Please find below some Tips & Hints usefull for US travelers in France. You may also find some other answers in our page Frequently Asked Questions.
Money :
France switched from "French Francs"( FF. ) to "Euros" (€) in January 2002. This Currency convertor will help you keep
updated calculations. Occasionally French people will use old currency
terms in their conversation. In every day life "FF." are no longer available.
US Dollars are not accepted except in banks...
Here are prints of the different valid banknotes. Avoid to come with 200€ and 500€ banknotes, you may have difficulties to change them, except in banks.
Banknotes : the following notes are not used very often
Coins, reverse side :
Note : All these coins and banknotes are used in the 12 countries of the Euro Zone (among the 25 countries of the European Community) : Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
If the Euros banknotes and the reverse sides above of Euros coins are strickly the same for all the above countries, the head side of the coins are differents per country (enjoying the coins collectors). You may receive in France coins coming from Spain, Germany or everywhere else...
Attention :
Weather :
Weather is normally nice at the choosen time (end of June) ; not too hot but sunny. Wind may some time cool the air and the sea water which is typically cold. See the forecasts for the nearest town, Beziers or Sète
Sunny period : number of days with predominant sun
Source : Météo Consult, from Montpellier station.
Temperatures : average of temperatures maximum in °C.
Source : Association Climatologique de l'Hérault.
Translation :
You may run into French text browsing clubs pages or checking some other information related to our trip. For better understanding please use both of popular free translators. They work in different ways, comparing translated text by them will benefit you with better understanding... One is Babel Fish Translation by Alta Vista, company related to Systran. The other is Free Translator own by SDL International. You may find direct links at the end of each page :
To "Copy & Paste" text you need to "highlight" desired text by running the cursor over it, while holding left button of your "mouse".
Press "Ctrl + V" for paste. (make sure the chosen text appeared in the window)
Choose the desired language pair (example English to Spanish)
Click "Translate" (translation should open in the new window with both texts visible)
To compare translations :
Open translator by clicking on Free Translator.
Repeat above operation.
Units :
France is using metric system which in our humble opinion is superior to Imperial
System at least in one category :
"FIFTEEN CENTIMETERS SOUNDS MUCH, MUCH LONGER THAN SIX INCHES"...
You may familiarize yourselves with differences by
using one of the metric conversion pages
Jet-lag :
Outside of seven hours difference between France
and US Central Time (e.g. Chicago ), France is using twenty four hours
time table similar to "US Military Time" :
1:00 AM= 1h00, Noon = 12h00, 1:00 PM = 13h00, Midnight : they pass from 23H59 to 0h00, and so on
Telephone : how to use it ?
from the USA to call France : dial "011" then "33" then your number without the leading"0" (9 last numerals)
from France to the USA : dial "001" then your full number
from France to France : dial the full number with the 10 numerals, including the leading "0"
Voltage ? ATTENTION : the voltage in Europe is 220 V - 50 Hz
(240V in the UK...)
This is to say that the materials used in the USA, you could bring with you (hair blower, iron, rasor...), do not work and risks to burn if used without transformer.
On another hand, the power plugs are also different, but are now almost the same everywhere in Europe as "European standard" (except in the UK).
Note that a lot a equipement (like computers) have now a power transformer with a range going from 100V to 240V and from 50Hz to 60Hz... Do not forget to verify yours !
Driving in Europe and in France
First of all, automatic gears are considered as a luxury. Very few cars have automatic gears and if you want to rent a car with it, you have to mention it...
Then, there are few difference in the highway code :
we drive on the right side of the road, except in the UK where they drive left side
priority is RIGHT, except when you enter a round-about : let the car inside the round-about go before to enter
the traffic lights : the lights are located where you have to stop, sometimes it's difficult to see them ; the sequence is GREEN, then YELLOW, then RED, then GREEN, etc. No yellow between RED and GREEN.
it's not allowed to turn right at the red light, except if there is a blinking yellow arrow
halt sign : a STOP is a STOP ! The 4 stops like in the USA do not exist.
speed limits : attention, there are everywhere automatic controls with radars and cameras, especially on motorways ! These speed limits are the standard speed limits, superseded by any road-sign...
on the motorway : 130 km/h (81 m/h), but 110 km/h (68 m/h) when it rains
on highway (2x2 lanes) : 110 km/h (68 m/h), but 90 km/h (56 m/h) when it rains
on country roads : 90 km/h (56 m/h), but 70 km/h (43 m/h) when it rains
downtown : 50 km/h (31 m/h) maximum
Emergency calls
Dial only these numerals :
15 : for any urgent health problem. Your correspondant asks some questions and sends you help
17 : Police - for any problem relative to security
18 : Firemen - for any problem of fire or health
112 : this number is now used everywhere in Europe for calling help from a mobile phone. You do not need to know the PIN CODE, just power the phone and dial the 3 numerals. It replaces the 3 previous numbers, since Health, Police and Firemen are connected together
Contact numbers : each guest will have the mobile phone number of the organizers to contact them anytime in case of difficulty
Sunny period : number of days with predominant sun
Temperatures : average of temperatures maximum in °C.
