Can anyone help us with our thought process? We are looking at a move to France for at least a couple of years, but are overwhelmed by the options. My husband has taken a three year secondment to Paris for work - he's been commuting from the UK so far, but it isn't working out for various reasons and we have decided to move to France as a family.
He is a long haul pilot so only travels to work 4 or 5 times a month - this means that we can live anywhere that is within 3 hours or so from Paris by train - basically most of France! Our two priorities are ease of commute (so not too far from a TVG line) and schools (3 children - 7, 5 and 6 months).
We have been looking at bilingual schools to make the move easier for the children, but we're not fixed on that plan and as it might be best just to go for a local French school and deal with the short term pain! (Though that then widens our options out almost indefinitely again!)
For me, I would like to be near some kind of expat community. I will carry on my work remotely from home, so am not restricted by that. Of course I will try to improve my French, but realistically it would be easier to make contact with other expats to start with and as my husband will be away for his work I would like to develop my own network as soon as I can. Also closer to Switzerland would be nice if possible as my sister and family are in Zurich.
As this is probably a short term move and the children are young we are thinking we should use it as an opportunity to have some fun - e.g. live near mountains, or somewhere beautiful - we've been looking at possibly Chambery for the Ombrosa school.
But does anyone have any brilliant suggestions that might help me of where we might consider?
Thank you so much for any ideas!!