There’s a Lot of France to Love

Special Note: due to unforeseen circumstances, we are unable to publish a new Nouvellettre® today. We hope you’ll enjoy this past issue which contains valuable information for considering a move to France.

TRAVELING AROUND FRANCE AND EUROPE AND BEYOND

I went from Nice to London on Friday, from London to Paris on Sunday and from Paris to Bordeaux on Monday…all in five days’ time. Living in the U.S., that wouldn’t be possible unless the only thing you saw in between were airports. In this case, one was a flight from Nice to London (easyJet $115), then I trained to Paris on the Eurostar (Eurostar $84) and then the next day I went to Bordeaux on the French TGV ($70). It couldn’t have been easier or less expensive.

Keep this in mind when you’re considering where to live if you’re moving to France. If you’re very near a good hub, like Paris, Marseille, Nice or even Lille, then you can pretty much go anywhere anytime by train or plane or even automobile and fulfill your dreams to travel and see the world…especially Europe.

The four international airports in France are in Paris (Roissy/Charles de Gaulle and Orly), Marseille (Marseille Provence Airport) and Nice. Being in proximity to any of these ensures you can fulfill your dreams of travel. It’s for this reason, among others, that I’m on a warpath to convince American retirees moving to France NOT to choose remote locations in which to permanently live. If it’s a second home that you visit from time to time, then no sweat, but if it’s a primary residence, then why confine yourself when it’s not necessary?

Aix-en-Provence can be a good choice, because of fast and easy access to the Marseille airport by shuttle bus. I add Lille to this equation, even though it doesn’t have an international airport, because what it does have is the TGV—Le Train à Grande Vitesse—and it can get you to Brussels (32 minutes), Paris (1 hour 5 minutes), London (1 hour 21 minutes), or Amsterdam (2 hours 39 minutes). What this means is that you can come to Paris for just the day or hop a plane from any one of those city’s airports to anywhere. And property in Lille is very affordable—about one-quarter of Paris prices.

When I arrived at St. Pancras International Station to board the Eurostar with plenty of time to buy some take-out dinner, the attendant immediately suggested trading in my ticket for an earlier train at no extra cost. They whisked me through security and customs to make the train that was scheduled to leave in just a few minutes. It was a relief to cut my time by 1.5 hours, arriving home at a much more reasonable hour. This is to be remembered…that as long as they have seats available, they want to fill them and it didn’t cost a penny extra.

VISITING ADRIANLEEDS.COM

You may have noticed that unlike most other websites promoting their property services, a lot of information is hidden. They won’t connect you with their resources unless you pay for their services, which in all honesty, is normal.

We’re not normal. We believe that the more information we provide, the more open we are about who we are, what we do, and who we trust, the more you will trust us. And that’s what our mission is—not only for you to trust us, but to be trustworthy as well. And for me, that comes with full disclosure.

This means that not only do you our readers, and website visitors, have full access to our resources, but so do our competitors. And yes, they steal information from us all the time. They copy what we say, how we do business, etc., but, that’s okay. We’re the originators, the originals, and that makes us way more valuable than the copycats. Plus, our resources are as loyal to us as we are to them.

Have a look at adrianleeds.com. Check out the dropdown menus. Then, have fun perusing the pages. You’ll find more information, more resources and more articles about property and life in France than on most any other French property site. I’ve been writing these Nouvellettres® since 1998, believe it or not, but the serious launch started in 2001 when I went to work for International Living to open their Paris office. They had me writing almost daily. Now we publish (only) three times a week. Still, that’s a lot of information to disseminate, but I do it, and it’s free.

Plus, we host free events and webinars. Après-Midi has taken place since 2003. The only cost to you is as little as the price of a café. The speaker makes a presentation for no charge. The café only expects everyone to order at least one drink. My staff and I do it for the sole purpose of giving something back to the community that has given so much to me. That’s the truth. Lots of people have suggested we charge for these events, but I refuse. It costs me time and money to do them, but I don’t care. They serve the purpose of bringing the community together and for all of us to learn something. It’s worth it.

Photo by Meredith Mullins©

Webinars are something we never stop doing, now that we can. Before the Covid-19 pandemic, we held live events that cost everyone money. Now that Zoom has become commonplace in our everyday lives, we can offer up information and advice again…free of charge. Visit our Events Page to see what’s coming up next.

And if you can’t get on at the time of the webinar, we’ll post the recording on our YouTube channel. There are 64 videos from which to choose to watch. That ought to keep you busy…and informed!

I was in Bordeaux filming our 55th episode of House Hunters International with two clients of ours, Julie and Bob Higgins. On our initial consultation, I tried to talk them out of living in Bordeaux, but they knew it well and insisted on buying a property there. For them, it’s picture perfect, but I have a feeling as they get to know France better, they will fall in love with many other towns and regions, too. It happens to everyone, as there is just too much of France to love.

Adrian with clients Julie and Bob Higgins in Bordeaux

Église Saint-Louis des Chartrons

We can help you choose, even before you start your journey to explore what’s possible…at least let us help you map out your itinerary to visit the cities, towns and countryside that make the most sense. Visit our website to learn more on how to get started.

A la prochaine…