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How long does it take a letter to travel from Paris to Los Angeles?

I'm making arrangements for my trip with a lovely French woman who doesn't use email. My French is okay, but gathering all information over the phone makes me nervous -- I'm afraid I'll write something down wrong and be stuck without the right info. After I write down my version, I'd like to ask her to write down a copy and mail it to me so I'll have a backup. It's January 25th, and my arrival date in Paris is February 29th. I just want to make sure that if she does mail me something, I'll get it in time! Can anyone advise? Thanks!

Posted by
1158 posts

It shouldn't take longer then a week.
An easier way is to email each other. fast and free :)

Posted by
390 posts

Anywhere from 1-2 weeks. When I lived in London, I would send b-day cards home about 10 business days in advance, just to be sure they arrived on time. Sometimes it would take 5 days, sometimes it would take two weeks. I'd send it in the next week if you're hoping for a reply before you leave.

Posted by
219 posts

She can Fedex the info to you; but it would be expensive. Does this woman have access to a fax machine? If she does---another alternative.

Posted by
9109 posts

I send and get a lot of overseas mail from both the UK and Australia. In my experience it should take no more than a week. Usually only a couple of days; yes I have received mail from Australia to New York in only two days. Make sure you ask for first-class air mail when you go to the post office. If you use the surface rate it may take 2 month,s as the letter will sit in a cargo ship for a very long time.

Posted by
2 posts

Thanks for the quick replies, everyone! It does sound like I've got plenty of time for her to mail me a reply /par avion/. Obviously, it would be nice if she did email, but she and her husband are older and despite their world-traveling ways, evidently they're not down with the high tech yet. (Maybe it's because they love antiquity -- I met them in Athens, where they told me they'd been there nine times and raved about the Acropolis. And now they're letting me use their Paris flat while they're in Rome. Rick is right - it pays to talk to strangers! :) )

Again, thank you so much - I couldn't find this info elsewhere on the web no matter how much I looked!