Personally, I’m in my own Fresh Start to Travel France. The good news is things are far from sitting still here, so I want to take a moment and update you.
This covid year of everything on pause has offered me a great opportunity to build new structures.
Lucky me, I found a wizard who’s behind the scenes keeping my site in a high state of golden flow.
I’m a happy camper, and hats off to you, sir. You know who you are.
The funny thing is writers don’t stop writing. Painters don’t stop painting. Musicians don’t stop making music, and art does not stop giving of itself.
But forms and platforms for delivery change.
My greatest joy and deepest inspiration comes from connection & sharing anecdotes of life and living in France; the people, the places, the quirks, the treasures.
Here’s how it lays out. I’ve adjusted the forms to accommodate the times.
I
You’ll find an entire page dedicated to one-week pre-built itineraries, with an in-house shop so you can click and keep forever, the ‘bones’ or baseline structure for a week in select destinations. This allows you to ‘armchair travel’ and simultaneously take your own first steps to actualize a trip. Totally affordable, it may be just the ticket for you to feel no pain.
II
There’s the option for a custom itinerary as well, which you’ll find sitting adjacent in the main menu.
III
There are the main tour pages built and refreshed for one or two-week guided tours in France, from Normandy to Provence and Beyond so you and your loved ones may follow the light of France to your soul’s content, and schedule that slow-travel experience on your timeline, not mine.
IV
The on-the-books 11/11 South of France Tour, is quite the mix. From markets and gastronomy, to steeping oneself in the spiritual history of the places we explore, the dates have been moved out to September ‘22 to afford the same leisure and pleasure as pre-pandemic.
In fact, the 11/11 is the cornerstone of this entire site. My initial entry to the South of France, and specifically all locations within this tour, is what lit the way for what has become everything this site holds. If you take a look at a very early blog called Sacred Sites, you can catch the fullness of the offering still standing after all these years.
Given thousands of people are looking for something outside themselves, some nuance of spirituality and awakening, this one provides its own fresh starts — individually discovered moments, personally experienced that open the mind and give heart.
If this piques your interest, take a look.
What else?!
V
Blogging is indeed one of two of my travel writing passions, in terms of reaching out, caring & sharing the light of France.
VI
Then there are Feature Articles as they come forward. These are not blog posts. They’re a totally different animal. Each one casts the light with breadth and depth, of what exactly it is that’s captured my heart, and provides go-to information for accommodations and dining.
This is a new form for me, to put hard-worked articles up on my site. The standard, acceptable approach has always been to pitch a feature to a publication. These are what you find in travel magazines, in each airlines’ own publications, in travel sections of newspapers!
Well, newspapers are nearly gone, travel magazines right now are scrambling, and airlines did away with their seat pocket magazines at the outset of the pandemic.
Will they return? That is currently an unknown. In the meantime? It makes me itch to hold on to what is. So I’ll keep them close, but available for your reading pleasure.
It is in the final stages of construction — I’ll let you know as each feature posts.
VII
And of course, there’s the quirky me offering you French Treasures through My Vide Grenier ~ a shop I have both on Etsy, and via IG @lightoffrance. The selection isn’t as robust as usual but there’s plenty of good things there, and I’ll restock soon. Stay tuned!
VIII
Last but not least, my wish for you is to find what in these pages moves you; what motivates, emboldens and enlivens your life; what could support you as you either contemplate the notion of traveling France or are ready to fulfill your dream.
What Is Your Pleasure?
