Bridget Lux's Blog

Posted by Bridget Lux

There's no way to get around the fact that food is a big deal when it comes to traveling. For some, it is the main reason to travel. For others, it is purely nourishment on the road to some adventure. I fall somewhere between those extremes, but am hopelessly horrible at choosing restaurants.

On a recent trip to Rome, my friend and I had the good, the bad, and the ugly in terms of dining experiences. It's Italy, I thought, how hard could it possibly be to find a good meal? Give us some pasta and a pizza and we'll be fine.

Looking back on the Roman Holiday, however, I realized that this is fairly typical of my vacations. While traveling throughout Western Europe, Australia and North America, my culinary adventures have always been hit and miss. Now, I'd venture to say that it was easier in the U.S., Australia and U.K., if only for the fact that I could actually read the menus and didn't make the mistake of ordering raw hamburger topped with a raw egg (there's a Parisian dining experience I won't soon forget).

I discussed the situation with my well-traveled Aunt, who suggested scoping out dining establishments - especially the actual food on the tables - in advance of hunger. She also said she's had good luck by using suggestions from guidebooks, although my experience has been that the guidebooks are generally for that one special meal that's going to cost you and not for every day lunches. Finally, she said she's found good places by asking at her hotel. My friend and I tried this one, but the place suggested was actually closed.

So, any other suggestions?

Posted by Bridget Lux

Several months ago, long before the actual opening of the exhibit honoring Grace Kelly, I wrote an article about it. Having now gone through the exceptional exhibit and rereading the article I’d previously written, I’m reminded how different reading about something - a destination, a museum, an attraction - can be from truly experiencing the same thing.

In the movie “Good Will Hunting,” Robin Williams’ character explains to Matt Damon’s character the same idea using the Sistine Chapel, as an example. Now, I’ve heard people touting the benefits of Second Life, the Internet-based virtual world, and how great it is to experience hot travel destinations without the issues involved with air travel, hotels and money. Personally, although I have admittedly not entered Second Life, I can’t see how the virtual vacations could possibly hold up to the real thing. More on this in another blog post.

From the exhibit, located in the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, one gets an overwhelming sense of how much Princess Grace was loved: first by her family, then her fans and finally the people of Monaco. And from the memorabilia, photographs and displays it’s easy to see why. Princess Grace was an intelligent, beautiful, caring woman. Above all, however, she had class.

It’s also evident that much time, effort and creativity went into the exhibit. The eighteen rooms that focus on specific areas of her life include short film clips, multi-media displays and an overwhelming amount of personal letters, clothing and photographs.

If you happen to be in Monaco between now and Sept. 23, I’d highly recommend visiting the exhibit. Beyond Princess Grace’s life, the exhibit gives an interesting insight into the recent history of the royalty in Monaco as well as the current reign of Grace’s son, Prince Albert II.

Posted by Bridget Lux

A recent survey of 1,000 travelers found that 73% of them were in favor of a separate family section on airplanes. An AP article said Southwest was considering the idea, although a Southwest spokesperson said that wasn’t true.

But isn’t having a family section on an airplane a bit like having a “no-smoking” section in a restaurant separated by little more than an imaginary line? The proverbial “no peeing” section of a pool.

Of course, if I’d taken the survey, I would have said yes, I’m in favor of a separate family section. Anyone who flies much has had a flight made nearly unbearable by seat kicking, screaming and general mischief of a little one. If you haven’t, consider yourself lucky and just know that it’s coming.

Personally, I think the airlines are going about this all wrong. Instead of a family section, why not a family airline? Sure. Disney Air could brand itself as a family airline. (Honestly, how much marketing would they need? Just saying the name yells “family friendly.”) They could feature coloring books next to the SkyMall and inflight magazines. Serve mac and cheese, pb&js and milk. Run all Disney movies.

It would take a bit of the stress off people with kids. They wouldn’t have to worry about their kids screaming or throwing Cheerios or whatever because chances are, the other people on the flights would have kids, too.

People without kids would avoid the airline like the plague.

Yes, I think Disney Air might just fly, pun intended.

Posted by Bridget Lux

Yesterday, one of my closest friends, Sunday, flew in to Nice for a three-week holiday with me. Because I read travel disaster stories all day long for another job, I was nearly convinced she was not going to arrive on time.

I didn't want to leave her in a lurch, however, so I was there at the appointed arrival time. Amazingly enough, her flight was only about 15 minutes late and she was actually on it (which was even more amazing after I heard her story). Unfortunately, her luggage was not.

Sunday is an experienced traveler, however, so she had stuffed some extra clothes in her carryon (limited to one because she was flying British Airways). After an hour of waiting for her, convinced she missed a connection or something, she called. She had borrowed a phone from another woman whose luggage had been lost and they were standing in line waiting to fill out the forms to, hopefully, retrieve their luggage at a future date.

About an hour and a half after her flight landed, Sunday finally emerged, luggageless, and we were headed to my apartment. On the way, she relayed the story about how she ended up buying another ticket for the Boise to Seattle leg of her trip because the airline said she was supposed to have paper tickets (who gets paper tickets anymore?), but she never received them. Once in Seattle, she paid a fee (British Airways, luckily, didn't make her buy new tickets) and was on her way on the flight from Seattle to London.

My past several flights have involved some sort of drama. Missed a connection in Chicago and had to stay the night (at my expense). Pilot didn't show up in Colorado, forcing my flight to be late and I missed another connection. On our way back from San Francisco, the airline didn't assign Sunday a seat. When we got to the gate, they asked her to take another flight. Eventually, after a lot of discussion, she was given her seat, but it was touch and go for awhile.

My point is, at what point are people just going to get fed up and quit flying? Will it happen? If it does, will it be noticeable? I'm considering flying home for Christmas, but I'm hesitant to fly. It's a long flight to begin with, and I just don't want to deal with any "events."

Posted by Bridget Lux

Movies have a greater power in our society these days than I think many of us realize. There are those films that are obviously produced for political purposes, such as “Sicko” or “Fahrenheit 9/11,” but for me, it was a film made for entertainment purposes that changed my life. “An American in Paris” features Gene Kelly and a very young Leslie Caron, but it was the setting that intrigued me. I fell in love with the little cafes and even the tiny apartments, the patisseries and cobble-stone streets.

That first viewing of “An American in Paris” was years ago, and since then, I’ve sought out films, along with books, based in Europe. When I told friends and family I was moving to Europe, at the time, I was planning to head to Italy. It wasn’t long after the movie “Under the Tuscan Sun” had come out, so many assumed that was my inspiration. Little did they know the seeds of this trip had been sown many, many years ago.

Even now that I live in France, I seek out movies set here. I’ve recently seen “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer,” which takes place in Paris and Grasse, among other French locations, I also watched “Ratatouille” and plan to rewatch “To Catch a Thief,” which actually takes place on the Riviera.

Movie going is much different in France, however. OK, so the biggest difference revolves around the lack of concessions. I feel very American when I say this, but popcorn, Junior Mints and other snacks are as much a part of going to the movies as the films themselves. Not so, here in France.

But that’s not the only difference. Since my French is not good enough for me to watch a movie in French, I go to the theaters that show films in their original version. The problem, however, is that I’m drawn to movies set in Europe and they often have portions in foreign languages. In the U.S., I imagine, those portions would contain subtitles. Not so, here. The English portions have French subtitles.

Last May, I watched “The Da Vinci Code” and yesterday I saw “2 Days in Paris.” Both films have large portions in French. Of course, both times, the people I was with spoke French, so they didn’t have any problem following the films. Another time, a friend and I went to “The Black Book,” which we thought was going to be in English, but turned out to be in Dutch with French subtitles! Ugh. Nearly three hours of concentrating incredibly hard on the subtitles gave me a huge headache. My friend, naturally, was Dutch.

So, while my movie going experiences here in France have been a little more challenging than I’d like, it is the differences of living in France that make it interesting and I wouldn’t have it any other way.