"We keep moving forward, opening doors and doing new things, because we're curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths." - Walt Disney
As I'm sure you've noticed by now, I've moved ;-) I started writing For the Love of Travel because I wanted to blog about my travels outside of Paris. But I soon realized that I could not keep up with my travel writing/photography (elsewhere), my career as a professor, my full time job as a mom, and maintain two blogs. But I so enjoy this! So I've decided to move For the Love of Travel to a permanent featured section at my original blog - Pour L'Amour de Paris [For the Love of Paris]. So, come on over and join us.
But I'm not going to delete this blog. I may return, I hope so. Never say never...
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.
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 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...
"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...
"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
"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."
