Year: 2012

travel journal – holiday end – paris to san francisco

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I am now back in the states and aimlessly trying to get adjusted to everyday life. I avoided it for a couple of days while I recovered from jetlag, but knowing there was no alternative, I put on my work clothes and commuted to work early Thursday morning. Vacations or holidays, as they are referred to, throughout other parts of the world, are the most difficult to return from, especially if they pan out to be as beautifully as you envisioned it while planning. I am aware of the fact. But it’s not so much that I regret it’s over, it’s the fact I had to leave Paris, once again as a tourist. The funny thing about annual vacations, at least for me, is that I use the time to not only regroup, but also to reflect on the past year and decipher what I need to do to improve my life and lifestyle. Whether it be, a career change, a move to a new neighborhood, or realigning our long term plans. And every year …

day 14 – travel journal – london, england for a day

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I had this bright idea of visiting London for a day, since I hadn’t been for 15 plus years. The reason for my madness was the fact I originally wanted to partake in attending the 2012 Olympic games in London but since I couldn’t manage such a trip a month ago, I wanted to be in London this year no matter what .  So, from Paris we took the Eurostar early Thursday morning for our almost three-hour high-speed train ride to London. The important thing to remember is that although Gare de Nord (Eurostar station in Paris) and London St Pancras International Station (Eurostar station in London) are easily accessible and not too difficult to get around, consider showing up one hour before boarding the train to go through the customs lines and border control. It’s funny you don’t think there should be border control between France and England, but there is. The other thing to remember while embarking on such a journey is that the moment you cross border control and customs, the Euro …

day 13 – travel journal – paris france

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There is no way on earth I would pass up Paris, no matter what other destinations I have included in my annual trip to Europe. This year, while the TGV pulled into Gare de Lyon from Cannes at a little after 9p.m. I noticed it had been raining in the city of romance. I didn’t care, the rain is always refreshing in Paris and I have actually been in the city every month out of the year and every single time it had rained. It usually bothered me, but I’ve come to accept it and now even embrace it. Paris isn’t Paris without rain. We hopped on the RER (urban rail network train) from Gare de Lyon to our Hotel in Charles de Gaulle Etoile (between VIIIe and XVIIe arrondissements) and within a five minute walk, landed in front of our quaint hotel with minimal frills and turned in for the night. I usually sleep with the windows open, normally for fresh air, but in the case of Paris, just so I could hear the …

day 8 to 12 – travel journal – french riviera et all

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The most amazing thing about Europe is the fact, everything is connected by train, so there is no need to stress about driving nor flying. One can simply book a point to point ticket or by a Railpass (Outside of Europe Residance only) and arrange to get from any number of destinations within Europe. The beauty of having a Railpass is that the passholder can travel on the TER train – which connects all the beach town along the French Riviera by an intrecit timetable and train schedule.  So, basically in the morning you could be in Cannes and within half an hour to an hour you could be in Antinbes, Nice, Monte Carlo, Menton (depending on the stops the train makes). So, of course we did just that, hopped on the TER everyday and ended up in different parts of the French Riviera. Our stops, on this trip were to St. Tropez, Antibes, Monte Carlo (for the hubby man), VillaFranche Sur Mer and Nice.  Now, although every town is almost the same in that …

fashion week – nyc 2013 – christian siriano

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While traveling through Paris (Which I will cover shortly), I cannot help but focus more on fashion then anything else and since this is fashion week in NYC, I decided to share my favorites from Christian Siriano Spring 2013 collection from here:

fashion week – nyc 2013 – zac posen

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I needed to shift gears for a minute since we are in the middle of fashion week in New York. I cannot help but be completely inspired by the Spring 2013 collection which I have seen here. Here are some of my favorites from designer Zac Posen Spring 2013 collection

day 7 – travel journal – french riviera – cannes

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I love this part of our trips to Europe, the stop in the French Riviera. We took the slow train from Genoa (not intentionally) that was how RailEurope site booked it for me when I did my point to point reservation and within four hours pulled into the Cannes train station. I gladly jumped off the cart and walked to our hotel, which is always across the street from the train station. I prefer it that way. We wasted no time in freshening up and running to the promenade to walk along the shore before heading into old Cannes to have dinner. Cannes is an amazing place to stay, it has everything you need and not as chaotic as Nice is during the busy Summer season.  You can spend the mornings, shopping, then in the afternoon sunbathing at a number of public beaches and then get dressed up and go to dinner at any number of indoor/outdoor restaurants along the promenade, followed by a walk along the shore.  It’s definitely designed for the over forty …