France: Instructions for Use
Alison Culliford and Nan McElroy
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Titles in the “Instructions for Use” series are written by writers of Anglo origin who live in the countries they write about, so they are able to present their information through the eyes of learned outsiders. Longtime British travel writer Allison Culliford (author of Paris Revisited and Paris Night + Day) and Nan McElroy (author of Italy: Instructions for Use) teamed up to create this succinct, pocket-sized travel companion.
In it, they provide travelers with useful and up-to-date information on
- traveling by train, bus, car and boat (the various kinds of trains and buses and ticketing systems, traffic signs, routes, maps, service stations and gas purchases)
- using the telephone to call to or from France (the significance of the digits
- shopping, tipping, and shipping etiquette (types of shops, taxes, and shipping options)
- exchanging money and using credit (the Euro, credit cards, travelers checks)
- eating out (types of eateries, meal times, variations in hours)
With its small size, this guide will slip easily into a purse or pocket. Its clean design and color codes also make it easy to find information quickly, and tip call-outs stress particularly important information.
Throughout the title and especially in the appendix, the authors refer readers to websites and Planning Your Adventure, a free companion publication from
franceinstructions.com. This pdf guide provides material to consider before leaving home, such as timing the trip, packing efficiently, preventing jetlag, and pre-purchasing a cellular telephone.
Culliford and McElroy make a point to say that travelers to France should hone their French language skills before embarking on a trip. Even so, they provide word lists to accompany all of the topics they discuss. These will be useful to jar a user's memory of a needed term, yet because they do not include pronunciation key (except in a short section at the beginning of the book), travelers without a firm foundation in French phonetics will need to write their own phonetic spellings for these lists or take along an additional phrase book or electronic translator with a pronunciation function.
Good luck, and bon voyage!
Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Jeanne Lesinski, 2009
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