Help planning a French trip

Amy, To begin with, does your two week time frame include your travel days? You'll need the first and last days for the flights to and from France, leaving only 12-days for touring. I'd suggest spending at least three days (preferably four) in Paris, as there's a LOT to see and do. You'll be getting over jet lag for the first couple of days, so probably won't get as much touring done as you planned. With such a short time frame, I'm not sure that renting a car and just "stopping and staying right wherever the wind blows me" is the best idea. While that will allow you to get to smaller towns, it's not the most efficient method for such a short trip. Well planned travel via train would be a better method, perhaps with short term car rental to reach specific locations. Using open jaw flights would allow you to maximize your touring time. Flying inbound to Paris shouldn't be a problem, but you'll have to check for availability of flights for the return trip. As this is your first time out of the U.S., I would highly recommend pre-reading Europe Through The Back Door first, and then go through the France 2011 Guidebook for more specific ideas on places you might like to visit. Good luck with your planning!

Amy, Highly recommend "open jaw" trips! My usual is to fly into Paris and out of Frankfurt or Brussels. Another option is to fly into Paris and make your way to Zurich. Airfare is usually cheaper by doing these types of trips.
Another tip is to try and make your return leg non-stop direct to your "home" airport so you go through customs there and not have repack your goodies and gifts for another leg, not to mention trying to go through security with all that wine you bought at duty free! ; ) Have fun!

This sounds like a delightful plan. I do think it would benefit from some time with a guidebook, picking the things you most want to see and do. Taking Provence as a given, I'd say for the 2-week plan to make it the end of your road trip, either flying home from Marseilles or taking the TGV direct to Charles deGaulle for your flight home. (If you do the second of these, schedule an afternoon flight home.) In that case you could either visit Normandy and the Loire (rent a car to tour the area), then take the train to Provence (rent a car there too); or visit Burgundy (rent a car in Beaune) and drive to Provence. I'd suggest 3 days in Normandy, 2 in the Loire, and the balance in Provence, or 3 in Burgundy and another 2 days on the road and the balance in Provence. In both cases, another day or two in Paris would be very rewarding. Three weeks would give you a great deal more scope. I'd follow Burgundy-Provence and spend the last week in SW France (Carcasonne, the Lot and Dordogne valleys) flying home from Toulouse or Bordeaux, but many other things are possible. Just don't try to do too much. Best advice? Do some research and set your own priorities.

Thanks for the suggestions so far! I think I'll go for a month instead of 2-3 weeks. Has anyone rented a house or apartment in Provence for that length of stay? Also-what is "open jaw"?

We rented a place for a week in St. Remy years ago. With a car it was perfect. But I think there are many good choices if that is your situation. "Open jaw" just refers to an airplane ticket that flies into into place and out of another. It is often a logistically brilliant thing to do.

We rented a house in Provence for part of this April and May. We looked at gites de France, VRBO and French Connections for housing suggestions. There are a lot of them. Suggest you pick out a town or area and then look for places in those areas...otherwise it is overwhelming. We looked for a town on a train line, then for properties in that town. Here's hoping we didn't make a mistake! We are training as much as posible, but will also rent a car to reach towns not easily reached by bus or train. Hope you have a great trip.

Thanks everyone! How does one book an "open jaw" trip? Two one way tickets? Does it end up being less expensive that way?

When you're booking via one of the websites you are give the choice of one-way, round trip, or multi-city/destinations. Choose the latter; it's the same as open-jaw.

Amy - For rentals in Provence, you could also look at France Homestyle.

If you're considering touring in a car (and I recommend that you do, if you'd like to wander at will), I'd suggest looking at the "lease" option available through Renault (Eurodrive) and Peugeot (Eurolease.) I'll be doing the same thing in June, for the third time. It's a simply great way to see a country. Or several.