December is both an ending and a beginning.

The end of the year, yet our minds are moving ahead to the blank slate of the following year. L’année prochaine…

As you end this calendar year, your thoughts might already be on the trips you want to take next year or beyond. Doesn’t hurt to dream about it, since that’s the first step to going!

Oliver’s France will accompany you into the New Year

with bunches of new travel ideas and inspiration

as well as new books and resources to make your travels even better.

With that in mind, I have some ideas for you (as always!) Oliver’s France is your ad-free source of travel inspiration, but I also have a few products that might inspire your travels. I’ll start with a couple of NEW ones!

When you travel, it might be hard to keep all your details in one place. When I travel, I print out my train and hotel reservations, even if I have this info in my phone. For me, it’s crucial to have a backup, because I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had phone issues after landing in France (for various reasons, including my fault.) Thank goodness I had print copies. I also had a small notebook for observations and notes about each place.

How nice would it be to put everything in one spot?

One small easy-to-carry booklet that contains both?

 That’s why I wrote Planning and Making Memories: A Travel Journal. From now on, keep everything in one spot. Instead of fumbling in your phone every time you want to find your train departure time or seat number, grab your travel journal. It’s all there. And there’s space for your notes on the details you’ll soon forget once your trip is over.

More New Things!

This idea isn’t new, but there IS news. The online course, Real French for Travelers, is a great tool for learning basic travel French on your own timeline before your trip. But now you can also GIVE this course to someone else (whether for Christmas/Hannukah or just because you know they’d love it!)

Go to the course website and the link is right there if you want to give it to someone. They’ll get a notification of your gift and they’re on their way to learning travel French! (And if the full course seems too much, get one of the smaller versions.) Click the link to learn more and have a look at the full curriculum.

https://real-french-adventure.teachable.com/p/real-french-for-travelers

Helpful for Travel!

Why do I say these are helpful? They’re laid out differently than most travel books, in the most useful way possible. Some books even include full-blown itineraries for you!

These useful tools are available in either paperback or eBook. (Though paperbacks are easier to wrap and put a bow on! Or stuff into a stocking.)

• Magical Paris: Over 100 Things to Do Across Paris

• A French Garden: The Loire Valley

• Hit the Road in France: 9 Road Trip Itineraries Across France

• Real French for Travelers. The paperback version of the online course is a perfect take-along book full of travel vocabulary, whether you’ve gone through the course or not.

So, there you have it. Plenty of tools and ideas for your gift lift AND for your own travel ideas for next year. I hope I’ve inspired you to travel! I’m already planning my trip for next year. I plan to take the travel journal with me. (You may know I write practical books that are the guides I would have wanted to have!)

I wish you a blessed holiday season as this year draws to a close. May you experience hope as well as true joy at this unique time of year full of magic!

K. B. Oliver

and Oliver!