A city that needs no introductions, only an image of its iconic symbol – the Tour de Eiffel. Paris, the elite European city that everyone dreams to visit. Paris always calls to those that listen, and for me it was time to once again visit this beautiful jewel.

I’ve had the opportunity to visit Paris five times over the years, and I still have yet to see all the city can offer. Three of those trips were short, two or three days at the most that barely allowed me to get to enjoy the city. This time I had a luxurious full week in gay Paris and I am excited to begin sharing with you the amazing and incredible adventure I had.

I hadn’t planned on a ‘big’ trip this year but the opportunity to share one of my top three favorite cities in the world that I know with my charming and beautiful high school graduate (step) granddaughter came up and who could say no to that? What I didn’t know until well into our trip was that she had dreamed of Paris since she was a little girl and had pictures of the Eiffel Tower in her childhood room.

When she first set her eyes on the Eiffel Tower she actually gasped with glee and her eyes filled with tears of a dream fulfilled.

There were a few travel tips that helped us on our first day on the trip. One of them is that we arrived quite early for our international flight and asked about some business class upgrades. We were able to upgrade to a first-class quality seat on Air France for a mere $400.00 each! Wow, we began our trip in style. No…I’m not spoiled rotten am I?

Next, trying to figure out where to stay was a big challenge as there are so many choices in the city. Using AirBnB, I found a perfect two-bedroom apartment near the Eiffel Tower that was just under $200.00 for a night. If you ever go, I highly recommend this flat as a home base for your Paris visit.

Transportation from the airport was my next question and it wasn’t a very easy one to answer. Yes, there are taxis, and yes there is the bus. But I didn’t want to wait in line for a taxi, nor walk a lot with the bus/metro service. Luckily, Paris has fixed the taxi cost to 55 Euro one way to the city center, and thanks to TripAdvisor, I discovered a private car service that charges the same rate as a taxi Easy Go Shuttle is a highly professional car service that is prompt and greeted us just outside of international customs with our name on a sign. Door to door service made it easy to get to our flat.

And we have arrived to Paris in style ready to take on the city. With our few French words that we knew we headed off to the Eiffel Tower after lunch for a pre-arranged “Skip-the-line” tour reserved through the official Paris Tourist Bureau website and the Paris PassLib ticket.

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Tomorrow join me for the stunning city views of Paris from the Eiffel Tower and learn more tips about how to get around Paris easily and in style.