Destination: France
An Aging Continent Grapples With Immigration
by Rick Steves | 08.20.09 | 10:56 AM ET
Exploring Europe, exploring travel as a political act
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Yahoo! BuzzWhy Are There no Moving Sidewalks in New York City?
by Michael Yessis | 08.12.09 | 12:30 PM ET
It’s not as bizarre of a question as you may think. Paul Collins looks at plans for moving walkways—the “endless-travelling sidewalk,” in the words of one inventor—in New York and other world cities that never came to be. (Via Kottke)
Travel Movie Watch: ‘The Tourist’
by Eva Holland | 08.04.09 | 3:18 PM ET
The French thriller Anthony Zimmer is being remixed for English speakers as “The Tourist,” starring Charlize Theron and Sam Worthington. Theron will play an agent who seduces an unwitting American tourist in order to lure a criminal mastermind out of hiding, while Worthington will play either the tourist or the agent’s dastardly quarry—either way, if the trailer for the original is anything to go by, there will be plenty of intrigue on TGV trains and other French eye candy for armchair travelers. The movie is due out in late 2010.
Here’s that original trailer, un-subtitled I’m afraid:
Moon-Gazing Around the Globe
by Alicia Imbody | 08.03.09 | 10:32 AM ET
From Puebla to Paris, 12 photos by moonstruck world travelers
See the full photo slideshow »
Travel Movie Watch: ‘Julie and Julia’
by Eva Holland | 07.21.09 | 2:19 PM ET
Here’s a promising one. “Julie and Julia” tells the story of Julia Child’s years as a Parisian expat, when she first tackled French cuisine, alongside the story of New York City blogger Julie Powell, who spent a year attempting every recipe in Child’s classic, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” Meryl Streep plays Child—who was recently included in our list of ten inspirational women travelers—while Amy Adams takes on Powell. On top of the promising cast, Nora Ephron wrote and directed—cue the jokes about a recipe for success.
The Plight of the Paris Bouquinistes
by Michael Yessis | 07.15.09 | 3:16 PM ET
Times are tough for the booksellers along the Seine. Mildrade Cherfils writes in GlobalPost:
For centuries, used booksellers, with their unmistakable dark green boxes perched along the banks of the Seine River, have been charming and permanent fixtures of Parisian life.
Or as Christian Nabet put it, “we’re part of the scenery.” And that’s partly a problem, as he sees it.
“Look,” Nabet said, pointing toward a sizeable group of tourists who wandered past his stall with hardly a notice of the classic titles, which he has been selling in the same spot for about a decade. We’re “a little like the animals at the zoo.”
Parisians Promise to be Nicer to Tourists ... Again
by Alicia Imbody | 07.14.09 | 10:43 AM ET
As Parisian tourism continues to decline, the city’s tourist board has been addressing its residents’ reputation for being, well, less than welcoming to outsiders—the so-called Paris Syndrome. The plan to encourage travelers to return has nothing to do with the recession, and everything to do with attitude: “There’s nothing as telling as a smile,” Paul Roll, head of the tourist board, told Reuters. Teams of “smile ambassadors” are being strategically positioned at popular destinations to welcome visitors, and locals are implored to be more hospitable, a la Mayor Delenoe’s urgings before the first Paris Tourist Day two years ago.
French Tourists: The Worst in the World?
by Michael Yessis | 07.10.09 | 11:30 AM ET
Oui, according to a survey of hotel owners. Why? The French come across “as bad at foreign languages, tight-fisted and arrogant.”
The best tourists, according to the survey? The Japanese.
Rising Fuel Prices, the Paris Air Show and More
by Rob Verger | 06.16.09 | 3:12 PM ET
What’s the fuel bill to fly a 757-200 across the country, from New York to Los Angeles?
About $21,600.
That, at least, was the cost of the fuel burned on a recent transcontinental Delta flight I was on, according to the flight’s captain. Out of 7,500 gallons of fuel on board, we burned about 6,760 gallons.
Clearly, the price of fuel is hugely important for airlines. And rising prices aren’t helping.
65 Years Later: Robert Capa and D-Day on Film
by Eva Holland | 06.05.09 | 11:44 AM ET
Tomorrow marks the 65th anniversary of the Allied landings in Normandy, an assault that is widely viewed as one of the key turning points in the Second World War. President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, and Canadian and British Prime Ministers Stephen Harper and Gordon Brown will be converging on the area for an official ceremony this weekend, following in the footsteps of thousands of tourists who visit the beaches each year.
The event has me thinking about the enduring appeal of the D-Day beaches—after all, Europe has no shortage of battlefields and war monuments, but few are as well-known to Americans as Omaha Beach (or, for Canadians, Juno Beach). It seems to me that their historical significance alone doesn’t explain it. The beaches, I think, have such a powerful presence in the public consciousness thanks in part to a few iconic photographs by Robert Capa.
Why Should You Follow Airlines on Twitter?
by Rob Verger | 06.01.09 | 1:54 PM ET
Lately, I’ve been enjoying receiving tweets from airlines, and there are a few reasons why.
First up, airlines frequently announce fare sales and other news on Twitter. United has been offering what they call “twares,” which are very brief sales broadcast on Twitter, and Southwest recently tweeted about their new pets policy—you can bring dogs and cats on board now—while Virgin America tweeted to announce that their entire fleet had Wi-Fi.
Paris, France
by World Hum | 05.19.09 | 1:32 PM ET
REUTERS//Charles Platiau A group of tourists pass by Les Invalides on a guided Segway tour of Paris
The Critics: ‘Up’
by Eva Holland | 05.14.09 | 11:01 AM ET
Pixar’s “Up,” an animated travel movie that we’ve been keeping an eye on, opened the Cannes Film Festival in 3D last night, making history in the process. Today, the reviews are rolling in—and, for the most part, they offer two thumbs, er, up.
The Book Bench: ‘Let’s all Move to Berlin’
by Eva Holland | 05.04.09 | 3:01 PM ET
I’ve had a longtime fascination with the Parisian expat writers of the 1920s. Books like “A Moveable Feast” or “That Summer in Paris” never fail to make me wish I was sitting in a Left Bank cafe, making a cup of coffee last for hours while I wrestle with a short story or pause to chat with other struggling writers who’ve wandered by.
Of course, Paris is hardly the place for impoverished creative types anymore, but—say the New Yorker’s Book Bench bloggers—there’s a viable European alternative if I ever decide to attempt a modern-day recreation of my Hemingway daydreams: Berlin.
Eight Great Travel Stories of Serendipity and Kindness
by World Hum | 04.29.09 | 6:09 PM ET
Photo illustration by Jim Benning To mark our eighth anniversary, we've collected eight favorite stories from our archives that show how one person, or one small act of kindness, can alter our sense of the world