Bonjour from Paris| Moved to Paris | Summer

August 27, 2022

Bonjour from Paris| Moved to Paris | Summer | 2025

Bonjour!

I know it's been long since I posted and now I am back with a surprise! We left Cayman Islands last year for the good and moved back to India for sometime. We spent few months with our family and then moved to Paris, France this summer. Nothing was planned in advance but I am glad that all happened smoothly considering it was a BIG move for us.

A lot has happened since we moved here. We had to find an apartment, get the resident permit , enrol in carte vitale(French Medicare System) and also get used to Bonjour three times a day :) I am sure it will take few more months for settling in but we are enjoying the ease of travel that this place has to offer.

I am all set to share with you how I travel within Europe and hopefully to help my followers by sharing few helpful tips that would reduce your effort of planning in advance. I managed to cover various places during long weekends here, yes I am working during weekdays 9 to 5.

European countries have a good work life balance when it comes to vacations. We have around 35 annual paid leaves plus 10 RTT which makes it 45 days of paid leaves in a year. One can easily plan their vacations in advance based on their choices. I have observed people with kids tend to take long breaks while others try to take short trips during long weekends thus making most of these leaves.

People usually go on vacations between July and September and later in Christmas breaks. Let me know if you are interested in knowing more or about the life in France or planning to move to Paris France. I can write a detailed blog on this topic.

During these four months in France , I managed to travel Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Nice and locally in Paris.

We are relying on the efficient public transport here and it is actually smart to use it instead of getting stuck in daily traffic.

The superfast trains are convenient and also pocket-friendly specially if you plan your travel in advance. I have used Thalys and TGV to travel to other European countries and was quite satisfied with them.

We use Navigo Pass to travel within Paris and it's French Government mandate to pay you back 50% of the price of this pass.

It costs 75 euros per month and you get reimbursement for 37.5 euros every month by your employer. You can use this pass in metro, bus and tram multiple times throughout month. You also have the option to purchase it for the year and get the reimbursement for whole year at once in your salary slip.

We are lucky that we shifted during hot months and days are also very long during this window. You can enjoy late evenings and plan lot of outdoor activities during summer. I was quite fascinated by the late sunsets here as I had never seen late night sunset in my life before.

There are lot of events happening everywhere in France during this time. People also spend time doing picnics in the parks. Every commmune in France has big park which is well maintained and open to public for certain hours in a day depending on monthly schedule.

I personally enjoy late evening walks in the park which is right across my building.

This chapter of my life in Paris is full of surprises in terms of completely new place, new weather, new language and new systems !

Do let me know if you enjoyed reading this post in the comments and let me know if you want to know anything in particular.

I also have a youtube channel where you can enjoy my travel vlogs.