Taxi Question for France

Paris: Maybe. Get your hotel to arrange one or else just ask them. Sunday mornings can get skimpy. Dinan: Taxis will be lurking around the station.

Ed, Thanks a million!

Unless you'll have a ton of luggage, take the Metro: Line 8 from Ecole Militaire to La Motte-Picquet-Grenelle and line 6 from there to Montparnasse-Bienvenue.

Tim, Thanks for info on the Metro. I'll write this down and have it with me for a Plan B. This is the first time ever that we're planning on splurging on taxis. My husband had a stroke 5 years ago. I'm trying to minimize the situations where we might have to carry our luggage up big flights of stairs. We'll each have a small suitcase and one significant size carryon. (We'll be able to manage in our hotels when there isn't an elevator.) I'm saving his stamina for sightseeing! He doesn't have the endurance he used to have so we're learning how to travel at a little more relaxed pace. I know there's not always a working escalator at Metros so I thought I'd keep things easy.

In that case, definitely have the hotel arrange one the day before. (Don't wait until the early Sunday morning to call.) They may also be able to call the taxi service in Dinan and arrange that one as well, so that it will be waiting when you arrive.

Thanks Angela, I didn't even think of the option of possibly having a taxi waiting for us in Dinan! I will ask in Paris if they can do that for us when we're arranging for the first taxi.

I pretty much disagree with both of Angela's points: Any hotel in the core area of Paris can have a taxi at it's door in twenty minutes, so if you screw up and forget you can do it the morning of departure - - but it's one more thing to do when you're trying to get out of Dodge. Plus, the small hotels might only have one person on the desk early in the day and they might be tied up doing other things. Take care of it the day prior. Have enough time that you can have them redo it if one doesn't show up (remote, but possible). I can't imagine that anybody working a hotel desk in Paris would have the least idea of the names or phone numbers of taxi companies in the rest of the country. Nor do I think the few people (one person?) at the desk would have time to work on the problem. Due to the cost of gas and just the way things are done, taxis don't wander around hoping to snag a fare. They wait at the taxi ranks. There's a taxi rank at every train station in the country, it seems. When a train is due in, more taxis show up. There ain't going to be a problem at Dinan.

Since your husband needs to conserve his energy, I'll withdraw my recommendation to take the Metro. As Angela said, have your hotel book a taxi for you the day before.

Ed, we're thinking alike. I've already written down on my itinerary to ask the hotel about arranging our Sun. taxi on Fri. Sat. we'll be heading out early to Versailles. Then when we get back in Sat. night I'll reconfirm with the hotel that the arrangements are still good. And I'm hopefully arranging our pick up with enough time in case something unexpected happens. I was doubtful that a hotel would call another city for us in thinking that there might be a toll fee involved in calling another area. Does anyone have a rough idea of how much travel time is involved from the Rue Cler area to Gare Montparnasse?

I can drive it in ten minutes on a Sunday - - if I don't dork up at Cambronne. A taxi might beat me by a couple of minutes.

Ed, you're a hoot! AND thanks for the info.

If you google "taxi Dinan" seven or nine, I forget exactly, are listed with phone numbers. In smaller towns they are all owner operated. Your hotel in either Paris or Dinan could call ahead for you. It would be a good idea in case one is off at a wedding, another is sick, four have already been booked by locals who called ahead...and so forth. Locals do call ahead and book.

The expert has spoken.

Actually I consider ALL of ya'll "the experts"! I've been following many of ya'lls various posts on many topics for MANY months. (Even on topics that don't apply to my trip but I get side-tracked with my adult ADD!) I've gotten many tips on many topics from everyone and have also enjoyed a chuckle or two! Bets, I will google the taxi info. Again, didn't think of that one. I had a phone number out of my RS book but that was it. Makes good sense that taxis in small towns would be privately owned and I hadn't thought of that. When we get closer to our leaving for the trip I'll also email our Dinan hotel (Bets, thanks for that idea) to see if they might be able to have a taxi to meet us from our train and if I don't get a response will see if I can arrange that on the Paris end. Again, I thought the Paris hotel wouldn't want to "mess with" our upcoming travel problems but maybe I'm wrong.

I googled Dinan taxis per Bets recommendation. Got some more names and phone numbers to take with me. But a thought came to me (fleeting tho that may be) that if prior arrangements are made to have a taxi waiting for us then most likely the meter will be running while they are waiting. So I'm taking a combination of all advice given. And if there aren't any taxis outside the station then one that I googled said they had a 7 day a week taxi stand by the post office. RS book gives walking directions into town that goes right by the Post. Sounds like it's only about a 10 min. walk that far (maybe less). And if it's raining surely there will be a pay phone in the train station to either call a taxi or call the hotel and ask them to call a taxi for us. So thanks again to all you travel gurus. Many heads are better than my one!

Last thought. You speak Frence as well as Bets does, right? :)

Ed, if I'm reading you right by your asking about my "speaking Frence" that's Bets' language skills are shall we say minimal? Let's just say it could get quite dangerous. I've been teaching myself some survival phrases but when I get tired you could get my smattering of Italian, Spanish and French all in the same sentence (with a Texas twang thrown in for good measure!) - - ha ha Never got past "Guten Morgen" in my German. Everything sounded like they were clearing phlem out of their throat. I've laughed that with our language skills we could get over there and start WWIII!!!

Ummmm.......boy, this is really, really tempting...........but I just ain't got the guts to try it. Damn, I wish I did, but it'd either be wild cackling or a nuclear pm from hell. What I was trying to say is that Bets' French is probably about as far from minimal as you can get.

Ed, Stay tuned to the World News in Sept. to see if I create any havoc - - ha ha

Just to respond to calling ahead for the taxiI have in fact had hotels in many places call ahead for me for any number of things, including taxis. Every time, they have been more than happy to do it, esp. in places where they know I don't speak the language (no fab French skills here!). Never even had anyone bat an eye. If I were travelling with someone who needed a little extra assistance, I most certainly would not leave it to chance on a Sunday morning, but would make sure things are lined up in advance. Seems less stressful to me.

My in-laws lived in a French town with limited service, smaller than Dinan. They always called ahead, and we still do to this day.
The meter won't be running, but you can have the person who calls verify.

Bets, first my apologies on reading Ed's post on your language skills the opposite way! And thank you and Angela both for posting again. I will try to make prior arrangements before our arrival, either thru our hotel in Paris, Dinan, or using our phone card to call ahead ourselves. But ya'll have also helped me in having some back up plans in case I need one. Thanks for the assurance that the meter won't be running if they get there too far ahead of our train and wait for us. I am doing my best to keep this as stress free as possible, trouble shoot as many things as I can think of . . . but we are also adaptable or we might as well stay home! Thanks again!