Re: A serious error has occurred while loading
@Cwiczuk First of all, please try to start a new save in Sunset Valley to make sure the world loads at all. If you get another "serious error," stop here and let me know.
If that works fine, are you willing to add a few mods? I'd suggest NRaas ErrorTrap, Overwatch, MasterController, Traveler, and Register, all described here:
Traveler is the key here, but the others except for MasterController will clean up bad data and fix certain glitches that might be affecting the travel transition. They'll do this on their own, without need for user input. MC doesn't do anything at all unless you use it to issue a command. I'd strongly suggest running an MC town reset in France before leaving: click on the base camp's map tag and select NRaas > MC > Town Options > Reset Everything.
If this doesn't help, or you don't want to use mods, let me know. Please also open Documents > Electronic Arts > The Sims 3 > Saves > [your save name] and take a screenshot of the contents, and post that here.