasts on iTunes.

In one of my future posts I will bring you a few links to proven guides and french learning websites that will make your holiday in France easier. Stay tuned!