We, a group of 4 (51, 55, 80, and 86) are traveling to France from Atlanta on May 14. Due to a late medical clearance for travel (my dad, 86, has AML), I am scrambling a little bit on planning. My original plan was to stay in Rouen on the evening of the 15th so that we could pick up a car on the 16th and head to Bayeux, with organized tours of the d-day sites on the 17th and 18th, and then a trip to MSM with overnight on the 19th. We would then grab the train from Rennes and either head into Paris for 4 day or train to Luxembourg to spend a few days in Bastogne before going to Paris. We fly back on the 28th from Paris.
I have reached out to several tours guides/companies that I found on the forum, including Overlord, Chris at Visitdday and Dale Booth. Chris and Dale are not available. We can do a one day Band of Brothers tour with Overlord, but the men in our group were hoping to do tours both days. Our dates do not work for a two day tour with Overlord and Overlord said that other one day tours they have available would have too much overlap. Has anyone taken tours from different tour groups that they think are complementary? I am not the history buff, so I am at a disadvantage in trying to figure out if two tours are really necessary or if the guys would appreciate more time to explore on their own and/or go to the museums in the area. Would appreciate any guidance from anyone who has more insight on the different things to see.
Also, would I be better off taking a train to Bayeux or Caen (and skipping Rouen all together) and getting a car there and then returning it there (I understand that there is a fee to return to a different location) after going to MSM. I came up with the Rouen to Rennes idea based on suggestions from the forum.
Additionally, it looks like the train to Luxembourg from Caen would be about 6 hours. It seems to me one long day of training might be better than training to Paris, spending 4 days there, training to Luxembourg and then training back to Paris for the night before our return flight. That said, it looks like we would have a couple of connections and I might be overestimating the ease of a six hour train ride and underestimating the benefits of splitting up the military legs of our tour. Any thoughts on option 1 (Normandy, Battle of the bulge, Paris) as compared to option 2 (Normandy, Paris, Battle of the bulge, Paris) would be appreciated.
Finally, I have booked Atmospheres Hotel in Paris and have reservations at both Hotel Les Villas d'Arromanches and Hotel de brunville in Bayeaux (I'm still waiting for actual confirmation from de brunville before cancelling Arromanches). If anyone has stayed at one of these hotels recently (I have searched for reviews on the forum) and has thoughts, would love to hear them.