how to tour | self drive or driver-guide?

a tight squeeze parking our car (c) 2016 by David Ourisman, all rights reserved

We've been on the road for nine days now. After leaving Paris, we took the TGV to Avignon where we picked up our Renault rental. It has faithfully served us driving through the Luberon, the Gorges du Verdon, and down to Nice. We've dealt with rush hour traffic in Nice, narrow roads with hairpin turns up the mountains to Eze, and directions that didn't quite work out when, for instance, Waze would tell us to tournez à droit but darned if we could see a right turn. And then there's the stress of finding parking and squeezing a car into a tight space (such as the one pictured above).

So we realized today, after a one hour drive to Saint Paul du Vence that involved stop-and-go traffic in Nice and incredibly narrow streets in Saint Paul, that we're getting to the point of exhaustion. I'm not as young as I used to be!

The alternatives to a self-driving tour are to hire a driver-guide or to be part of an escorted group. Driver-guides are the ultimate way to go for luxury travel. An experienced driver knows the way, is comfortable with the narrow streets, and seems to be indefatigable. A great driver-guide adds so much to the enjoyment of a trip — and the appreciation you gain for the culture you're experiencing ... but they also help alleviate the tiredness that comes from nine days on the road, driving yourself.

How to find a great guide? Your travel advisor has access to trusted and vetted companies in the countries where you are traveling, one way to ensure you get the travel experience of your dreams. My best advice: book as early as possible as the best guides are always reserved first.

copyright  (c)  2016 by Ourisman Travel LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.

how to plan a trip to France

driving route from Cap Ferrat to Castellan, Menton and Monte Carlo

Planning a major trip is a pleasurable endeavor as anticipation is such a huge part of the joy of travel. At the same time, detailed planning can be complicated, time-consuming, and frustrating. Travelers are so very different in how they plan. Some prefer total spontaneity — they rent a car and drive off into the sunset with no reservations but only a sense of adventure — not recommended! Other travelers are totally structured, every day organized down to the hour with spreadsheets detailing each element of the trip.

How do I plan my own travel? The intent of this article is to describe what works for me. Here's the story of how I'm planning our upcoming trip to France.

Step one: grab that great fare (or those award tickets). Back in May, British Airways had a three day business class sale, and the deal was matched by other carriers. I grabbed a great fare I found on United, nonstops from SFO to CDG. The same tickets are 400% higher today, so I saved 75%!

On other occasions, I've found availability for Saver Awards and grabbed those seats with miles. Moral: if you hesitate, you lose.

Step two: grasp the big picture of your trip. I knew I wanted to visit Paris + Something Else, and I had 20 nights to play with. As I haven't been to the Riviera since 1969 and am frequently asked about hotels in that part of France, I knew I wanted to end the trip on the Riviera. My big question: where to spend the 7 nights between Paris and the Riviera?

Step three: research a broad, day-by-day itinerary. While many travelers prefer to do all the research themselves, I know from my work as a luxury travel advisor that you're typically better served by enlisting the support of local experts. I hired W Travel France, one of our preferred travel partners in France, to assist with itinerary suggestions. They recommended we focus on the Luberon area of Provence (where I'd never been) and helped me fill in the broad outline of my trip with a "first draft" itinerary. After a couple of back-and-forth emails, we had a full 20-page itinerary in hand.

Step four: book hotels and arrange your logistics. We reserved train tickets from Paris to Avignon, rented a car from Avignon to the Nice airport, booked our hotels, got our flight back to Paris, and booked our final night using Starwood points at the Sheraton CDG.

Step five: tweak the details and perfect the itinerary. Finally, I turned to Google Maps to familiarize myself with the trip and flesh it out. As I'm a very visual person, I find it very helpful to see everything graphically displayed. Google Maps, a powerful (though frustrating) tool, is one way to visualize each day of your trip.

There's a big difference between having a 20-page printed itinerary ... and seeing each of your 13 driving days on a map. Working off Google maps, we were able to fill in the details and add ideas and notes about what to see in the various villages. If we hear about a must-see attraction in the Luberon, our map will show the ideal day to include that village (if we have the time and energy).

And when we get there, Google maps will even provide spoken driving directions on my iPhone!

Step six: share your trip. I've provided the link to the two google maps of our driving tour of Southern France. Your feedback is welcome ... crowd-sourcing in action!

From Avignon to Aix-en-Provence

from Aix-en-Provence to Nice Airport

bonus: map of some recommended restaurants in Paris
... http://tinyurl.com/par-rest

copyright (c) 2016 by Ourisman Travel LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or

the best suitcase accessory | RISEgear Riser

my Riser, hanging in a closet, showing its stuff!

Have you seen the following ad on Facebook? It seemed to me to be an ingenious solution to a common problem for travelers. I am planning a trip to France this fall — a week in Paris (at three different hotels), five nights in Provence (at four different hotels at different locations in our tour of the Luberon), and two nights along the Riviera (at two different hotels), with a final night at the Sheraton Charles de Gaulle.

Facebook ad

That's a LOT of packing and unpacking. Having done this before, I know that my suitcase would be an impossible mess after my first hotel stay and will never get organized again unless I completely un-pack and re-pack at every hotel. So I decided to order the product and give it a try.

My observations about RISEgear:

(1) The Riser itself (pictured above) is absolutely fabulous. It has shelves for underwear and socks, shirts, and pants. There's room at the very top for shoes, and there's even a built-in "laundry hamper" in which to put your dirty clothes. When you get to the hotel, you just lift it out of your suitcase and hang the shelves in the closet in your room.

(2) I decided to return the Slider, the 21" suitcase into which the Riser fits perfectly. Why? It fits just as easily in my 22" Victorinex suitcase which has the added advantages of being expandable and having a built-in hanging suiter.

(3) While you can purchase this product on Amazon.com, the pricing is significantly better if you order through RiseGear itself... and here is an exclusive 20% off coupon valid through the end of August, 2016 — TRAVELHORIZONS20.

The proof is in the pudding, and I'll let my readers know my actual experience using my Riser in France this fall.

copyright (c) 2016 by David Ourisman LLC. All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.