11 things only the locals know in France (and now you do too)

Mike Leigh’s brilliant 1976 Dorset-based comedy Nuts in May begins with Keith and Candice-Marie taking the chain ferry from Sandbanks across the mouth of Poole harbour to the Isle of Purbeck, where they camp, visit Corfe Castle, walk along the mighty Jurassic coastline and end up in an altercation with a young Brummie couple called Finger and Honky. For me, watching Nuts in May is an annual tradition, as is visiting the peninsula where it was filmed. Most of us have places for which we feel a particularly strong pull; one of mine is Purbeck. And since this peninsula’s recent status as England’s first “super” nature reserve, I’m beginning to understand why.

True to form, I was welcomed to Scotland in the pouring rain.

JetBlue is planning a sprawling new partnership with British Airways, through which the two airlines would link significant parts of their networks across the U.S. and Europe.

A majority of American adults (82%) plan to take at least one vacation this summer, according to The Vacationer’s recent travel survey. With that in mind, here’s a sampling of unique and unexpected summer escapes at you can find at centers and lodgings from the Pacific to Provence: creative and luxurious experiences to help you beat the heat and lean into the season. These may inspire you to find others to suit your summer interests—and go.

Argentina’s culture and customs are some of the most distinctive in the Americas. But there are plenty of idiosyncrasies to getting by in this Southern Cone South American nation. 

A 73-year-old British man died, and 71 others were injured when a Singapore Airlines flight was hit by severe turbulence on Tuesday.

When I was a little girl – I dreamed, dreamed, dreamed of going to Paris. I grew up in a very non-wealthy part of Connecticut, and I never thought I would get there. Part of my inspiration was seeing the movie Funny Face with Audrey Hepburn and Fred Astaire, the acclaimed 1957 film about a beautiful model who is photographed in France. Oo la la! It was a dream. And I even actually came very close to getting to Paris when I was in sixth grade – I won first prize in a Singer Sewing Company dress-making fashion competition – but alas, I did not make it to the nationals. I only wound up with a portable phonograph – it wasn’t until a few years later that my family and I actually made a three-day trek to Paris after visiting our family in Poland. (and it wasn’t until I became a luxury travel writer that I frequented gorgeous places such as the Four Seasons George V and the Shangri-La hotels).

Wild Canvas, one of the recent wave of pop-up campsites with a festival vibe, has a host of new additions for its fifth outing this summer. The campsite makes the most of its riverside setting on the Turvey House Estate near Bedford. It has a new wellness area, the Nest, with direct river access (BYO paddleboard!) plus a yoga yurt, a mobile sauna, a treatment tent for massages and free early-morning activities from meditation to boot camp.

I have to admit that on trips to Thailand and China I was not adventurous when it came to lunch and dinner. I must have set a record for ordering vegetable pad Thai in Thailand. But with May now officially Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, we should take advantage of restaurants offering these tasty cuisines in the Times Square area.

Due to a solar storm, auroras could be seen across the skies of many portions of the United States, which ranged from Maine and California to even Florida.

If you've ever read or seen "The Great Gatsby," you know 1920s New York was home to extravagant mansions with owners who hosted lavish parties.

A national park is meant to be an oasis — a reprieve from the traffic and crowds of urban life. Unfortunately, though, many people seek this same reprieve, meaning some national parks have become extremely crowded during peak seasons.