Opinions and Advice Please!?

If your phone is unlocked, get a SIM. Our iPhones are locked so we always get the $40 a month Verizon into plan for all international travel. I ncpuage Family to text not call if they need to have immediate contact with you. Much cheaper.
Keep car and return to CDG or Paris, your choice depending on comfort level of where you return it.
We always bring our GPS with European map chip inserted. Why pay rental car company for something you own? Why wouldn’t you bring your own? Not large to put in carry on.
D Day beaches. There is excellent signage. We did a combination. We self drove to Canadian and British bases. Do not miss British beach and Museum. Amazing story. Our hotel arranged a small group tour of American beaches for us,6-7 in a van with guide- Omaha Beach, Pont du Hoc, St-Mere Iglese , etc. Tour was good but not necessary with a good guide book. My father fought there so I had a strong interest.

Driving: Bring your own GPS. Also have a paper map with you. Michelin maps are available at Barnes & Noble. If you've never been to Paris before I would strongly advise you to not drive in the city. Even if you have been there, why stress yourself out? Are you planning to go to Giverny? If you are, you might consider stopping there on your way back to Paris, then return the car at Orly. That would save you the train ride to go to Giverny another day.

Tours: not a food tour, but you might consider a Paris Greeter tour. About a week before you arrive you submit an application online. Then they try to match you up with a volunteer guide who will take you on a tour based on your interests. There's no requirement to accept their first proposal. There is no charge, but they do accept donations at the time of your request. The tour is only for you. The guides can't accept tips, but on the 3 tours I've done I always offer to buy the guide a drink or meal depending on the time of day. So far only one guide has accepted the offer. D-Day tours - we did our own thing because of the expense of paying for four people. If I get the opportunity to go back to Normandy someday I will do a tour. If you can afford it, I think it's money well spent. If you do a tour you should make your reservation ASAP.

I hope you and your mom have a fantastic trip!

A hint for saving a bit of cash when filling up your rental car is to fill up at large grocery stores that have a fueling island (such as Carrefour, Géant, Auchan, Intermarché, and E. Leclerc). I have a diesel VW and have found that the cost of diesel fuel can easily be 0.15 € per liter cheaper at a grocery store fueling spot than at a gas station on an Autoroute or major National highway. I suspect gasoline pricing would have a similar relationship.

Now, I'm not that big on going out of my way to save a few cents (or centimes) per unit on something, and I'm not sure if I would bother on a fill-up in the U.S. where I would buy perhaps 10 gallons of fuel at a time. But there are nearly 4 liters in a gallon, so a fill up of even a small car could easily involve 40 to 45 liters, meaning that 0.15 € per liter adds up to a recognizable savings of 6 euros or more.

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2. I would but check to see what the drop charge would be. If reasonable take the train.
3. Bring your own since you would know best how to operate it.
4. Get a guide. The beach area is massive - over 50 miles east to west and many miles deep.
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For 3 days in Normandy, you could read up on what's there and plan your self-drive itinerary instead of paying for a tour. Some of the tours are probably pretty good, but from what I saw when there, others are kind of using the pack-em-in philosophy.

One tip: when you park at the public parking lots near the beaches, use the ones with a barrier that prevents buses. In other words, park in the car lot, not the bus lot. Bus drivers seem very resentful if a car takes up a space in the bus lot, and they will block you in and not let you out until they're good and ready (this happened to us, as we didn't realize what the barrier meant).

Just how much do you expect to use your phone while traveling, and for what uses - GPS? data? text & email? emergencies?

I highly, highly recommend that you include a one-day van-tour of the D-Day sites in your Normandy time. Both Overlord and Dale Booth Tours get good reviews here. I used Overlord last year and the cost was 95 euros per person. I can't imagine trying to navigate to some of those places without a knowledgeable guide in the vehicle, and without the guide's explanation a lot of the sites look like...beaches. You will see and learn a great deal more if you take a tour, and I say that as someone who almost never takes tours.

One tip if you decide to use Overlord and take the standard US-focused tour: Our lunch break was at St-Mere-Eglise, which is also the location of the Airborne Museum. You pretty much have to choose between having a sit-down meal and seeing the museum. I opted for the museum, buying a sandwich at a bakery and wolfing it down while sitting on a bench. I could have saved a few minutes by taking some sort of lunch with me, which would have just about allowed me to see the entire museum without rushing. You aren't allowed to eat in the van.

The other things you might like to see in Normandy are readily accessible by car. You'll just need to read your guide book and decide where to spend your time.

So many wonderful opinions and lots of advice! Thank you all!

The idea for needing the phone was just for emergencies since we will be driving from Beaune to Mont St. Michel and that seems to be a lot of open road. I guess the price I'd pay for a data plan I could end up paying IF I had to make an emergency phone call... I could just risk it. I have never had issues when traveling before, but I never rented a car and driven across a country before (besides the US).

We will definitely bring our own GPS.

Still have not decided about where to drop off the car.. most likely Normandy or CDG, Maybe Orly like was suggested.

Seems 50/50 about whether we should do a tour of the D-day beaches or do it ourselves.

I love the Paris tour idea and I will definitely look into it!

I think the vote for a D-Day tour would not be 50-50 if you put that question in the title of the thread and more people responded. It appears to me that the folks saying a tour isn't necessary haven't actually taken one. No one is suggesting that you take a big-bus tour. I'm seldom this adamant about anything, but I think there are only a few justifications for trying to do the D-Day sites on your own:

• You simply can't afford a tour.
• You don't have time for a full-day tour (I have no experience with the half-day tours).
• One of your party is highly knowledgeable about the subject and has covered the ground before (i.e., you have a sort of built-in guide).

Otherwise, my attitude is that if you're interested enough to go up to Normandy to see the D-Day sites, you should do it right.

We did a private tour with our family, as we were 4 it wasn't terribly more expensive than the bus/van tours when added together. We got so much more information and was more efficient than going it alone. I would recommend a tour.

Regarding the idea of returning the car in Paris -- we did it ONCE (to Gare de l'Est) and my husband felt like he deserved a medal saying "I drove in Paris !" CDG/ORLY have better signage directing you to rental lots. And the train from Caen rides mainly ... sorry ... the train can be restful.

We have done three Paris by Mouth food tours and loved them all.

We have done three Paris by Mouth food tours and loved them all. As to the GPS, you will find it easier to get directions in English with your own.

We have done three Paris by Mouth food tours and loved them all. As to the GPS, you will be certain to get directions in English with your own.

Can you do a self guided tour of the beaches...yes. Should you do a self guided tour of the beaches....NO! I strongly suggest that you do a tour of the D-Day beaches, rather than attempting it yourself. A knowledgeable guide will provide you with valuable information, and they will tour the beaches in an efficient fashion. We hired a private guide, because it was a "bucket list" item. We did extensive reading before our trip, but our guide showed us things that we could not have learned just by studying beforehand. To us, it was worth every penny, however you would be able to take a group tour for less money. Once you've taken a tour and received a good overview, you can then explore on your own. This is one part of the trip where I would not pinch pennies.

It appears to me that the folks saying a tour isn't necessary haven't actually taken one.

Not necessarily so. My wife and I took a Rick Steves tour that included Normandy several years ago and the local guide we had for that portion of the visit was terrible. A superficial presentation riddled with clichés that anyone who has read a few books about Operation Overload could have done better. I don't recall the guy's name -- he was a Brit perhaps in his late 30s or early 40s. So, yes, with a good guide a visit might be enhanced. With a poor guide, I believe you'd be better off without one.

And -- unfortunately, I don't know if any good ones, though I'm certain others could suggest one.

As Suki said, get a SIM card. The Verizon International plan is terrible. You get 100 MB of data which can be used up very, very quickly just with photos for instance, and then they charge you $25 for each add’l 100 MB. Was looking at it last night with my very tech savvy son and he was dismayed by how bad it is.

Re: D-Day sites: Here's another very strong vote for DEFINITELY TAKE A TOUR. I've been to Bayeux/spent time in Normandy 5 times. The first time, back in '90s, I was with my brother and his wife. My brother and I were both interested and somewhat knowledgeable about D-Day, WWII and the area; my SIL had zero knowledge and tiny bit of interest. We joined a van tour for a full day tour >> I loved it and my brother AND SIL still say today that it was the highlight of our 2 week blitz of Europe. Recently I took my sister to France, her first trip abroad. The 4 days we spent in Bayeux, but particularly the full-day tour with Overlord Tours (Yannick was phenomenal tour guide; we did the combo Omaha Beach/Band of Brothers tour), were beyond special for her. 1 1/2 years later, she still tears up when talking about what we saw and learned; she considers it one of the best things she's ever done in her 56 years. I also rented a car for one day and did a driving tour the day after the tour with Overlord >> we were able to revisit certain spots (be at Omaha Beach when taps is played at end of day and flags are lowered) and go to some new ones.
Overlord's tours book up well in advance, so trying to book now might mean it's difficult to get a spot >> but please try! I promise you will love it. FWIW I had no GPS and had no problem navigating Normandy's roads with a good old paper map. If Overlord is unavailable, do a search here or on Trip Advisor: there are numerous highly regarded tour groups out of Bayeux.
Good luck and have a great trip!

I agree with everything Shelly said.
Done DDay sites on our own many times, then did a 1 day tour and got so much out of it. I did feel rushed at sites, so it was nice to go back to them the next day at our leisure.

It sounds like you are planning to pick up a rental car when you land at CDG after a transatlantic flight and then drive for several hours in an unfamiliar car on unknown roads with signage in French. It's much better to take a train to Burgundy (Dijon?), get a good night's sleep and rent a car the next day. Driving in a jetlagged, sleep-deprived state is equivalent to DUI.

Thank you! I will look look into booking a D-Day tour this weekend!

Yes, we are getting the car as soon as we land, but my mom sleeps the entire flight (always sleeps on all flights) and drives 8 hours a day for work on often unfamiliar roads so we shouldn’t have any issues. I thought about doing the train momentarily, but for two people that almost doubles the cost of the rental car, especially if we decide to train back from Normandy.

Riley,

One other point to mention is that it's highly advisable for each driver listed on the rental form to have an International Drivers Permit, which is used in conjunction with your home DL. These are easily available at any AAA /CAA office for a small fee, and are valid for one year.

Regarding your questions....

1. Using in international plan from Verizon will probably be the easiest option, but may not be the cheapest. If you need to be reachable from home, the international plan will be best. You'll need to check on whether the phones you're using will work in Europe. Some older CDMA models may not.
2. Not sure what to suggest on that.
3. Using your own GPS will be easiest, as you'll be familiar with the operation. You might want to make sure the maps are fairly up-to-date. I often also pack a paper map as well.
4. D-Day beaches - as others have mentioned, using one of the excellent tours will be far better than wandering about on your own. You'll learn far more and have a much more interesting experience with an outstanding guide. As you'll have a car, you'll have two options: (1.) Leave the car at the hotel and tour with one of the firms that provides shared space in a large van or (2.) Hire a guide that travels with you in the rental car. For that option you might have a look at http://www.visitdday.com/ . The guides know where all the main sites are, so travelling with a tour will also be the quickest and most efficient method. There's also an excellent WW-II Museum in Bayeux, as well as the famous Tapestry which describes a much earlier battle.
5. I've never done a food tour, but have certainly enjoyed some fine French food! The others have provided some suggestions on that.

1. A sim card in France. The US carriers international roaming is mostly a way to extract large sums from their customers. I've used an SFR card and an Orange card. They're each slightly different, the Orange might be the simpler plan to understand. Figure you will spend no more than 50 euro for your vacation if you're careful with data (WiFi is available almost everywhere).

2. I pick up the car when I need it and drop it when I no longer need it. I'd drop it in Normandy.

3. If you're picking up a SIM card, load an app on your smart phone and use that. I like CoPilot for western europe (maps cost $30, otherwise free to use). Turn off your data when you use it, it doesn't need it but will use some to refine your position if you don't turn it off.

4. I'd go with a guided tour, either full day or half day. They aren't very expensive and will make the trip more interesting.

5. Sorry, I've only done a free walking tour related to architecture with a local volunteer, now I can't remember the group. Perhaps you could get a food oriented tour from them? Otherwise, Paris Walks has tours (I don't think that's who I went with).

Brad, did you do a Paris Greeter tour?