f I were to suddenly announce to Doris that we had tickets for Europe and were leaving in two days she would be excited but a bit disappointed. Planning the trip is a big part of the fun!

Fresh from our trip to Italy in 2000 the group of 12 from that trip met in Sacramento for a de-briefing party. About half of the group wanted to return to Italy. The rest were game for a new experience building on the experience. The fall out was that six of us settled on trying France in 2001.

The phone calls and meetings began to take place. Computers were fired up and Google almost became our home page.

Planning means different things to different folks.

Some people are comfortable calling their travel agent and booking a bus tour. That is the easy way. Nothing to think about. They pick you up at the airport, pick your hotels, pick your restaurants and pick the sites you will see. Along the way you will have a running comment about what you are seeing. We don't travel that way. We think you need to meet real people and eat in some place other than bus stops.

WHAT WE DO

Find a place: Our conferences established that we wanted to try a house rental in the south of France--someplace that was not a main tourist destination. That pointed us towards the Provence but outside of the mainstream area. Doris, Lori & Thom fired up the computers and started looking. As the search matured we found ourselves looking in the area of Languedoc. West of the Provence but full of interesting locations. Eventually Thom and Lori joined Doris and Jerry for an evening of dueling computers (we have two and broadband) to settle on a location. We picked Cesseras. The house was large enough for eight folks - four couples. It is a must to have more beds than you need. Often a couple of bunks will not be acceptable to any but the most hardy traveler.

As you search the web for house rentals you will find many good sites. We liked Gite.com. They seemed to have house in our price range and showed lots of interior pictures so that we could judge the quality. A good selection of interior photographs is very important. We don't want any surprises when it comes to where we will be sleeping for a week or so. We skip over sites that do not have interior shots.

The house we picked is now listed on another site that is also very good - HolidayFranceRentals.com . As you will see when you visit our Cesseras pages we made a very good choice. It passed the test of "Exceeded our Expectations."

Research, Research, Research: Of course we have already done some in order to select the area for the house. But, once you have the location established, it is time to dig in and plan out your time. There is much to see in do anytime you go to a new area. Too much, actually. So you must research to pick out the most appealing adventures.

The web offers outstanding sources for materials, but I guess we also spent a couple of hundred dollars on various guidebooks. Here are some of the places we looked.

Rick Steves is from our local area and has a travel show on public television. He does an outstanding job of providing an overview of all of Europe. His site and guide books are full of useful information and good travel ideas, tips and suggestions.

Check out his France specific information.

His site also has what he calls a Graffiti Wall where visitors can post their own experiences and tip. This is really helpful because you are getting information from real people instead of some travel agent's idea of what to do. Often you will find specific names for tours, taxi drivers and especially good value restaurants and hotels. The Graffiti Wall has all kinds of information from what kind of shoes have proven comfortable to where the best pot smoking places are in Amsterdam. (Not that there is anything wrong with that - well, yes there is lots wrong with that.). Click here to visit his Graffiti pages.

International Travel News (ITN) is a newsprint monthly magazine about travel. Nothing glossy here. In ITN you will find a hoard of information. Much of it is like Rick Steve's Graffiti Wall - real reviews from real people. In fact, Rick has a monthly column in ITN.

This magazine has everything. Hotels, cafes, what to do, what not to do, good experiences, bad experiences and more. And, all from the folks who have been there and are not trying to sell you something. All of this for only $18 a year. Twice a year they provide an index of all the articles by area. It makes research real easy. Check out their web site.

Travel Guides

You will find travel guides to about any area you can imagine. Someone has been there before you and written a book. It is a big industry. Unless we know the content, we do not buy these over the internet. Go to the book store and browse. Some are written for rich people, some for poor. Find the books that cover the things you find of interest. We have had good luck with books from Thomas Cook, Fodor's, Frommers and Rick Steves.

There are a couple of publishers that are a must. The Dorling Kindersley "Eyewitness Travel Guides" are outstanding. Buy one for the area you plan to visit. You will get your money's worth. (See the pictures at the top of this page.)

If you are going to France, you must have the Michelin Red Guide for France. THE RED GUIDE features hotel and restaurant recommendations. It highlights fine dining with the renowned Michelin stars (one to three) as well as offers suggestions for local cafes and authentic local cuisine, coined "Bib Gourmand." Updated annually, the guides utilize internationally recognized symbols with explanations in English. The 2001 edition lists 4,067 hotels and 3,135 restaurants including 3 three-star restaurants, 19 two-star restaurants, 187 one-star restaurants, 170 Bib Gourmand's, 905 restaurants with inexpensive meals.

Anything with the name Michelin is well thought out and offers practical advice and information. This book is no exception to that rule. If there is a "Bib Gourmand" in your area, do not miss it. You will have an outstanding meal at a reasonable price. This book is also available as a program for a Palm Pilot, but it is so large a file that it is difficult to search.

Maps: What can I say. You need maps. You are going to France. Buy Michelin maps. Buy a big one that covers all the areas you plan to visit. and local area maps for where you will explore. France has lots of small roads with interesting sights. You need a large scale map to find them.

One of the great things about France is the food. But, the menus are in French and some of the dishes like cervelle (brains) and becasse (woodcock) are outside of the normal American diet. A book like the Marling Menu-Master will help you decipher the menus.

Other Travelers: Among the best sources of information are friends, family and acquaintances who have been there before you. In our case we had the great fortune to know a true Francophile, Herb Johnson. Herb has been going to France almost every year since his college days at the Sorbonne. Herb pointed us to great hotels, restaurants and sights that we would have never found any other way. So, tell everyone you are going to France. Most folks who have been there will be delighted to pass on whatever special knowledge they possess. Shortly before our trip Herb and Joyce came to our home for dinner and provided a wealth of information. We later met up with them in Paris. More about that on the Paris pages.

Transport: Of course planning also means such mundane things as airlines, car rentals, trains, etc. that is next.

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