Jul 22, 2024 • 6 min read
12.07.2024 - 13:41 / nytimes.com / Belle Epoque
Mention the Orient Express to most people, and you’re likely to conjure up visions of the private five-star luxury train — Belmond’s Venice Simplon-Orient-Express — whose meticulously restored coaches feature every conceivable Belle Epoque bell and whistle: acres of mirror-finish mahogany, sophisticated silver service, a pianist taking after-dinner requests at the lounge car’s baby grand.
That train primarily runs overnight excursions between Paris and Venice. For two travelers sharing a sleeper, prices start at 3,530 British pounds, or around $4,500 per person — but once a year, the V.S.O.E. takes five nights to retrace the classic route from Paris to Istanbul. For a solo traveler, the cost of admission is £35,000 — and that’s for the smallest cabin.
Thanks to Europe’s ongoing night train renaissance, though, it’s now possible for the first time in years to travel from Paris to Istanbul by regularly scheduled sleepers, with just two planned changes of trains, in Vienna and Bucharest. And not only can you book this D.I.Y. Orient Express online, you can reserve private sleeping compartments for the entire trip for less than $1,000.
It was a trip I had always wanted to take. And so, one balmy evening last July, I found myself under the soaring glass canopy of the Gare de l’Est in Paris — from which the first Orient Express departed 140 years earlier — with tickets in my pocket for a trip 2,000 miles east to the shores of the Bosporus, on an unbroken ribbon of rail.
Jul 22, 2024 • 6 min read
Luxury cruises can be more than quadruple the cost of an average ship. But before you click away, hear me out — the higher-end vessels are worth the splurge.
The French champagne committee, along with producers have suggested slashing the number of grapes harvested in 2024, following disappointing champagne sales, with customers unwilling to spend on luxury goods.
Jul 18, 2024 • 6 min read
I'm an American who's lived in Paris for almost three years. After all this time, I still had one thing on my bucket list: Tour the city by boat.
I'm in my 60s, and I've been fortunate to take over 30 solo cruises over the last 15 years.
I didn't know it the first time I stepped foot (or rolled, really) into The Mirage, but the stroller I was sitting in was entering hallowed ground in the hotel world. I was 4 years old, it was 1996 and my parents had just driven my brother, my grandma (Magaw, as we called her) and me from the Texas Panhandle to the Las Vegas Strip to celebrate Christmas in style.
Viva Resorts by Wyndham launches the Viva Pro Rewards Program, offering travel agents instant, flexible rewards for bookings at their all-inclusive resorts, with options to redeem points for cash, Amazon gift cards, or stays at increased value.
I spend about half my year in Europe , an arrangement that's existed for the last few years mostly due to my partner's job as an international basketball trainer. The perks are tough to beat, and my work as a journalist means it's easy to jump on a flight as long as I have my computer with me. My teen son joins us frequently, mostly made possible because he homeschools and agenerally likes to travel.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Melissa Fitzgerlad, owner and director of Camp Highlander . It has been edited for length and clarity.
Silver Ray is not where you go to watch travelers in their mid-20s drink cheap margaritas.
If you are planning a trip, a long-term visit or even a move to Germany, I have some advice for you. I'm American, but have been living in Germany with my family for over a decade.