On my first trip to Paris, I was awed by the grace and beauty of the city, but arrived with no place to stay and was lost for several hours.  The trip details had been left to my traveling companion, a cousin who turned out to have more enthusiasm than experience with hotels in Paris.  We got off the plane to find that our reservations had gotten lost and we wandered for about five hours, trying to figure out where we were and locate a hotel.  After buying a guide and calling around, we did find a lovely inn, where we had a wonderful time.  I learned two things on that trip.  Paris is a spectacular city and never let anyone else make my travel arrangements.