Points make Paris... TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 6/29 - Page 3 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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Nice photos and I remember your photos of it from a year or so ago and has changed quite a bit. Unfortunately, they had to do it because of what is going on with the migrants! Too bad you had a delay, but it's always something!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
The Eurotunnel is very interesting! I didn't know anything about it, so very cool to see how it works. From what I can gather, you are in your cars in a train? But it looks like you can get out of your cars and walk around?
That's exactly right. You drive in and you have walkways down either side of the cars where you can walk around. There are restrooms in the train, although they may not be in your carriage, so you'd have to walk to those.
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That barbed wire upon exit looks pretty scary and prison-like!
Nice photos and I remember your photos of it from a year or so ago and has changed quite a bit. Unfortunately, they had to do it because of what is going on with the migrants! Too bad you had a delay, but it's always something!
It has changed a lot and I understand why, but it's still very sad.
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They were doing many stories on public radio here about the situation in Calais, with the tent cities, and those hoping to make it to the UK. Such a tragic situation for all concerned. It certainly looks less than hospitable now....
They were doing many stories on public radio here about the situation in Calais, with the tent cities, and those hoping to make it to the UK. Such a tragic situation for all concerned. It certainly looks less than hospitable now....
I wasn't sure if the story had made it across the pond or not, as sometimes (she says trying to say it in the nicest possible way), the news in America can be very inward focused, although I think that situation has improved in recent years somewhere.
They certainly seem to have improved security a lot there from what we saw.
Friday 29 April – part four: enjoying the adult only spa!
We headed out on to the motorways with us still in convoy, Dave leading the way, with Tom behind him and us taking up the rear. That didn’t last long, as we decided to put our foot down, and head off. We were pleased that the sat nav was telling us we’d be arriving at 7:30pm, which worked for us.
We saw some lovely countryside…
… and even some bovine buddies!
However, the weather was changing. The skies ahead were looking ominous, and we saw a rainbow at one point, so we knew the rain couldn’t be that far off…
We eventually hit the rain about an hour and a quarter into our drive, which wasn’t too terrible, given the forecast had told us that we’d be in rain as soon as we set off…
Soon we were heading into the outskirts of Paris, and past Charles de Gaulle airport…
You always know you’re getting close when you see the signs!
Eventually, we were off the motorways, and as you can see, it was still raining:
The rain had come and gone, to be honest. Sometimes it was really heavy, other times quite light, and sometimes it stopped completely, so at least it wasn’t continuous. That’s something.
We found our hotel easily enough, but the next problem we had was parking and finding the entrance. Mark found on street parking near what we thought was the entrance, but when I walked up to the door, it clearly said that the entrance was on the other side of the hotel. Ok…
We went to drive around there, but found the underground car park. We pulled in, pressed the button, and I thought I heard something, but then nothing. Ok, now what?
We ended up reversing back out on to the road, and heading around to the entrance, where the woman on reception apologised profusely for not answering. Apparently there might be something wrong with the intercom.
I checked in and got our room key, which was also activated for the car park, and off we went. We found a parking space, and headed up to our room in the elevator. Wow, what an amazing room we had!
I couldn’t believe we had this little kitchenette area…
Mark was obviously very excited about the prospect of cooking!
… and we even had a balcony…
Look at how threatening the skies were!
I asked Mark what he wanted to do, and we eventually settled on heading down to the spa, as we wanted a bit of relaxation, so off we went. We found an elevator that took us straight down. We changed and ironically they had the same type of lockers in the changing rooms that they do on Disney Cruise Line. The woman started explaining what to do, and we were both like “yes, we know!”
We made our way into the pool area, and wow, it was superb! It’s adults only, one of the main appeals for staying here, and I can see why, as there is no way families with children would be able to fully appreciate this.
We floated around in the pool for a while, and I swam a little bit as well. I liked the fact that they had underwater lighting that changed colour, along with some massage jets underwater. Let’s just say swimming towards them was a heck of a challenge, and you certainly had to hang on to what you were wearing whenever you were close to them to preserve your modesty!
They also had a shower jet that you could use to massage your back or shoulders. My poor damaged right shoulder that I’m currently getting physiotherapy for really appreciated spending a fair bit of time underneath that!
After a while, we got out to explore. They had a hamman, which was lovely, complete with twinkling lights in the ceiling that changed colour. With the steam, they looked like stars floating high above you, which was very relaxing.
We were going to go into the sauna, but that was obviously where the action was, as it was packed. We headed into the hot tub instead, but it was a bit more like the tepid tub. We also had a couple in there who patently didn’t want to share, and took up as much space as they could. I gave in gracefully very shortly afterwards, and headed back into the pool instead… and swam a bit more, and enjoyed the massage jets, and shower jet.
Eventually, hunger drove us out of the pool, and we got changed, and headed into the bar. I glanced at the bar menu, and thought that looked fantastic. We got seats, and I went to pick up the food menu from the other table, and realised it said they only served from 10:00am to 7:00pm. I went to check at reception, and one guy told me it was fine, they served until 9:30pm, but then the others quickly corrected him, and no it was only available until 7:00pm. Ok, given it was past 9:00pm by now, that wasn’t going to work.
We decided to head back to the room, as a lot of the items on the menu in the bar were on the room service menu, albeit more expensive, but we both agreed that we wanted to just chill in the room and wait for our food, rather than be in the restaurant.
I went for the smoked salmon platter, blinis and sour cream, and given this was described as an appetiser, I was not expecting what turned up!
I ate it and was pretty full, which is just as well, given the selection of cheeses, and mixed salad I’d also ordered turned out to be this… hardly a selection, just one cheese, and I really didn’t like it at all. It’s unusual for me not to like cheese, so this was a huge disappointment…
Mark had the double cheeseburger with fries…
He said the bun was a bit dry, but the fries were very good, and I have to say they smelt good.
Was it worth doing? Oh my goodness, completely and utterly! We were just shattered and I don’t think going down to the restaurant would’ve been a good plan for us. I have to say I really loved this hotel, and I would happily come back here again.
The weather today was dry with some sun, but also some rain as well, and temperatures with a high in the high 40s. The best thing today was we were heading off for the weekend with family. The worst thing today was our train getting delayed. The funniest thing today was how excited Daisy was! Today we tried the Relais Spa And the result was we were very impressed with it! The most magical moment today was floating around in the pool at the spa.
Just getting caught up as I only found this last evening. What a great way to start your weekend--and I have to say, Mark looks a little scary with those pans he was holding....
Just getting caught up as I only found this last evening. What a great way to start your weekend--and I have to say, Mark looks a little scary with those pans he was holding....
I think with regard to world of he news here in the US, it depends on what your news sources are. NPR (public radio) tends to give a better world view.
Glad you made it into France and to your hotel safely! Great way to unwind after a long drive in the spa. You salmon appetizer looked quite . If that's the appetizer portion, I'm not sure I'd want to see and entree sized one! The cheese platter does not look good in any way and kind of looks gross! Looks like a great room you have!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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Too bad you had a delay, but it's always something! 
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Ok, now what? 
I gave in gracefully very shortly afterwards, and headed back into the pool instead… and swam a bit more, and enjoyed the massage jets, and shower jet. 
Alaskan Mom aka Bonnie
Great way to unwind after a long drive in the spa. You salmon appetizer looked quite 
. If that's the appetizer portion, I'm not sure I'd want to see and entree sized one! 
The cheese platter does not look good in any way and kind of looks gross! 
Looks like a great room you have! 
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