u/FearlessTravels

I need to take the metro from Havre-Caumartin to Trocadero but none of the gates in the station work and the staff are waving passengers through. Obviously I know I’m going to Trocadero where I’m highly likely to be checked for having scanned my ticket as an obvious tourist. I took a photo of the broken gates and the agents all started screaming at me and saying that photography in the station isn’t allowed. I asked how I could prove that I had a valid ticket and they said there was nothing I could do, but I had to delete the photo. I then asked for their name and they screamed at me even more, so I just made a note of the time I was there. Is there anything a traveler can do to protect themselves from getting fined in that situation?

Update: Everyone seems to have a different opinion on this but to be very clear if you’re in Paris today your metro trip started at Havre-Caumartin around 11:30 am. 😉

A business in France wants to refund me for a botched aesthetic service (fortunately not permanent!) but I have since returned to Canada. I paid half online with my Canadian credit card through their website and half with the same card at the clinic. What would be the easiest way for them to issue a refund while protecting my credit card data? All I have are Canadian accounts (credit cards, banks, etc) or PayPal.

I arrived in Montpellier last night without knowing anything about the city. I did manage to get a pair of eclipse glasses thanks to a tip from another thread but now I’m looking for a place to watch the eclipse, without knowing anything about the layout of the city. I am staying near the Arc de Triomph and I have a transit pass but no car. Any recommendations would be much appreciated!

I will have two days in Paris at the end of my current trip (mid to late August). The person who has been watching my house asked me to bring back “a butter dish”. I assume she means the plate with the cover. Are there any stores where I might be able to shop an assortment in the €50 or less price range? I’ll be staying in the Latin Quarter and know the city well, I’m just pressed for time.

I checked into an Airbnb in France today and it’s been an absolute shitshow.

- They said arrival info would be sent 24 hours in advance. When it didn’t come at hour 18 I sent them a message and they said they’d changed it to ten minutes in advance without notice.
- They sent the wrong arrival information twice. I had to message them when I couldn’t get in and they sent the correct code on the third try.
- Upon arrival a random man in the street informed me the building door is broken an doesn’t close or lock
- When I got in the unit I found the washing machine full of water, beeping and displaying an error message
- There was a pile of dirt on the kitchen floor including dried pasta and coins
- For six nights I was given two bath towels, no hand towels, no dish towels and no bath mat to dry the bathroom floor
- I was given one roll of toilet paper
- There’s no garbage in the bathroom so I have to carry my used tampons through the bedroom and living room to the kitchen trash 🤢
- I found two gold rings beside the bathroom sink in a pile of dirty black sludge that got all over my hands when I picked them up
- The apartment sleeps four but has one water glass, one wine glass and one mug
- Dirty cutlery was mixed in with the clean cutlery
- The sheets were obviously clean but the duvet was in a pile on the floor with stains on the visible surface

They told me they would send someone to fix things but wouldn’t commit to a time. When she finally showed up she tried to fix the washer but ended up flooding the bathroom, and since there were no extra towels she took the dirty duvet and used it to soak up the water. She was not able to fix the washer so she said they’d call a technician. For tonight, no duvet on the bed, just a sheet.

Five hours after this debacle the host sent me a message that said, “Hi! Hope your check-in went smoothly. Is everything as expected? Are you comfortable in the space? We are of course available if you have any questions or needs during your stay.“

I wrote back and said, “Are you joking?” and they left me on read.

I am looking to retire in France or Spain in either 13.5 or 14 years - immediately after retiring. I will have a defined benefit pension plan and my investments, which are currently in RRSPs and TFSAs in WealthSimple. Having recently paid off my mortgage I now have more to invest and will look into expanding my portfolio as the RRSP and TFSA will max out fairly soon. I know that things could change in 13.5 to 14 years, but my understanding is that WealthSimple can't currently accommodate international account holders. When do I need to start thinking about moving my money so that I can still earn interest on (and maybe even continue adding to) my investments as a Canadian retiree living in Europe? Does anyone have any recommendations for fee-only financial planners that actually know their stuff (I've met with two accountants previously and both gave me inaccurate advice during our initial consults) or brokerages with low fees like WealthSimple that are easier to work with from abroad?

I need some portraits taken for my business. The nature of my business means that we’ll be outside in a busy urban area and the region is currently under a major heatwave (think Paris this week). Dates and locations are not flexible, unfortunately.

I’m a woman in my late thirties. I’d been debating between wearing a leopard-print maxi shirt dress and a knee-length black sleeveless dress as they’re both natural fibers and would keep the sun off most of my chest and legs. However, I’m now reading that both prints and solid black are a bad idea for portraits! I could also do linen pants with a t-shirt or tank but I’m really worried about sweat showing through the solid-color fabric (and the printed ones have the same issue as the leopard print dress!).

Any thoughts from people who do outdoor photos in the summer heat? Thanks!

I'm about two weeks out from my next trip so I'm currently:

• Breaking in my new sandals
• Trying to use up the food in my fridge and pantry
• Checking airport bus websites to see if there's a discount when booked online in advance
• Downloading the offline Google Map for my first destination

Is there anything unique you do to get ready a few days or weeks before you depart?

It looks like I will have one extra day in each of these cities in either July or August and I would love day trip recommendations by train (or frequent bus)! For context, on my last trip to the South of France I enjoyed day trips to Saint Remy de Provence, L'Isle sur la Sorgue, Uzes and Saint Paul de Vence - they were all big enough to keep me occupied for the better part of a day, had good lunch restaurants and relatively-frequent transportation connections. I'm also open to two smaller destinations in one day if it makes sense by train (A → B → C → A).

I will also be doing multi-night stays in Sete, Meze, Carcassonne, Beziers and Collioure so I don't need to visit them as day trips.

Merci beaucoup!

I paid off my RBC mortgage last week via a principal-only anniversary payment plus the amount of accrued interest plus more than enough to cover any interest that would accrue during processing. Before I made this payment I met in-person with a “mortgage specialist” who told me this was fine. I did this via online banking and it said it would take 2-5 business days (which have now passed).

On Monday my local branch manager called me and left a message asking if I’d made that payment intentionally, and to call her back. She did not leave a callback number.

I went in to the branch after work, which was fairly early in the afternoon, asked for her and confirmed that yes, I’d intended to make the payment and would like it processed. She said she’d take care of it.

That night she called me back and acted like she’d done me a big favor by only paying the mortgage amount owing, not the accrued interest. She said that the accrued interest would be taken off on my normal payment day later this month. This isn’t what I’d wanted (and it’s why I intentionally overpaid) but I didn’t feel like arguing so I accepted it.

It’s now Wednesday and I can see the money still hasn’t moved from my account to my mortgage, seven (or eight, depending on how you count) business days after trying to make this payment and two after confirming with the branch manager that I want this thing paid off.

Does this timeline sound normal? Do you think it’s worth going back to the branch?

Rosacea runs in my family and recently I was seeing signs of Type 2, like pustules and scaliness. I happened to be at the dermatologist for a mole check and I mentioned it. The doctor was VERY rushed and didn’t take any time to talk to me - he just wrote a prescription for metronidazole (Noritate), told his assistant to book me in for laser and walked out.

I started the metronidazole that day and within a week the pustules and scaliness were completely gone. Now it’s a month later and I just have a bit of slight redness in that spot. I’ll keep using the metronidazole but I’m wondering if I can realistically expect it to do anything more for the remaining redness or if it’s time to start laser.

Has anyone had the same experience of nearly immediate results from metronidazole? What happened next - eventual redness improvement or did the redness stick around?