A little European history for you kids, in this post. As a starter in case you're not aware, to get around, we humans have created a scheme based on meridians. A prime meridian is an arbitrarily-chosen meridian in a geographic coordinate system at which longitude is defined to be 0°. Together, a prime meridian…
I slept in a Chimney.
This is back to the future and back to the past. Dress warmly.
Pity the poor British people who, while having a lovely, historic and diverse place to live, also have the agonizing problem of deciding which sunny location they should turn to in order to rent or purchase a sunny spot to escape the grey and unpleasant weather that is a major part of their everyday lives.…
There are lots of airlines out there in the world, waiting to handle your travel business. And, considering that they're in the business of making money on your travel, they have to be good, otherwise you'll take your business elsewhere, right? This may seem a bit shocking (it was to us) but who do…
Listening to Marvin, all night long and living in French caves was all the rage in 1964. And if that doesn't make you want to be a cave dweller - even if you think that you know France - then what about this? Trôo is a charming village located in the Loire Valley region…
Some of us live in cities that could probably be classed as a ghost town: Miriam Webster defines it as a "once-flourishing town wholly or nearly deserted usually as a result of the exhaustion of some natural resource." But, just as commonly, the source of its demise is the exhaustion of human resources.…
Some travel companies actually think a bit about their offering. Rather than pushing and polishing the same old thing, they gather around a table, brainstorm and - et voila - out come some innovative ideas that make you think - "hey, why didn't they think of that before?" Even more gratifying is when…
Ahh, la belle France. We can never get enough of it. And there is lots to get. As of 2022, the most desirable places to spend your holiday time in France are 1. Paris. 2. Nice. 3. Lyon 4. Bordeaux 5. Marseilles 6.Strasbourg 7. Lille and, finally…
Another European-focused post for you, and this one steps into the focus in that it isn't a travel article, per se, but it certainly affects those who wish to visit the continent. If you're a European citizen, you can also disregard the topic; you're exempt from the conversation just by the fact that you're…
The world is a rather big place, blanketed with water, glorious water. In fact, about 71 percent of the Earth's surface is water-covered. And that H20 that courses through us also draws us in as humans as if we were hypnotized. Did you know that up to 60% of the human adult body is water?…
Here's a toast to those intrepid pioneers and can-do-ers who - in most cases - went for the prize and came back a winner. For example, Davy Crockett, Edmund Hillary, Bear Grylls, Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE, Karen Darke, Freya Stark just to name a few. These luminaries and dozens more have made our…
Take some good shoes.
We don't know about you, but we still shiver with tears when we look back on the videos of Notre Dame on fire. Even if you've been to Paris dozens of times, that most marvelous of buildings still makes our heart race when we walk up to its doors. On 15 April 2019, just…
Years ago, when your editor was a wee sprog, I discovered progressive rock music. One of the leading promoters of that genre was Richard Branson's Virgin records. Those of you of a certain age will certainly remember Tubular Bells: Sir Richard brought that most amazing event / LP to the public. …
As if being in Paris isn't thrilling enough, unless you live under a rock, you're probably excited know that Paris will be hosting the Olympics in 2024. So what do you need to do to prepare? The Paris Olympics 2024, officially known as the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad, are scheduled to be…
We would imagine that almost all of you have been to Paris at least once. The Left Bank, Notre Dame and, of course, the Eiffel Tower. It is one of the world's biggest attractions, and rightly so. This statement may seem simple, but we have this feeling that you love Paris or…
A typical French village ,until the Paris Air Show changed everything.
What a difference 20 makes. We're not talking about the doing a roundabout in the changing of a position or stance (although that figures into this story.) We're not discussing going beyond the beyond. We're discussing something even more palpable and exciting, and something that we've been wishing for for a long…
How fast is TGV? (TGVs – Trains à Grande Vitesse)? 300 km/h (186 mph!