Free flights to France

I have another upcoming trip to France thanks to Ryanair who were giving out free flights recently to all kinds of places in Europe. It then occurred to me that a lot of independent or budget travellers who live outside of the UK may not be aware of these occasional offers by the cheap airlines. It could be worth putting your name on their mailing list if you are planning a tour around Europe, as it may be cheaper to fly to the UK and connect with another flight to France or elsewhere in Europe.

Anyway, back to Ryanair. I still had to pay for checking in baggage - well I do need a change of clothes if staying for a week, but a lot of people don't take any if they have second homes out there - and I had to pay a fee for paying with a card online (not much choice there) although travel insurance was optional. So my 'free' flight ended up costing £32.02 but a bargain return flight nevertheless:
Total return fare: 2p
Taxes: nil
Passenger fee for baggage: £16.00
Passenger fee for airport Check in: £8.00
Debit card fee: £8.00

Don't forget it is half that amount if travelling one way.

I decided to book a flight to Montpellier in the south of France as I never got around to seeing it last time, but will take the train to other places during that week. The hostel there had been fully booked last February, as the girl I was sharing a room with in Carcassonne told me she couldn't get a booking there when she was travelling to all these places from Nice.

So I was surprised at how easy it was to book the first 2 nights in the youth hostel for October 14, but maybe that's because I'm giving them 2 weeks notice. You pay a ridiculously small deposit online to reserve your room, but be warned that they will charge your credit card if you don't turn up or if you cancel without giving sufficient notice. I didn't want to book more than the first 2 days mainly because if I need to get out then I can book another hostel (or cheap hotel) in another town.
Most hostels will sort out your next hostel booking for you free of charge once you are there.

Ryanair has a very low baggage allowance (15kg) unlike Easyjet. I have now bought some scales so I don't accidentally go over my limit as I had to pay quite a lot excess baggage fee when I returned from France last time I flew with them. I wasn't told when flying from London that I was over my limit, and had bought nothing to really add to that when when coming back. They get you on the return journey, but it is good practice for me to travel lighter although I'd only packed 2 weeks worth of clothes last time I flew with them. Also, any containers that are capable of holding more than 100ml of liquid (even if clearly empty, as in my case) will be confiscated. I'm still annoyed with them for throwing away my vintage perfume bottles - put anything like that in your case rather than hand luggage. I only took mine out as I was over my baggage limit and that was the only thing I'd bought myself that was extra to what I flew in with.

Ryanair has flights from all over the UK, not just from London. The London ones are actually from Stansted airport, which is about 40 miles from central London.
To get there by train by the Stansted Express from London (Liverpool Street station) takes about 45 minutes. Single fare costs about £17.00 with an open return costing £24.00 (if returning within 30 days).

Getting to Stansted by bus or coach, I always use Terravision which leaves from behind Victoria station (as it's just down the road from where I live). It takes around 75 minutes (subject to traffic conditions) and costs £9.00 one way or £14.00 return. You can buy them in advance from the little shop near where the Greenline buses depart in the shopping mall, or you can buy before you board. If you reserve a seat you have to say which time bus you are getting.

Flight changes (subject to seat availability) for Ryanair can be made up to 4 hours prior to the scheduled flight departure time either online or via a reservation centre (subject to opening hours). If booked online the rate of £28/€35 per one way flight/per person applies or if booked at an airport or reservation centre the rate of £44/€55 per one way flight /per person applies.

Thoughts on France

I keep telling myself I "should" be out there looking for properties right now (or locations at least) but somehow "should" isn't part of my vocabulary, and quite honestly I don't feel like going anywhere just yet.

From what I've heard around the blogs it sounds as though they are having freak weather there too, so perhaps it's just as well I'm feeling lazy. A bigger concern has come my way, namely that I would be better off starting an online business here in the UK first, before permanently re-locating. Moving to France without an income, or at least with some trading figures to show the French authorities for "permission" to do what I want on a self-employed basis in France, was starting to feel a bit precipitous. Living off my savings account is eroding my capital and I'm also wondering whether plunging headlong into the remote countryside, coming straight from a large city with everything nearby that I need, wouldn't be a touch foolish at first, even for me, especially as I don't drive.

So yet another decision has been made which feels right for now. After realising that I get culture shock when the shops are closed two days a week (Sun/Mon) in France, and that the energies in France feel too economically stagnant to get any business off the ground, and the fact that I need to take driving lessons in order to live in the countryside, would be to take it all in stages.

It is so much easier and less expensive to launch a business from here in the UK. It's not what I originally planned to do, but I need to trust my gut feelings.
I also don't intend to be one of the 50% or more Brits who end up returning to the UK because they hadn't thought enough about how they would maintain themselves financially in France, and even though I'd planned to let out a couple of spare rooms to holiday-makers during the high season, that really is only a supplement rather than an annual income. I love trading online and I know I can have a website wherever I live, and for those first couple of years I wish to devote as much time to establishing a business before transferring it elsewhere and having to deal with even more projects to sort out once I get there. One step at a time.

Also, I honestly don't feel that I could take on alone all the things I'd planned and wanted to do, without some kind of help from others. Even trying to get a team behind me in France by posting on the French messageboard shared by those of the same affiliation of teachers didn't bring forth any enthusiasm or offers of help, just mild curiosity. France feels too laid back to get anything done, even a driver to drive me around which I would have paid for seemed like asking for the impossible. I'm not blaming them or anyone, and I know from experience that if something is starting to feel like a struggle, then there is a better way. Right now I just want to take the easiest and less stressful route, regain my full health, and attend to my own immediate needs first.

So the urgency for finding a French house asap has dwindled and now the focus is on starting an online business first and moving out of my London flat to a larger place somewhere in the UK. It is just for the first couple of years, and I can then view property in France at a more leisurely pace as it takes the pressure off of my need to vacate my present apartment. It is too noisy here as there are building works going on all around me, I have no room to store anything, and I yearn for a garden. House prices here are falling fast so I may even pick up a bargain as it's a buyers market at the moment. Now I feel I'm doing the location search all over again, only this time in southern England.