Anyone else now going to France?

[Ridingthecrestofawave]

Just wanting a quick poll on what people's thoughts are about going to France with current lockdown relaxations? - Euro tunnel, caravan 2 x hotel stop offs en route with 2 DC's .....All facilities on sites open apparently but gel, masks etc needed. Wondering will it be empty? Hard work and weird to follow rules? What would you do? x

Interested to see that shopping can be ordered @1stMrsF for delivery: I've seen the click and collect places in France and checked out a local supermarket close to where we'll be (it's a Geant Casino), but I can't see information on availability of slots. Will certainly check this out - although mooching around a French supermarket is a part of my holiday I'll miss if so!

@stringbean I think it must be a fairly new service? Never seen it before this year. I only looked at Carrefour as that's where we usually shop so easy to get all our usual brands etc. We did need a French mobile number for which a friend obliged but are thinking that if it all works well I might get a PAYG sim in France for next time.

@Maladicta that's a good idea re local FB pages, thanks.

Where we're going it's masks while walking but not on actual beach while swimming/ sunbathing/ playing. Same in Spain I think. I wouldn't go if it was masks on beaches or if beaches closed during the day as that's the whole point of the holiday.

I can't imagine wearing masks to sunbathe or on the beach!

Think of the tan lines!

@1stMrsF

www.gouvernement.fr/info-coronavirus/carte-et-donnees

Thank you @doyounothavegoogle

Hi everyone, I have a question for anyone in France right now. Are restaurants etc taking cash or is everywhere card only? I'm planning to travel down to the Gers on Sunday and am wondering how many euros I might want to get out!

We’ve not seen anything where we are in the North prohibiting cash, we tend to use cards for most purposes except smaller items such as ice creams etc anyway. Looking at the main French government travel advice, there’s nothing mentioned about cash.

Cash is still fine in most places, although supermarkets do encourage you to use a card.

Many places have increased the limits for contactless which helps.

Weirdly, my hairdresser will no longer take card payments, only cash, just as well there is a cashpoint across the road (they are few and far between round these parts!).

I encountered a British tourist in a local bar last week who was telling me that he had brought loads of sterling with him and needed to change it. I suspect he still has a lot of sterling with him!

Thanks very much indeed. We often use cash in restaurants and did not want to end up with tons of left over Euros.

The sterling thing is just strangeI Why would you do that?!

We're off tomorrow. Fingers crossed it's all ok.

The sterling thing is just strange. Why would you do that?!

The bar owner repeated several times (in English) that the bill was 15 euros. He kept giving him a 10 and saying "no, no, that's OK". I had to tell him that he needed to pay 15...sigh.....

Although we are a tourist area, it is (quite rightly!) unusual for people working in bars/restaurants/markets to speak much English. I suspect he may be struggling to have a good time.

Wow. The place where I go is not a tourist area really. That's why it's so lovely!

And good luck to all travellers!

@Castoreum

The Gers is very lovely - we had a short break there last year.
Have a great time - it's very, very hot at the moment down here in the SW.

Thanks so much. I am sure we will. We come every year and fortunately have a swimming pool available to get into when it's too hot! It's actually pretty hot in London at the moment (and very sticky) so we are acclimatising ourselves.

I've got another question. Has anyone used the Intermarché click and collect service and is it good? How does it work? If I sent a non-French speaker to pick up an order would that work or not? And would you need the card you paid with to pick up or do you just need an order confirmation or similar? Trying to work out if I can get someone else who is arriving earlier to pick up an order or if I will need to go myself!

I usually just go to the supermarket but in the interests of socially responsible travelling I thought it might be best to minimise any contact with other human beings!

Never used click and collect so can't help you with that one.

Our local FB covid page has just published a link showing the places that have made mask wearing compulsory outdoors. The Gers looks fine but might be useful for others planning to come to France. (apologies for the long link!) :

www.francetvinfo.fr/sante/maladie/coronavirus/masques-sanitaires/carte-coronavirus-quelles-sont-les-villes-qui-imposent-le-port-du-masque-dans-les-rues-ou-sur-les-marches_4065159.html?

That's very helpful. Our region looks mask free at the moment but of it changes it might influence our decision to cancel. Of course that may be because Boris decides to lock us within the m25 🙄

Thanks anyway, @doyounothavegoogle!

I've never used Click and Collect in the UK so not really sure how it might work! We get delivery in the UK but do not fancy trying to explain how to find the extremely rural French house we are staying in to a delivery person. I've had to do it once before and it took hours and three phone calls for the delivery to arrive. And my French is good.

My aunt has just returned from thesame bit of the Gers and tells me most people in the local area are wearing masks.

Masks are obligatory indoors now and I haven't seen anyone not wearing one.

At outdoor events (such as night markets) you need to wear them when moving around/queuing for food. Compliance is pretty high and the Gendarmes do pass through to check. All very relaxed though. Some of our summer events have been cancelled, but most things are going ahead as long as everyone keeps to the rules. No dancing allowed though!

For anyone interested, I've just signed up with Intermarché Drive and it was very easy. Apparently you go along to the supermarket, press a button and identify yourself and they bring everything out to your car and then sanitise the button. So that all sounds splendid to me. Obviously some ability to speak French required but not that much.

The only thing you night need to say/understand, is with regards to substitutions.

Also our local town have made masks mandatory outdoors in the town centre, yet we are not on that map, from what I gather its6the same in many towns.

@LaChatte Exactly the same here (we are in the Var). No need for masks in cafes/restaurants but otherwise, there are lots of signs up and 100% compliance from what I can tell.

We have masks and will be wearing them anyway, so no problem there. And I think I will be in charge of the Drive business but that is fine. I'm used to being Communicator in Chief on holiday!