International Travel Tips and Tricks

[Brandon Babbit]

Hi all,

I'm mentally gearing up for a TV show as the A 2nd that will be traveling & shooting between NY and Paris. We will be shipping our personal gear/kits back and forth as we complete each leg of shooting. Production has us working with an air fright company to secure a carnet and guide us though the rules and regulations (IE: Battery shipment). I'm looking for general advice or any added tips and tricks that only an AC could offer about doing a multinational show. Does anyone have a reliable Carnet spreadsheet they use for their initial inventorying? Any tricks for making sure everything goes into the right case at the end of each leg? Anything to keep in mind about working in an unfamiliar foreign city? What helps keep you grounded during a long stay overseas? 

 

This is something that is going to be new to me  - very excited but I expect to learn a lot of things I didn't think of or expect. Any thoughts or advice is welcomed! Thank you in advance.

[Mark Dunn]

Learn French.

[Robin R Probyn]

Keep an eye on your gear in Paris ,  stuff gets stolen very quickly .  Great city ,but being rude to the customer , in any situation is part of the visitor experience .  Most people will speak English but pretend not to , be careful what you say.  The airport is way out of town . France is 220V / 50Hz. Safe shutter for flicker off tube lights will be 172.8  / 1/50th  . Learn the Carnet form ,its not that difficult , customs quite often make mistakes on dates or where they should sign , or even I had one keep the wrong page ,then it's a huge pain getting your money back at home base. Of all the worlds cities its not a bad one to be sent to.  The driving is pretty aggressive . It will be great don't worry .

[Joerg Polzfusz]

5 hours ago, Robin R Probyn said:

The airport is way out of town . … France is 220V / 50Hz.

FYI: Paris has got two major international airports: Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY). So there’s no simple „take me to the airport“. ?

And it’s 230V/50Hz (+/- 23V) in the EU (and hence also in Paris) since 2009. Not to mention that power plugs differ between France and the USA. ?

In the last ten years, Paris took some major steps in becoming more „environment friendly“. Hence, several streets have been turned into one-way-streets for cars - with the remaining space getting turned into two-way-bicycle-paths. Some streets have even been completely turned into „bicycle only“ areas. So keep an eye on bicyclists when leaving/entering a car - they are now everywhere and will always come from all directions. ? Despite this, Paris is still a single traffic jam from 7a.m. until 10p.m.. So always plan some extra time for commuting between hotel and studio/set.

Keep an eye on this website: 

https://www.cestlagreve.fr

In France, there‘s always someone on strike. ?


Good luck and have fun!

Edited November 29, 2023 by Joerg Polzfusz

[Robin R Probyn]

1 hour ago, Joerg Polzfusz said:

FYI: Paris has got two major international airports: Charles de Gaulle (CDG) and Orly (ORY). So there’s no simple „take me to the airport“. ?

And it’s 230V/50Hz (+/- 23V) in the EU (and hence also in Paris) since 2009. Not to mention that power plugs differ between France and the USA. ?

In the last ten years, Paris took some major steps in becoming more „environment friendly“. Hence, several streets have been turned into one-way-streets for cars - with the remaining space getting turned into two-way-bicycle-paths. Some streets have even been completely turned into „bicycle only“ areas. So keep an eye on bicyclists when leaving/entering a car - they are now everywhere and will always come from all directions. ? Despite this, Paris is still a single traffic jam from 7a.m. until 10p.m.. So always plan some extra time for commuting between hotel and studio/set.

Keep an eye on this website: 

https://www.cestlagreve.fr

In France, there‘s always someone on strike. ?


Good luck and have fun!

You might have flown from Germany to Orley in a smaller  plane , but pretty much  all the long haul flights from over seas will fly into Charles de Gaulle  , it's actually known as Paris CDG , but yes good call to check .   Always someone on strike ?  classic ! 

[Joerg Polzfusz]

Yes, 90% of the flights over the pond will start/land in CDG. But there are also exceptions like in the attachment image. (According to some other pages, it should be an A350-900)

[Robin R Probyn]

5 hours ago, Joerg Polzfusz said:

Yes, 90% of the flights over the pond will start/land in CDG. But there are also exceptions like in the attachment image. (According to some other pages, it should be an A350-900)

French Bee , wow never heard of that airline , I guess budget airlines cant afford  CDG landing fees or don't have slots to even land there , and go to Orley . All the usual suspects will be using CDG . If production was putting me on that airline I'd be worried ? 

[Lucas Quintana]

Color code your gear and cases. In a sense that blue goes with blue, red with red.

Keep your inventory and gear pics with you. And always take in and out pics when dropping off and receiving gear.

Add 2/3 hours before takeoff just to load and go through red tape!

Try to have fun.

 

[Michael Hammond]

You might want to put some hidden AirTags in your more expensive stuff. When I travel anywhere I do this just to be sure. Because, you know. Thankfully I haven't needed to use them yet.