Rob G

I used the new LD Lines service this weekend. I went to France on Friday night as a foot passenger and returned on Sunday evening with a car. Overall I was pretty impressed. Given that LD Lines only confirmed that they were taking on the route three weeks prior to going into service, I wasn't expecting much in the way of comfort etc. The ships has obviously been around a few years but is in very good condition, with several areas showing signs of recent refurbishment. Everything was spotlessly clean and there were plenty of friendly and helpful staff around. This is, I find, in marked contrast to P&O where they had realy let the state of the ships deteriorate in the last few months, to the point where everything had a decidedly tacky air. I got talking to one of the catering crew. he told me that LD Lines took on most of the Portuguese catering crew who were previously with P&O, and that LD pay them more money and treat them better. He reckons that LD are committed to increasing the number of sailings to at least two a day, as one a day will not meet the demand. As others have said, there are a number of areas of the ship that aren't yet operational, including the shop and various restaurants. By my reckoning, currently in operation are one bar, two cafe-bars and one restaurant. The other restaurants and shop are being prepared and should be opened during November. There's a large lounge with "standard seats" - I booked one of these but they're not that comfortable, and as there weren't many passengers there was no shortage of padded seats to crash out on elsewhere. I was looking this evening at booking a crossing at the end of November, and noticed that a club class lounge and wider range of cabins will be available then. The Potuguese chap told me that where the P&O ships had 350-400 cabines each, this one has 50-60. Pricing-wise, it looks very reasonable. Quote for a one-way crossing with car plus four passengers in late November was £130 including a four-berth cabin. Contrast this with Brittany Ferries, where the same thing is £181 without the cabin. I'm having to go Brittany Ferries for two reasons: I want a daytime crossing (easier with young kids) and we're taking a pet (LD aren't yet registered for this). All in all a good start to the service, I think, and as someone who will soon be living not far from Le Havre I shall be watching it with interest! Rob

We've now managed to get proof of vaccinations from our GP. They were very helpful and the practice nurse just printed them off and we collected them - no cost involved. Rob

Thanks Deimos - I've had a look at the telerabais website and it certainly looks almost too good to be true! We'll definitely be using this. Does anyone know of a really cheap way to call France from the UK? (My wife's parents would be especially glad if there is.) Thanks, Rob

Anyone....?

We're moving from the UK to Normandy at the end of November. I need to arrange telephone and internet access, and am wondering which supplier(s) we should go with. I would like ADSL (doesn't have to be mega fast but reasonably so), and we are also likely to be making quite a few calls to the UK too. I was wondering if there are suppliers who will do a phone package which includes special rates on overseas calls as well as ADSL at a good price? Or do I just have to treat the two as entirely separate? (By the way, I can't test our line to see whether it's degroupee or not as I don;t know the number yet - but according to the map shown on degrouptest.com, I think we should be in a zone degroupee. Also, I was wondering about how we get France Telecom to sort out the line for us. On their site it says that you have to go into an agence with proof of address before they'll give you a line. I was wondering if I'd be able to contact them in advance of our move and get them to set the line up starting from the date we move? (I already have a French bank account so no problem there.) Finally, if you are in a zone degroupee, do you always still have to pay the line rental to France Telecom, or are there suppliers who take over the line and do the whole lot? Thanks, Rob

Thanks for the detailed information. I've managed to getr the insurance sorted out using the address that we will be living in once we've moved. Just one question - what's a vignette? I thought this was the thing you had to have for road tax, which has now been abolished. Rob

In preparation for our move to France in a few weeks' time, we're going to be buying a French car next week. We've found it through some French friends of ours over there, and are arranging to send them the money to complete the purchase. I'll be going over the following weekend to collect it and bring it back to the UK. I understand that when you buy a second hand car in France you have a month to re-register the "carte grise" at a new address. Problem is, we won't complete our house purchase until after a month has gone by, so won't have a permanent address. What I do have is an "attestation" from the notaire confirming that we're in the process of buying the house - the insurance broker has accepted this for the car insurance. I'm wondering if the sous-prefecture where we'll be living will accept it for re-registering the carte grise? A further challenge is that even if they will accept it, I'm not going to have the opportunity to go to the sous-prefecture. Is the process of getting a new carte grise something that has to be done in person, or could our friends in France do this for us? I guess this could be trickly because we'll need to have the original carte grise with us in the UK (with the car). Thanks, Rob

Thanks Nick. I've already prodded the Agent and am going to give him a call tomorrow to chase him up again. I'm hoping we can get a bit more than two weeks' notice - that's not very much when you're moving overseas! Rob

We're in the process of buying in Normandy (76). We signed the compromis at the beginning of August - it included a date of 30th November which we were told was the latest date by which the "acte finale" would have to be signed. We now want/need to fix a date so that we can get the removal firm booked, I can arrange to finish work in the UK etc. Does anyone have anytips on how best to go about this? Does it depend mainly on the vendors, or the notaire, or what? If we negotiate through the agent immobilier and settle on a date, whose responsibility is it to check with the notaire that the proposed date is OK? And do we get anything in writing confirming the completion date? Thanks, Rob

We'll be moving to Normandy in November. We've read that schools will ask for confirmation of vaccinations. We have 2 kids aged 8 and 11. Do we need to get hold of something for this? While we're at it, is there any other documentation we'll need to take (health-related or otherwise) when we go to the Mairie to ask about registering the kids for school? Thanks, Rob

I'll be moving to Normandy in November - just outside Le Havre area. I want to install Sky - I have the dish and box. I'd prefer to get it installed by someone who knows what they're doing, rather than spend a lot of time faffing about with it myself. Does anyone know of a decent installer in this area? Also, any idea roughly how much I should expect to pay? Thanks, Rob

Thanks for the tips. I think Free To View is the answer for me. Just to double check, if I ring up and cancel my Sky subscription now: - Will I get to keep the equipment or will Sky demand it back? - Will I be able to receive the FTV channels as soon as I set it all up in France, or will I have to call them and somehow register the card? (By the time we move, the box and card will have been out of use for seom months.) Thanks, Rob

Having just read through this entire thread, I'm still a little confused about where I stand. We're moving to Normandy in November. We are existing Sky customers in the UK, paying a monthly subscription. However, we moved out of our house last month into rented accomodation where we don't have Sky installed. We continue to pay the subscription just to keep the account. When we move to France, we plan to get the dish reinstalled and start watching again from there, on the same subscription package as previously. If I've understood correctly, we should have no problem setting everything up in France and just sticking our existing viewing card in. If for some reason the service has been suspended due to lack of use, I should be able to call from a UK mobile to get it turned back on. Is my understanding correct? Two more questions, if I may: 1. I haven't come across the "Free to view" cards that are discussed in this thread. What are they, how do they work and how would I get one (if we decided not to continue with the subscription)? 2. Given that using Sky outside the UK is outside the terms and conditions, what about these businesses who claim to install Sky in France for new customers, and offer all the available monthly subscription packages? How do they do it? Thanks, Rob

Thanks for your replies. I think you've convinced us that we don't need to take copies our records with us. (Certainly not at £30-£50 per person!) However, one question remains. We've read that schools will ask for confirmation of vaccinations. We have 2 kids aged 7 and 10. Do we need to get hold of something for this? While we're at it, is there any other documentation we'll need to take (health-related or otherwise) when we go to the Mairie to ask about registering the kids for school? Thanks, Rob

I currently work full-time in the UK, and will shortly be moving over to France where I will also be working full-time (for a French company). I've read on this site quite a few posts about something called an E106, but haven't been able to work out exactly what it is or who needs it. What is it, do I need one, and if so what would it entitle me to? Thanks, Rob

We're moving from the UK to Normandy in a couple of months. We, and more importantly our kids, obviously have medical records held by our family doctor in the UK. Does anyone know what (if anything) we need to do about having our medical records available in France? (E.g. do we need to get them translated? Do we just ask our GP for copies of records to take with us?) Thanks, Rob

We're moving from the UK to Normandy in a couple of months. Anyone know if there are any regulations on moving houseplants and outdoor plants of various kinds from the UK to France? Thanks, Rob

We're moving to Normandy in a couple of months, and are arranging to buy a French LHD car over there in a few weeks' time. We'd like to go and collect it and bring it back over here, use it here for a few weeks and then move over to France with it in November. So I need an insurance policy that will cover it in the UK for the brief time that it'll be here (maybe a month or just over). Our existing UK insurance company will only insure UK-registered vehicles, so this is no good. Does anyone have any advice on the best way of doing this? I'd be quite happy to get a French policy which we can then continue with once we're living there, but I don't know if a French insurance company will give us cover before we've actually moved over? (As we won't yet have a verifiable French address.) Also, can anyone give us an idea of how much car insurance costs relative to UK prices? Finally, I've driven a company car in the Uk for the last five years with no claims. If I can get proof of this, will this be accepable to a French insurer as entitlement to a no claims "bonus"? Thanks, Rob

Another question on this. As I will be briefly visiting Paris this week, my latest idea was to simply open a sole account just in my name while I'm there. I phoned the lady at BNP who is opening the joint account for us, to ask her if we could change it to a sole one. She sounded quite put out and told me that this would be very difficult. She also said that, since the mortgage (which is not with BNP) is in joint names, the monnthly payments have to come from an account in joint names. This seems a strange and somewhat needless requirement to me, bu she insisted it is a legal requirement. Has anyone heard of this, or can confirm whether it really is a requirement? Thanks, Rob

We've just had a French mortgage agreed, and as part of the preparations for our move to Normany in November, the French mortgage provider has asked BNP Paribas to open an account for us. This seemed quite a good idea since I have a chunk of money I'm keen to transfer over there quickly, and will need to use to access to cover some expenses over the next few weeks. BNP Paribas have just e-mailed me to say that the account is open and the documents are on their way for us to sign. But they said that our signatures will have to be verified by their branch in London. It sounds very much like they expect us to physically present ourselves to their London branch to have our signatures authorised. In practical terms, this could be quite difficult for us. Is anyone aware of any way of opening a French account from the UK, without having to go through the rigmorol of going somewhere far away to get signatures checked? (Not particularly bothered which French bank the account is with.) Also, once the account is up and running and we have put some money into it, I'm going to need to be able to make some substantial purchases from the account, from the UK - e.g. to purchase a car. (Some friends in France will actually get the car for me - I'll just need to be able to send the money.) Is this a problem? Will there be a way for us to give an instruction to BNP (or other bank) to make a payment quickly without having to rely on the postal system (which seems to take forever to send stuff from the UK to France)? Thanks, Rob

We're in the process of buying a house in Normandy (76) and will be moving over there in due course. Our mortgage provider is arranging for a current account to be opened with BNP Paribas for the mortgage payments - they obviously have an arrangement with BNP for such situations. I need to decide whether to use BNP Paribas for all our day-to-banking once we move over, or whether to go for a different bank. I've had a quick browse through BNP's detailed tariff (accessed through their website), and as I suspected, there are all kinds of charges for all kinds of transactions. I was wondering whether anyone could advise me from experience which banks offer best value for money in terms of transaction charges? Also I noted that BNP Paribas are very strict when it comes to overdrafts - you can negotiate a facility allowing you to go overdrawn by a small amount but only by a limited number of days per month; if you go beyond this, you get hit with quite heavy charges. Is this approach common to all banks, or are there banks who offer a more flexible approach? If so, how do they compare on day-to-day transaction charges? Grateful for any useful advice or experience. Rob

We're due to complete on the purchase of our house in Normandy around November. We're trying to decide whether to convert ouyr personal stake into euros now, or whether to wait and see if the euro weakens any more against the pound. I think I've read somewhere that, if anything, the euro may strengthen slightly against the pound towards the end of the year. Does anyone have any information about this, or know of a good website with market information about euro/sterling exchange rate forecasts? Thanks, Rob

We're hoping to move to Normandy in the Autumn and will be in France for a few days beginning of August to view properties. Since we don't yet have a French bank account, we thought it might be worth taking the time to open one while we're over. This raises a couple of questions, though: 1. Can you open a French bank account without a French residential address? When I lived in France 13 years ago I seem to remember having to provide proof a French address. 2. If we want to open one while we're visiting, what documentation will we need to take with us? Thanks, Rob

Thanks for the tips. After haviong visits and quotes from 3 different firms, we've finally gone for Burke Bros. They seemed to be very professional, reasonably priced, flexible etc. We'll see. Rob

I've found lots of info on the DEFRA site about the pet passport scheme, but it's all based around requirements for animals entering the UK from other countries. I'd like to find out more about requirements for animals entering France from the UK. Does anyone know of a site which specifically covers this, in French or English? I've tried looking for a French government site which is equivalent to DEFRA, but haven't been able to find one. Thanks, Rob