We’re ready! Got our flights booked and leased a car for the time we’re there.
Flights are on British Airways, Seattle – London, couple hours in Heathrow, then Heathrow – Paris. We’ll get in around 5 in the afternoon. Mary and Gilles will be there to meet us; we think they’ll bring a large delivery van to carry our luggage. British Airways allows one large suitcase each, and then charges $50 for the second large suitcase, which is much less than shipping a suitcase-sized box of stuff over ($180). So we’re going to have four big-as-allowed suitcases.
We are leasing a car from Renault. Renault, and other European auto companies, have a plan whereby you can do a short-term lease (at least 21 days); you get a brand-new car, fully-insured, for quite a good rate. It’s not a great deal if you’re staying for a shorter stay because the rate is high for the first 21 days, but after that, it’s $18 per day, fully insured. For our stay, that works out to be almost exactly $25 per day for the five months, and that is an unbeatable rate. Our car will be a Clio4 (you can see it at http://www.renault.fr/gamme-renault/mini-sites-vehicules/nouvelle-clio-IV/), which Gilles says is a new model, and a very nice car. It will get somewhere around 40 mpg, which will be just fine with us, as diesel is about $7 per gallon (regular gasoline is about $8). (Post-trip edit: diesel was about $7.50 per gallon, and our Clio4 got just a touch under 50 miles per gallon for the time we were there. We loved that car: it was a little sporty, handled like a sports car, was quite peppy, and bright red!)
And, it has GPS! That alone is worth the price!
So, we have a house, a car and airline tickets. Now we just have to learn French. Actually, we’ll be taking French lessons the first month we’re there; all we want is to have reasonable restaurant/train station/hotel capabilities; we’ll see…