Hello again! I’ve been away the last few weeks: first hosting the Atlas Adventures Paris trip and then relaxing + visiting friends for a few days in Spain (all while catching up on work emails!) I’m finally getting my head above water and able to start writing about this latest group trip. It was absolutely incredible to finally bring this trip to life (after 2 years of planning + rescheduling). All 20 of the women who registered (and my 3 team mates) couldn’t have been more wonderful. I’m still buzzing from the week and feeling so grateful for all of it. But more about that in a minute…
If you’re new here, ‘This Week in the World’ is a weekly recap of content ranging from around the globe. My hope is that each week, no matter where you are in the world, you’ll be able to feel more connected to it: through news, travel, food & wine… really, anything that appeals to the culturally curious. Let’s dive into the content I sourced for week 43…starting with a recap of this trip to Paris!
PARIS RECAP
We had a full week of fun activities planned over the course of our trip! While some of these activities you’ll have to come on a trip yourself to experience, there are a few stand-out experiences we did that you can add to your next Paris itinerary!
Fat Tire Bike Tour of Versailles: We had such a fun day exploring Versailles by bike! Not only did we get to see the palace and gardens, but we also got to explore the town. We stopped at a local market to buy food and had our own picnic for lunch. We also learned a lot about the history of Versailles from our guide along the way. The cherry on top was the absolutely perfect weather that we had… it couldn’t have been better!
Sézane Shopping Experience: This Parisian-based brand makes some of my favorite clothes in the world (sustainable + beautiful in style). While you can always buy their clothes online HERE it’s so much fun seeing pieces in person in a store. We were so fortunate to have the store to ourselves for an after hours shopping experience (no one left empty handed!)
La Cuisine Macaron Class: Rebecca is a long-time friend of Jane at La Cuisine… which is a darling cooking school in the heart of Paris. We had such a fun afternoon learning to make macarons with their team (which was much harder than you might think!) Whether you want to have a go at making them yourself, or try cooking another quintessential French dish, be sure to check out La Cuisine.
Eiffel Tower Picnic with My Parisian Life + Jouis Jadot: You can’t visit Paris without having an Eiffel Tower picnic… and we had an absolutely gorgeous one thanks to Yanique at My Parisian Life! She puts together absolutely stunning picnic-scapes for weddings and other special events. It was easily the most beautiful picnic I’ve ever been a part of! While she provided cheese, baguettes, fruit, nuts, meat + more for us to nibble on, we also had wine to pair thanks to the famous French producer Louis Jadot. They have a wide range of lovely wines that put the cherry on top of this magical night!
We also were so excited to gift these customizable necklaces by ABLE to all the girls on the trip. We put the phrase “Joie de vivre” on them, which means “the joy of life” in French. After the last couple of years, we felt that celebrating and remembering the joy of life felt more relevant than ever. You can put whatever phrase you’d like on the necklaces, and you can get 20% off using code “Whitney20” at checkout!
My goal with Atlas Adventures is to help facilitate meaningful travel while connecting with like-minded people… but to also be mindful about leaving a positive impact in the destinations that we visit. I’ve started selecting a local charity that our group can give back to during our stay. This time, we were able to donate over $2,000 to The BAAM, which is a team of legal experts, teachers, students, social workers, artists, journalists, unemployed people, french or foreigners. Their goal is to welcome, with dignity, all migrant people : asylum seekers, refugees and undocumented immigrants or workers in Paris. You can learn more about this organization and donate HERE.
This certainly won’t be the last Atlas Adventures trip to Paris, so be sure you’re receiving emails from me to be the first to know about the next trip!
TRAVEL NEWS + UPDATES
London’s first Centurion lounge is now open at Heathrow! I am so excited for this because it’s in Terminal 3 (so if you fly Delta/Virgin going to/from the US… you’ll be conveniently located to this new lounge!)
My friend and teammate Rebecca wrote this very comprehensive post on “What it’s like traveling to Paris right now.”
AROUND THE WORLD
This article about how chemical companies avoid paying for pollution made my blood boil.
There is one last week left in October, and I have my eye on this list of 85 rather wonderful things to do in London in October.
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That’s all for today. Happy reading and hope to see you back again next week!
xx
Whitney
