Navigo or Carnet?

This is just my personal opinion but in your place I would use a carnet of tickets for those first three days - a carnet is just 10 tickets so could be shared between you and your husband giving you both 5 trips on the metro which will probably be enough for 3 days, depending of course on what you are planning for those 3 days. When you return on Monday get a Navigo for that week.

I agree with Nancy 100%.

Oh great! I don't know why it didn't occur to me to share the carnet! Thanks so much to you both!

Anjali,

I also agree with Nancy in terms of getting 10 Metro tickets for the first 3.5 days. However, if you plan to travel anywhere outside of zone 1, such as going to the Versailles Castle or Disneyland Paris, then you may be better off buying the Navigo Découverte pass when you arrive on Thursday.
If you won't be going to the above mentioned places until you return to Paris for a week, then you can buy your ND pass on Friday (Nov. 24) for the following week. The weekly ND pass is valid from Monday morning till Sunday night. Bring a small 1" x 1.25" photo for each of you.

When my daughter & I were in Paris last year, I scanned our passport photo and decreased the size (prior to printing) then I cut the photo to the correct size.
Having the Navigo pass was the best, since we could ride on the Metro, the buses or the RER trains, and we didn't have to worry about keeping track of those small paper Metro tickets.

Enjoy your trip!

I also agree with the other. Buy a carnet when you arrive for your first days in Paris. Get the Navigo when you return. The Navigo begins on Monday.

If you plan to take the RER in from the airport then I would just get the ND for week one and then again for the second week. If you plan to take a taxi then the carnet will do especially if you don't have any out of town day trips during that period. The ND absolutely for the second week. The ND starts on Mondays not Sundays; it runs Monday -Sunday so would work Thurs to Sun for your first week.

You can set up and load your Navigo on Friday or Saturday before going to MSM, then you will be ready to hit the ground running game when you are back in Paris on Monday.

The carnet worked great for us.

I always get a carnet. That does not necessarily mean all ten tickets will be used by the time I depart from Paris. If not, the remaining tickets will be used the next time I return to Paris, the tickets have no time limit as to when to be used. much more convenient to have Metro tickets around on the next visit.

Fred

Carnet tickets do have a time limit now - I had some tickets refused in June for being too old. I think it's about twelve months.

That is interesting. I have used years old metro or RER tickets with no problems; if demagnetized then they always replaced them for free. Here is what the official French metro site says about this:

"Tickets purchased individually or in packages of 10 are permanently valid for single use and are issued without an expiration date. Consequently, they can always be used at a later date."

I don't know what went wrong for you, but it sounds like your old tickets should have been valid.

Hopefully not, I used in July Metro tickets that were more than a year old but looked brand new. No problems.

Priscilla, did you print your reduced passport photos on regular paper or on photo paper for use on your Navigo card?