Time Travel

The Earth Children Series

There are several modes of travel: land, air, water, and foot. But perhaps the most wide ranging, farthest reaching, essentially life altering mode of travel is...reading; books.

The Soul of Travel...

Louis Vuitton: A Journey (ad campaign, 2008)

"What is a journey?

A journey is not a trip.

It is not a vacation.

It is a process of discovery.

It's a process of self-discovery.

 A journey brings us face to face with ourselves.

A journey shows us not only the world, but how we fit in it.

Does the person create the journey?

Or does the journey create the person?

The journey is life itself.

Where will life take you?"

Yeah, some brilliant ad exec came up with this brilliant advertising campaign for Louis Vuitton; beautifully and unabashedly slickly produced - the perfect combination of The Red Shoe Diaries, Diva-tude and every travel fantasy ever had by anyone in love with such things. In a word breathtaking. The beauty of this ad is, although it's aimed at a particular consumer-group, it speaks to the traveler in all of us. It calls to the desire to explore and discover the world and simultaneously explore and discover oneself. And that's why this commercial will always be a classic and it will be perfectly at home here. Give that ad exec a raise.

" A Process of Self-Discovery"

Acutal LV ad

The inspiration for this post hit yesterday evening as I was preparing to journal. You see the front flap has a pocket, where I keep a few of my treasured momentos: a few photos, my Bucket List, a few sketches I made on my travels, and a few scraps of paper with poems, sayings, quotes, etc. that caught my travelers eye. On one of them I scribbled this ad's script - et voila.

As I was writing this post, I did a little background research (yeah, the historian in me). I learned that the visuals of this ad was produced by Bruno Aveillan - one of France's most distinguished and internationally sought after commericals director (Hmmm). Next, I went to YouTube to find the ad so that I could share it with you.  In the process I found several other clips of Mr. Aveillan's work. So gorgeous! Look for a post dedicated to Mr. Aveillan in Pour L'Amour de Paris, in the next few days. In the meantime, I found the short film. Enjoy...

A Journey, short film

Explore! Dream! Discover!

Temple

Traveling SistahDiva Style! Part 5: What a Girl Needs - All day fabulosity!

O'Hare Airport, Chicago

"A woman should be two things: classy and fabulous." - Coco Chanel

In my last post, I told you about what to put in your travel 'survival kit' and I ended with the admonition to wear as little makeup as possible - yes I said that and I mean it. Calm down. I said wear as little makeup as possible, not don't wear any makeup. You can have your cake and eat it too - and this post is going to tell you how...

Traveling SistahDiva Style! Part 4: What a Girl Needs - Survival Kit

O'Hare Airport - Chicago

"To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time, to be in a position in which almost nothing is so familiar it is taken for granted."

- Bill Bryson

Okay, here's where my travel-essential series gets certifiably wonky. I'm wading into the trickiest part of travel for a woman - how to look, smell, and feel as fresh as a Daisy after an entire day of travel (sometimes an entire day and night). This is no easy task, especially for a 'practical' Diva - hence the need for wonk.

Zoe Saldana - fabulous! 

strutting her stuff through an airport

Okay, okay! Very few of the world's female population can look half this fabulous while traipsing through an airport after a 5 hour flight. Notice that she's wearing my travel ensemble except for the pants (she hasn't had 4 kids!) and the shoes (younger feet and she is a star!). Still, la fabulous Zoe proves my point: simple, classic, elegant chic is the way to travel! While we aren't Zoes, we can look and remain fabulous while we're traveling...

Traveling SistahDiva Style! Part 3: Music, Reading & Writing

O'Hare Airport, Chicago

"The journey not the arrival matters." - T.S. Elliot

Now that you've got the perfect carry-on, what should you put in it? Luxury and comfort are the operative words! Let's start with the basics: music, reading & writing

Traveling SistahDiva Style! Part 2: Bag Check & Carry-On

O'Hare Airport, Chicago

"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go.

I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move."

- Rober Louis Stevenson

In part 1 of this series I discussed what to wear while traveling and how to build an 'essential' travel wardrobe. And I did so with practical elegance in mind. The practical part: pieces that you can quickly pack and pack light; are easy to mix and match; wear well; are comfortable; and are easy to handwash, quick to dry, or inexpensive to send out. The elegance: classic, effortless chic.

For the next three posts in this series, I'll discuss an equally important aspect of travel - a comfortable and relaxing plane trip (of course this post also applies to every other mode of travel). The average domestic plane trip lasts 3 hours; the average international plane trip lasts at least 8 hours. That's a long time to be sitting in a seat about the dimensions of your grade school chair, with little or no leg room. Moreover, you're pretty much stuck in one place - though I do suggest that for particularly long flights you take several strolls up and down the aisles (it's so important to move).

Your checked luggage has everything you'll need once you reach your destination. Your carry-on bag has everything you'll need to allow you to travel as comfortably as possible. Whether your flight is 3 hours long, 8 hours long, inbetween or longer, a well packed carry-on bag is essential if you want to fully enjoy your "great affair to move."

Traveling SistahDiva Style! Part 1

O'Hare Airport - Chicago

"There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it." - Charles Dudley Warner

I LOVE to travel, every moment of it - from deciding where you're going, to the ride home from the airport. Packing and 'getting there' are their own mini trips, particular adventures.

There's nothing more tiring and annoying than lugging a huge, packed to the gills, heavy suitcase for what seems like 5 miles through an airport. And you always only wear a third of what you packed and still don't have the things you need [oye]! There's nothing more irksome and nerve-racking then sitting in a tiny airplane seat: bored to tears and uncomfortable to boot [sigh]. 

Over the past 30 years I've traveled in everyway a person can: by plane, train, bus, car, sailboat and motorized yacht. I've traveled in almost every incarnation: child, college student, single, married, married with children, and married with children, an elder, and a dog! And, though it took me several attempts and failures, I've realized that: a) you don't need to bring a lot to look fabulous and be comfortable while traveling; and b) you can have a relaxing diva-luxurious in-flight experience - yes you can!

Affordable Paris

Pont Alexander III

Check out my article on Affordable Paris.

Explore! Dream! Discover!

Temple

Scottsdale, Arizona

Arizona Mountains - Temple photograph

Sometimes the most wonderful things, new adventures happen unexpectedly. One evening, Mr. Gorgeous came to me and told me that he'd have to go to Scottsdale, Az for his company's annual national sales meeting - for 4 days. My heart sank - four days without my Mr. Gorgeous! But before I could complete the thought, Peter reached into his brief case and handed me a piece of paper. It was a confirmation printout of his travel plans. As my eyes scanned the page, I saw that my name was on it too. He was taking me too! Our first couple's weekend getaway in 5+ years. It was February 1st. 

For the Love of Travel...

"So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor.

Catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover." 

- Mark Twain

Hello Everyone,

As some of you know, I write a blog on Paris: Pour L'Amour De Paris (check it out if you have the yen). While I often travel to Paris, I also love to travel period. So I decided that it was time for me to create a new blog dedicated to travel... 

For years now I've been collecting vintage and contemporary travel books and memoirs. I scour the internets to keep abreast of the latest, the most romantic, the most unique. In the process, I've compiled an impressive travel catalogue, that I continuously update. Over the past couple of years, friends have asked me to help them plan their honeymoons, business trips, weekend getaways, etc. It's time consuming, but I love it!

Motherhood and being a professor has curtailed my wandering feet [sigh], but it has also expanded my margins of travel interest. Believe me, traveling with children is an entirely singular aspect of travel. So is traveling with a pet (Coco) and/or an elderly companion (in my case my mother - Dorothy). And teaching classes on World History (to an incredibly diverse student body) has also intimately altered how I view travel and where I want to go.

This blog will cover all of these aspects of travel. I'll post about where to go when, what and how to pack, hotels, restaurants, shopping, tours, sights, etc. All with an eye toward the unique and romantic (yes you can have a romantic trip with your kids!). Some posts will cover my own personal travel experiences (with my photography), others will be about places I'm longing to see. If there's a place, or anything to do with travel, that you'd like me to blog about drop me a line. I look forward to sharing this adventure with you. And so it begins...

*An apology:

Please excuse my dust as I'll be fine-tuning the design/look of this blog for a little while. Also, there's something hinky going on with blogspot.com - that's why the blog header pic is so huge. I'm working on it.

Explore! Dream! Discover!

Temple

Temple & Coco - leaving on a jet plane!