Gallic humor

June 15, 2018 by Marc Moorghen in Culture, Opinion, Travel

Paris. The name alone evokes romance, beauty and fun, but it's a hopelessly outdated stereotype. The internet seems surprisingly uninformed about the origin of the saying "gai Paris," which denoted the fun-loving, but pre-sexual-revolution properties of the city. At the torn of the century--nineteenth to twentieth--Paris was the place to be. It was the center of the world, in terms of literature, visual art and Bohemian life, giving birth to many of the modern currents that shaped the last hundred-plus years. While there are traces of that world, if you look carefully, the city today is a very different place.

Holland in bloom

June 06, 2018 by Marc Moorghen in Culture, Opinion, Travel

When we planned our trek around the world from the comfort of home in California, we knew that we would celebrate our fifteenth wedding anniversary on the road, but we had no idea what we would do to mark the occasion. In the end, we found ourselves spending a leisurely spring day in the picturesque English countryside, followed by a crazy drive to catch a ferry to Holland. Once aboard, we had a celebratory drink and slice of pizza in the ship's restaurant, before retiring to our cabin for a good night's sleep. While it wasn't what we had expected, it seemed like a pretty appropriate way to celebrate our years together: in the company of friends and on the road.

Keep calm and travel on

June 01, 2018 by Marc Moorghen in Travel, Opinion, Culture

England is drifting, deliberately setting itself apart from the rest of Europe, yet the country is tethered to the continent by history, culture and commerce. The cause of their isolationism — a reaction to the changes brought about by immigration — should not be perceived as a threat, but as an asset, as they are actually making England stronger in the long-term, as the changing face of my hometown, Croydon, may one day prove. I hope that Brexit will fail and that England will remain a driving force in Europe. The time we spent criss-crossing the continent was a powerful reminder that we all have to adapt if we want to survive and thrive in the future.