I had researched all the ways to make this happen, and decided on a BlaBlaCars private shared ride.
BlaBlaCars is a popular European ride sharing service. We have used it twice before, once in Romania and once from Poland to Germany when we first picked up Max. Both times were good experiences.
This third time, also worked out perfectly. He picked us up right outside our hotel at 7:20am exactly on schedule. Driving a nice new Citroen C4.
The guy was a sales executive for Stellantis, the huge automotive conglomerate that owns Fiat, Citroen, and Peugeot among others. Interestingly, he manages the division that sells the chassis that is used by many motorhome manufacturers and he had been in Dusseldorf to attend the big motorhome show taking place right now. So we had some great conversation about campervans and motorhomes.
He speaks four languages. French, English, German, and Spanish. Amazing.
Unfortunately the drive looked like this most of the way.
Yesterday's drive, 471 kms (292 miles).
We picked up a 4th passenger on our way through Belgium and dropped him off 20 minutes north of the airport. Arrived at our hotel at five minutes past noon.
The ride cost €92 ($134 CAD, $99 USD) for the two of us which is less than half what it would have cost to take the train.
The B&B Hotel Paris Roissy CDG Aéroport is a typical cheap airport hotel. At €50 ($74 CAD, $55 USD) a night, we kept our expectations low. It was just okay, but it's only for one night and suited our needs.
Tiny room, but at least the bed was comfy.
Tiny bathroom. But then we are used to that!
The hotel is located on the outskirts of the town of Roissy de France which itself is located right beside the sprawling CDG airport.
In the evening, we went out to find some food, and somewhere to walk.
It's actually a pretty little town.
My guess is that because of the airport and hotels, the town gets a lot of revenue.
Town hall.
We found an Asian takeout place and shared a pad thai and a salad.
€18 ($26.60 CAD, $20 USD) total. Not great, but not bad.
Lots of pretty gardens in this town.
Beautiful traffic circle.
We found a public pathway that ran through the local golf course and did a 3 km walk.
There were a few of these huge slugs along the path.
About 5" long!
Our last sunset in Europe (for now!).
It's about 6 kms to our terminal, and not convenient for walking, so we've booked the hotel shuttle for 9:30am at €4 ($5.90 CAD, $4.40 USD) per person.
Our flight isn't until 1:10pm, so we'll be able to use a couple of our airport lounge passes and get some lunch.
And then onto our 7 hour flight with Air France to Ottawa, Canada where Ruth's brother will pick us up at the airport.
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Record low deal on this Macbook Air 13" Laptop.And in Canada...
I'll have to check out the ride share. Great idea!
ReplyDeleteIt is a really good option for getting around. We have used it three times and have had good experiences each time.
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