France is a nightmare

[Provenceinthesummer]

And you think it is bad in the U.K. come to France and see what a country on it’s knees really looks like.

We arrived hoping for a relaxing road trip and holiday. Every service station is littered with rubbish, most of them they have run out of food, loo paper and filthy tables and chairs so there is nowhere to even sit.

We finally arrive at a five star hotel to find out the restaurant is closed every day for three days - apparently the French F&B crisis is worse than ours! No chef, no waiting staff. They couldn’t even provide a basic room service menu. Every restaurant in the area also closes on the same days which was helpful.

Fawlty towers ensues as we try to meet basic needs of water and resort to the mini bar nuts for dinner. The gardens and pool are a mass of wasps and flies and the baking heat makes it an unbearable experience. I have never been to a hotel with no food anywhere in the world !!

Parched, starving and exhausted we check out the following day and find a hotel with food - all good apart from the fact there is no air conditioning and it’s 36c minimum here. It’s also rated five star apparently. Sleepless, exhausted and dizzy from the heat we drive in the car to ‘cool down’ and after a few miserable sweltering nights we decide to check out to next hotel - which promises great things like air conditioning and actual food only to find out the housekeepers are now non existent, all have covid. The number of people coughing and ill around the pool and in the hotel is alarming. The food is so bad it’s made me sick every night, kids are now refusing to eat anything else apart from crisps!

I haven’t slept for over a week - now facing a 12 hour grumpy drive home, I developed a severe sore throat and shakes overnight and it’s 39c! We have paid a fortune for this ‘ holiday’ and I can not wait to get home!! 🤨

Well that’s the hotel staff with covid and provably a few other guests too

Glad you are home safely OP. Didn't you take out holiday insurance? That should cover at least some of your holiday costs.

Personally I don’t like France as a holiday destination as I find the pace of everything too slow, particularly from the staff. Sounds like you have had an awful holiday!

Just out of interest, why not Provence in July/August? We were thinking of France next summer hols, has to be August, and was thinking of Provence.

Either that or Greece 😂

@Imissmoominmama Would you let me know the name please?

Sorry did you do the driving buts its him who's gone to bed with 2 unwell children around?

To be honest I think you were taking a risk going anywhere this year. Colleagues have gone to France and are due back tomorrow, so I'll find out if you've just had horrid bad luck, or whether it's a general trend. Hope you feel better soon.

Not sure what age the DCs are, but it sounds like you also just need to get to your bed, so if they're young get them asleep early and if they're old enough order in Dominoes and leave them to their own devices.

The laundry can wait for another few days

Personally, never been so laughed so much reading a thread like this, its comedy gold.

I mean, if it can go wrong, it has, no food, sleep, no data, no sarnies, roasting hot traffic chaos, restaurants shut, no staff, ferries packed, flights cancelled.... now we ve got screaming kids, we've all got Covid...

I m just waiting "just popped out for a Chinese and came back to house burnt down and forgot to renew insurance" and tomo "Both been made redundant and DH is having an affair....." probably with my sister/best friend or even better my brother.....

@AbreathofFrenchair
Provence in August is too hot and has too many tourists.
If it really has to be August I would suggest after August 15th when it will be slightly less crowded.

I've just realised how liberating it is to have decided to stay at home for July/august. We will be going UK only early Sept. I know that's no good with school age children but we are old gimmers now that DD is 19

We got back yesterday and experienced nothing of the sort. Were in Normandy, Loire, Dordogne then Vendée. Clean Aires and everything open everywhere. I think you were just unlucky. Dordogne in particular was just wonderful for markets and cafés. No 5* for us though with a teen, toddler and a baby!

Thank you, that's helpful. My annual leave is the last two weeks of August.

Not specific to France, but hotels are particularly tricky since things closed and (partially) reopened for COVID.

In France, hotels can legally claim a star rating for five years after it's been awarded. But as in many places in the world, features and services have been reduced or removed "temporarily" because of COVID. No room service, lack of an operating restaurant (in a larger hotel), no full service bar on the premesis, limited or no housekeeping, etc. would all prevent a hotel from receiving a five star rating, but they are all common in certain areas at certain times and no one's rating is supended, revoked, or changed. Even simple covid measures like emptying minibars or removing hair dryers from rooms would disqualify a lot of hotels from 5- or 4-star status.

Even hotels' own websites have misinformation, listing services that haven't been available in months or years and refusing to remove them as they may be reinstated at any time (LOL). I've taken to calling hotels before I book to make sure they actually have the services I need. There's no guarantee they will still have them when you arrive, but if they don't have them when I book I assume not. It's a hassle, but it's happening all over the place and seems likely to continue long-term.

Name changed for this.

I moved to France some 8 months ago after being widowed in order to be close to the small amount of family I have left. I speak reasonably fluent French.

I have met with nothing but kindness and tolerance from everyone I have dealt with, from dentists, to plumbers to doctors to car salespeople..... Everyone I have dealt with has gone out of their way to help me in any way they can.

And I am still in awe of how little litter there is here.

It hasn't been easy, it's a huge change but I am getting there and I don't want to see the French derided.

Go to Austria. You'll thank me

Have they also left the EU? Because every thing wrong with this country is because of brexit!!

@Sillybeagle we have eurocamped for years. They make for excellent holidays especially with young children.

My top tips:

• slow down and relax - for the time you are on the campsite nobody needs to do more than eat and sleep.
• aim to get to tourist sites or markets early, before 10am. You will have better parking and a more relaxed experience before the tour buses arrive.
• bring a knife sharpener - eurocamp sharp knives are always blunt.

Have a lovely time.

@Sillybeagle - you will love it!! My kids loved Our Eurocamp holidays so much that my eldest took a couple of years out after university to be a rep!

Hey - I have had the worst case of covid. Baking in my bed for days. What kind of fresh hell is this heatwave with covid. The heat friggin followed me home!
silly no need to worry, but it’s really better to be prepared and then you should be fine. Pack big picnics to take with you. Lots of water. Make sure you have roadside recovery cover for France and double check the regulations for driving. Stop as much as you, take a ball or rounders set and don’t rush the breaks. I am sure most hotels are holding up. We were unlucky. Have a brilliant time!

Cat rehomed herself with elderly neighbour 😅 and is twice the size! probably best place for her and not in this festering house atm. Kids are picking her up now.

France is not 'a nightmare' but I am sorry your indivudual holiday experience was.

Sounds great, where have you been/are you going?

My parents live In Provence, I go every year. They do live inland and we always have such a fantastic time... this year sadly my DD fractured her ankle but the experience in shops, restaurants etc was superb as always! Where in Provence were you? I got the train back to London and that was really pleasant too! Sounds like you had a really band run of luck, it's bloody frustrating when holidays are like that! Please don't let it put you off and if you want some other tips in Provence feel free to message me! I'd book a nice weekend break to cheer yourself up xxxx