A Moment in Paris: E-Fluent Spot 5

Not long ago I mentioned that I was invited to Paris for E-Fluent Spot 5. Now that I have been there, I will tell you all about it! The last time that I was in Paris was a long time ago, although I did stop by when I travelled to France a few months ago but I didn’t stay in Paris, so this time was very special!

I was invited by the well-known magazine Parole De Mamans to come to Paris for 3 days along with 15 other bloggers from the UK. It was an honour for me to be part of this talented group of bloggers. They invited a total of 150 international bloggers which was something that I was super excited about! I have never been in an international blogger event like this so I was really looking forward to it!

DAY ONE

I was given Eurostar tickets thanks to Selectour Afat. I arrived at St Pancras in London and met with some of the UK Blogger Team that were also travelling on the Eurostar. There was Frances from Whinge Whinge Wine, who was going to be my roommate during our stay in Paris, Ciara from My Fussy Eater, Alison from Not Another Mummy Blog and Kay from Mummy Burgess. 

I had only met Frances before so I was a little bit nervous to meet the other bloggers but after I met them everything was great and we were all happy! Yay! We were given separate seats in different coaches, so I said goodbye and went to find my coach. It wasn’t my first time on the Eurostar but it was a different experience to my last journey because I was super lucky to travel before on business class. This time I travelled on a standard coach. It was actually interesting to compare both services and to be honest both were very good in their own ways.

When we arrived in Paris we met John from Dadbloguk who travelled via Eurostar too but we didn’t see each other in London. We were then taken to the beautiful and very well located Saint James Albany Hotel. We were greeted by Sophie on behalf of Parole de Mamans and given a nice goodie bag. We were asked to check in and get our room keys.

We were introduced to our translator, Alan who kindly took Frances and me to our room which was really nice. It was big with 2 big double beds. We were very excited to sleep there that night. After unpacking and getting all our clothes and accessories organised for the Dinner Gala at the Paris en Scène Dinner Cruise on the Seine River later that night, we were taken by Alan to have our hair and makeup done.

I told the lady doing my hair that I wanted curls and showed her my profile picture so she had an idea. Well, she did do LOTS of curls! I felt like Goldilocks, LOL! It was funny but  it actually went down and looked more natural.

After our hair was done we were taken to another room for our makeup. I love makeup so I was really looking forward to it. Karen from Mini Travellers and Laura from Tired Mummy of Two were already there having theirs done. The girl doing my makeup was amazing. She did a fantastic job. I really loved how my eyes looked!

With Frances

We then went back to the room to finish getting ready. I wore a blue dress that I bought from Asos and accessorised it with a nice necklace, earrings and bracelet set. I was wearing my super high black heels from Dune. I felt so tall, LOL! We then went to the Hotel Bar to meet with the rest of the UK team. We all had a drink and sat down for an hour catching up. It was lovely!

Left to right:  Phil , Aby, John, Laura (first row), Karen, Alison and Jo (2nd row)

We then went to the reception and waited there with the rest of the international bloggers for our coaches. There were about 3 of them. It was super cool. I loved the idea of getting all together in the coach and started feeling so excited about seeing the Eiffel Tower closer.

When we arrived we were mesmerised by the Eiffel Tower. It looked amazing, but what was even more amazing was that after about half an hour it started to flash. It was stunning! I was so happy to be there! I loved it! We went outside to capture the moment.

We had a lovely dinner and lots of drinks. The atmosphere was fantastic. I loved the fact that the music was very latin so I felt transported back to my roots in Peru with some of the music. People were dancing inbetween courses which was lots of fun. We also danced a little bit at the end.

After this, we were taken back to the hotel. We spent some time in one of the hotel rooms chatting about all blogging related topics! It was really nice to be able to talk about a topic that we were all so passionate about. After that, we headed back to our rooms and I was looking forward to a nice sleep.

DAY TWO

This was the day of E-Fluent Spot 5. We woke up early and got changed and ready for breakfast. We met the rest of the bloggers after breakfast in the lobby. We were taken to the venue via the metro so we walked from the hotel to the station. This was a really nice walk. The journey was straightforward and didn’t take long.

They chose the beautiful Le Carreau Du Temple as the venue, which was lovely. It was big but easy to walk around. This was a different experience for me as I have never been to an event like this before. It reminded me of the Baby Show or the Toy Fair. The idea was to go around and meet all the brands that were in different stands. Their aim was to put together important brands in the parenting sector to influence bloggers. It was really nice to be considered an influential blogger for the UK. I felt so proud!

During the day there were lots of activities to take part in as well as some speakers. We decided to crack on and go around meeting the brands. They were mostly focused on the French bloggers but they were very keen to exchange business cards. They promised to send our business cards to the UK Team so I thought that was nice.

I spoke with great brands like Kiddy, Dyson, Center Parcs, Baby Bjorn, Munchkin, and some new brands that were showing their new and innovative products such us Dodie which had a really nice perfume. I got one for my girls and it is really lovely!

They had some great food and drink laid on for us. We sat down for a bit to enjoy it and to have a little rest before we visited the remaining brands.

Phil, Kay, Frances, Ciara, Me & John

John was speaking in the afternoon so we all gathered to listen to him. After his speech we all decided to have a little break and have a drink outside the venue at a nearby cafe. We sat down for a few hours chatting, laughing and drinking some beers! 😉 It was a lot of fun. For me, this was one of my favourite moments. I’m not sure why but I think it must be because we all relaxed and just decided to have a great time and enjoy Paris without our kids! I think this was the key part of all, LOL!

Sarah-Jayne, Kay, Sophie from Parole Mamans, Ciara, John, Alison, Me & Karen

We then went back to the venue where they were having a DJ Party. People were dancing and having fun. We stayed for a little while but then some of us went back to the hotel. Sarah-Jayne from Keep Up with the Jones Family and I were starving so we decided to eat something at the restaurant of the hotel. The food was really nice and I loved my dessert! Guess what it was? Yes, you are right: creme brulee! It was really nice to get to know Sara-Jayne even more. After dinner, we each went back to our rooms for a well-deserved sleep!

DAY THREE

Our last day in Paris was a free day. We were allowed to do whatever we wanted until it was time to get our train back to London. I woke early and went downstairs for my last breakfast of the trip. I met Alison there. We had a nice chat and it was lovely to know more about her. She is lovely and she knows how to rock her colours! 😉

Kay, Ciara, Me, Alison & Frances

Ciaran and Frances met us after breakfast and we decided to have a walk around Paris. We thought that we should go outside the Louvre as we were in front of it. We couldn’t have a better location. We met Kay there too. This place was beautiful. I couldn’t stop taking lots of pictures.

We then walked around and had a look for a nice cafe to have some lunch. We found one that was lovely but very expensive but we said whatever, let’s do it. We don’t get to be in Paris every day, LOL! I had a delicious croque-monsieur with some chips.

We walked around more until it was time to go back to the hotel. We picked up our bags and  we were then taken to the station to get the Eurostar home. At this point, I was so ready to go back and see my girls and Nick. We managed to sit all together on the way back which was really nice. I was so tired and at the same time happy to see my family. I had a brilliant time in Paris so I would like to say a huge THANK YOU to Parole de Mamans for this amazing opportunity!

Have you heard of E-Fluent Spot? What do you think of the itinerary and the programme for the E-Fluent Spot 5 main day?

*Disclosure: I was invited to Paris for 3 days to attend the E-Fluent 5 Spot. They provided the travel, accommodation and the ticket for the purpose of this review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Thanks for stopping by,

Love you all ❤️

Franca  💋

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