<p>I have some questions I would love to have help on....</p>
<p>1) Cell Phone. She was given a cell phone by a student who used it over there, but not sure if there is a sim card in it or not. How would she go about activating it? Can you purchase a sim card ahead of time?</p>
<p>2) Toiletries...should she get them here or wait until she gets over there?</p>
<p>I'm sure I will have some more!</p>
<p>You can look inside the phone and see if the sim card is there. Is it a pay-as-you-go phone. There are phone stores all over France where she can go to sign up for a plan or get a sim card if it does not have one.</p>
<p>She can take travel-size toiletries for the trip and buy anything she wants when she gets there. Obviously, all the French brands like Nivea/Garnier as well as a lot of Proctor & Gamble and other American brand products are available, as well as any American brands. I only ever take toothpaste because I've never found the brand I like. So if there are any other brands she's very partial to, she should take those.</p>
<p>My daughter is certain that it would be cheaper to get stuff here. She said that they don't sell "cheap" toiletries there. She will be in a smaller town near Normandy. It is cost and the value of the american dollar that she is concerned about.</p>
<p>Any suggestions would be stellar!</p>
<p>I don't have any experience with France, but I'm traveling abroad to London for the fall, and have found that exploring the websites of UK chain grocery stores has given me a pretty good idea of what I'll be paying for a lot of everyday things that I buy over there. You might look into finding the French equivalent.</p>
<p>yes, look at the web-site of somewhere like carrefour supermarket for prices.</p>
<p>Just be aware that the cost of overweight luggage is excessive. We paid $50 because D's luggage was five pounds overweight! And anything liquid is relatively heavy. Might your daughter be better served by taking another sweater from home instead of, say, shampoo and conditioner, which are relatively inexpensive even in France?</p>
<p>I would buy stuff here first. I ran out of my deodorant while I was there this summer and it was 4.50 euros (almost 7 dollars) for a new (tiny) one! Plus they only had the roll-on, which I don't like. I would bring a bar of soap as a convenience too instead of liquid body wash (the less big bottles in your suitcase the better, because they are heavy and take up alot of space too). Take your favorite shampoo too, since they do have some brands we have here but not all. Also, I would take at least some feminine products too. They have tampax and always and all that, but they too are way more expensive there than here.</p>
<p>She is taking back the hair dryer she bought, toothpaste and the $10 shampoo she got. For $10, she could find a decent shampoo there.....</p>
<p>yeah, good idea to take the hair dryer back. It'll fry over there (different voltage). She could take the toothpaste and shampoo if she has room. I recommend that she put them in smaller bottles to start herself off with (so she will have some with her and not have to go to the store right away after getting there, all jet lagged and not knowing much french yet, etc).</p>
<p>Luckily she is almost fluent in French and this will be her 3rd trip there. She is pretty confident. Only thing that makes her a little nervous is taking the Metro from the airport to the train station.</p>
<p>About taking the metro from the airport to the train station it is not difficult, I did it several times, it’s well indicated (especially if she arrives at Charles de Gaulle airport). It is not exactly Metro, its RER, something between train and metro. Since she is going to take a train, you might want to check if she can get one right there, they have a train station (if it is at the CDG airport). It is also important to know which is the train station (you can see your options at SNCF</a> : Voyage, Transports et Logistique ; they have an English version of the site, just click on the British flag).</p>