Plan B

Only change you might consider is: rather than testing yourself every 3 days (seems an arbitrary number, no?), if you're willing to test regularly (and I agree that's a good idea), why not test daily? The tests are free (the boxes are piling up on my dining room table...if you don't have a stack of them, it's just because you're not asking for them), testing just takes a minute/results in 15, and gives you a reasonably valid snapshot update.

Testing daily isn't perfect, but it allows you to catch an early warning -- and, IMHO, it's a good daily reminder to yourself to continue taking the pandemic seriously (a reminder that many people could really benefit from) which can help you and those around you avoid getting COVID in the first place, and skip the dreaded unexpected vacation extension that most people seem exclusively focused on.

A test a day keeps the stress away (or at least greatly reduces it).

@David,
Testing daily will be ideal but my trip is 18 days long; so that would be a lot of home test kits to pack :)
I did order the first 4x2 free test kits (which will expire before my trip); plan to order the next 4x2 closer to departure date. I also plan to bring 3 BinaxNow with teleproctor test kits (which can't be opened until instructed); but I can unpack and condense down the free test kits which should help. Still that's a lot of stuff for my carry on if test daily.
But I will keep your suggestion in mind. Thanks!

Edit:
Change of heart, I'll take the test daily. A few people mentioned the test kit is much cheaper over there; I'll bring some and buy more when I get there.

Edit:
I probably should download a bunch of movies & TV series in my iPad; just in case.

Mindfulness, check online to see if the expiration dates of your test kits has been extended, which is true for many of them.

@kentchristine
You are right! Just checked mine online and the expiration date indeed has been extended by another 3 months!
I'm glad you pointed this out; thank you so much!

No problem -- we were getting ready to throw some away when we discovered this!

@Mindfulness A word of warning. If you are taking the proctored BinaxNOW tests with you, do not put them in your luggage. Carry them separately in a backpack or something where they won’t get crushed and become invalid. I put ours in our luggage and by the end of the trip the boxes were crushed and the seal broken so they were unusable for the proctored test. The gov’t issued tests can be taken out of the boxes and put in a ziploc baggie in your luggage. Just be sure to put them somewhere in the luggage where they won’t get damaged.

@Mary:
Very good point!!! I will put them in a plastic container for protection; and still pack in my carry on. Thanks for the advice!

Edit:
Just realized the BinaxNow box is huge! Maybe I'll bring just two with the second one as a spare :)

Or, you could just go and enjoy your trip and not test. Just take reasonable precautions. Take your Binax test the day before and if you test positive, try to make your own arrangements or just notify authorities and go to a Covid hotel.

if you can find yesterday's WSJ, there was a big article about this. it's behind a paywall but may eventually come out. As I recall, brings lots of test kits, money and a way to work if you need to work.

@Lulu348
The whole idea of doing a series of test is so one can kick start a '10-day isolation cycle'.
The sooner one can detect their infection and kick start the cycle, the less days one has to extend their stay beyond the planned trip or to avoid the need to rebook their return flight. This will also help to keep other tour members safe if one is asymptomatic.

Or like you say one just don't test until the day before return flight. This will work for those who don't need to return to work, or don't mind to extend their itinerary.

Edit:
I should point out here we are talking about detecting asymptomatic infection.

I had Covid last month in Portugal and had to learn everything while I was there.! You are smart to be doing your research now! The only other angle that came to mind is to buy the extra home tests while in France. In Portugal, the tests were 2.50 euro. I don't know if you can use them for the proctored tests (there are so many rules!) but you can always save the tests you know will be good for the proctored tests, if needed. Best of luck!

As for hotel to quarantine in - someone last year recommended Citidine to me. They have several locations in Paris at different price points. They are a sort of combo between apts and hotel. Most have either studio and one bedroom units. Amenities differ at each one but include reception desk, wifi, laundry room, gym, etc. We didn't end of needing it but felt it was a good option so we could purchase food to eat in vs restaurants or room servixe. And we'd have some support staff available if we needed help. We are planning to stay in their Barcelona hotel this fall. If we had to stay longer hopefully they'd have room.

@malloryg10
Sorry you had to go through all that. Yes, one can always buy the regular test kit locally; the official test kit with teleproctor has to be approved by FDA, so I'll bring the BinaxNow with eMED just to be on the safe side. One can also get the test at a local pharmacy; an alternative viable option that I might consider if the hotel wifi is too slow for telehealth video service.

@cj-traveler
I just looked up Citidine and indeed they have quite a few hotels at convenient locations; I like the one next to Chatelet Les Halles. The real concern is the late booking; the room rate could be very high or simply not available. I suppose one can take the precaution by booking a refundable hotel in case they need it; but it will be unfair to the hotel.

I want to thank everyone for helping to make my plan more robust; really appreciate all your inputs!
Have a great weekend!

I am hoping this link will allow access to the Wall Street Journal Article listed above.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/positive-covid-test-international-travel-flights-11654031367

Mindfulness, I agree if you HAVE to be back, then that is a different story. I don’t think we would have gone if any of our party was under that constraint. My husband brought his laptop, and my sons were concerned, I’m retired, but no one would have lost their jobs.

Mindfulness, thanks so much for this list of clear bullet points. I'm struggling with whether to make plans to go to Italy in the fall, and this helps me a lot. I think your approach makes sense. I think testing every other day would be best for me. Luckily, I don't have to worry about returning to work (retired), taking care of a house or pets, and worrying about others in my travel party (I usually travel alone and independently). I keep hoping the US will change its testing requirement to return, but at some point I will need to just go to Europe. It's been almost 4 years since I last went and I'm not getting any younger!

I stayed at the Citadines Tour Eiffel on Blvd de Grenelles six years ago.

The first room they gave me smelled of curry. The second room they gave me smelled of cooked fish. The third room they gave me was fine.

After two days, they told me I would have to change rooms because my room was having special maintenance done by an outside firm and I couldnt stay in the room. I had enough and told them I was checking out.

It turned out the "special maintenance" took 5 minutes and the guy doing the work was surprised they wanted me to move. The hotel said I could stay but by then I had made a reservation at another hotel and if I canceled I would have to pay for one night. I didn't blame the people at reception because management never told them what was being done.

The laundry room was one old washer and one old dryer. The entire hotel was in desperate need of renovation and upgrading.

I've heard other Citadines are better.

I agree with fairly frequent testing. I was in Paris for 2 weeks in April (with 3 days out for Colmar) and then in Belgium and Netherlands for another 2 weeks.

In Paris I started testing a few days after arrival because I was having dreadful allergy symptoms due to tree pollen so wanted to make sure it was not Covid. I tested every few days although no real schedule but made sure I tested on the day I was to meet up with forum friends who were headed out on a RS tour in a few days.

I self-tested the day my non-Rick Steves tour started although it was not required. I did it randomly until one of the tour members tested positive. I had continued to mask but most others including the ones who wound up testing positive did not. I started testing daily after that point but I had just enough test kits left to take me to the day before my return test and thought it wise to use them. (Shockingly everyone on the tour tested negative except these 2.)

As mentioned above the France test kits are very easy to obtain and are inexpensive. They are quite small, smaller even than the size of the boxes of tests I've been ordering from the government and WAY smaller than the Binax kits. I'd take a few self test kits to start with then just pop into a pharmacie and get some in Paris. I got the box of 5. I did have to look up on youtube how to use this test as my pathetic French was not up to deciphering the directions, lol.

We just returned from a trip to France. Had some at-home test kits with us so when Jim felt ill with fever, we were able to confirm it was Covid. We did have to extend our stay by a day - no one asks whether you have Covid. The airport hotels near CDG (we stayed at Ibis Styles, basic but nice breakfast buffet) usually have a lot of turnover and availability.

If you do feel the need to book for Plan B, be sure it’s cancellable or you’ll eat the cost if it’s not needed. The test kits we purchased in Sarlat were 1.90 euro each, very cheap. These are the same ones used by the airport pharmacy for our return flight (where, thankfully, hubby tested negative).

While the Binax might be more convenient (test in hotel room, and the result in the form of QR code will be automatically loaded into their NAVICA app); I have some concern about the hotel wifi speed and performing the test correctly.

Do people recommend getting the official test at the local phamarcy (just walk in, no appointment needed), or using the Binax home test with teleproctor?

Get the official test at the pharmacy. It’s so much easier than doing the BinaxNOW. We had a hard time figuring out which way we had to turn the IPad so the proctor could see what we were doing, (did figure it out but what a pain in the butt), had to set the IPad to not time out during the test period and add in the hassle of carrying the test everywhere you are going and protecting it from getting destroyed.

Carol now retired-That was a great article, thanks for posting. I had to subscribe to read it, and it was worth it! I had Covid last month in Portugal, so I'm all ears about other travel experiences.

@Pam, @courtney765, @malloryg10

In Portugal, the tests were 2.50 euro ...

The test kits we purchased in Sarlat were 1.90 euro each, very cheap ...

As mentioned above the France test kits are very easy to obtain and
are inexpensive. They are quite small ...

At first I thought '2.50 euro' was a typo until I read '1.90 euro' and 'inexpensive'.
One has to question how the big pharmas here justified charging similar test kit for x10 times more; maybe that's why their box has to be so big :)

@Carol now retired

Sorry I'm not able to open the link as I don't have subscription to WSJ. But I imagine it talks about needing to test frequently and plan ahead of time for the event of testing positive while abroad.

@Mary
Thanks for your recommendation; I likely will follow your advice and get the test at the pharmacy. I'll bring one Binax with me as a backup.