5 TRAVEL AND PARIS TIPS

THAT YOU MAY NOT EVEN KNOW

As you could read here and here I drove through Paris for the past two days in the most luxurious Renault Clio (it's called the Initiale Paris).

Now, I have been to Paris more often than any other city in the world, but this time I was there with someone who has been working for Renault for 25 years and thus has been coming to Paris about six times a year for 25 years. Moreover, she has been working all that time with Parisian colleagues who whisper the good addresses to her. I was hanging on her lips because she told me all sorts of things that even I didn't know and that are super handy when you travel to Paris. So you probably don't know them either.

Forget Ladurée, go to Hermé

I must say that I found Ladurée a bit less cool since I have to struggle through three rows of Japanese tourists to order a box of macarons or chocolate-covered cat tongues, but I didn't know anything else. Now I know where the real Parisienne gets her macarons. At Hermé. Pierre Hermé to be precise. www.pierreherme.com. Tastier, more affordable, and something that nobody knows.

Tea from Mariage Frères

Here you buy tea in those cotton bags. Like you get in the most luxurious hotels. You can also buy loose tea, which is cheaper of course, but then you have to deal with a tea strainer and so on. It's a classic tea house, but they do keep up with the times. For example, they also sell Sexy Tea.

The KLM app

Okay, this has little to do with Paris, but this app makes traveling a lot easier. Download the free app, enter your Flying Blue number, and you're done. From now on, you won't have to deal with pulling boarding passes from that annoying machine at Schiphol while trying to fish your Flying Blue card out of your wallet with your wallet open, trying to retrieve your e-ticket number on your phone, and meanwhile protecting your luggage from greedy thieving scum. Now you have all your flight information in an app and it tells you well in advance that you are flying. Super handy for theslightly chaotic among us.

The sneaky customs

This is also a tip you will enjoy more often. Do you know that feeling? You arrive at Schiphol, everything goes smoothly until you have to go through customs behind the baggage claim. There are crowds and crowds of people. Who also don't all smell very fresh anymore. Then look all the way to the left in the corner. Yes, no really all the way to the back left. Do you see that green sign that says ‘Nothing to declare’ on it? Well, there you go. Walk over there and you save yourself ten minutes of hassle.

The restaurant that nobody knows

Of course, Café de Flore is great, but even there the Ladurée danger creeps in. With a bit of bad luck, you sit next to two crazy Japanese who don't talk to each other, display three guides about Paris on the table, push their backpack against your feet, and only photograph their croissant from seven angles. Not very left bank, I must say. So where should we go for the real Paris where it's also cool? Janet knows. Restaurant Kong, above la Samaritaine. Georges at the Centre Pompidou (you know, where Carrie met Alexandr Petrovsky's ex), café Francais and Frenchie restaurant.

When are we going?