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It’s not often that I find myself in a new locale without knowing a single damn thing about the place. But after a week in Paris in September, I found myself in Arles, France without a clue.

The last few years, we’ve been going on a few international trips with Steph’s parents as a part of a combined Christmas/birthday situation. This year, Paris and Arles were on the docket. I knew very little about Provence and even less about Arles. If I had to offer something I’d probably mention rosé, lavender, and Vincent van Gogh. Or maybe that I’d get my ass kicked in pétanque and console myself with a few glasses of pastis.

Admittedly, I was pretty absent when it came to the planning of this portion of the trip. But this wasn’t a trip where I was visiting old distillers in the mountains or interviewing a chef at the edge of the world. No, this was a pleasure jaunt to southern France where the point was to relax, eat, and drink in good company. How hard could it be? And ya know, I was kind of right. Arles rewards the idle walker, though if I could offer a small itinerary for Arles, it would probably go something like this:

Wake up and grab some coffee from CAFAR Coffee Lab. While you’re in the area, pick up some focaccia from LEVAIN for breakfast. Then walk around the city at a leisurely pace. Visit the amphitheater and the forum. For lunch grab a salad and glass of wine at Chez La Belge. Continue wandering around, including a pit stop at L’espace Van Gogh. Once you’ve pretended to do enough culture, it’s time for wine at Parcelle 22. Maybe enjoy a cigarette outside if that’s your thing. After a few glasses it’ll be time for dinner at Le Gibolin (make reservations). MONSTRE or La Bohême are good options as well. After dinner, continue wandering the small alleys and streets under the night sky until it’s time for bed. Repeat the next day.

A quick word on flight cancellations

I woke up on the morning of my flight home from France to a text from Delta saying the flight was cancelled (worst hangover ever). Before that, I had my plane turn around mid-flight and I had to sleep in the airport overnight. And that wasn’t even the first time that’s happened to me. Given the amount I fly, I don’t exactly have terrible odds, but it does mean I know my way around flight cancellations. Even though the government has decided to open up, broader cuts to TSA, air traffic control, and the dissolution of any consumer protections whatsoever means I’d prepare for the worst when it comes to flight delays and cancellations.

First, never check a bag. Ever. The last thing you want to do while you’re deplaning and scrambling to figure out your options is to worry about luggage. Carry-on bags allow you to be nimble and flexible and get ahead of the madness. Delayed with a connection? I don’t care how many AirTags you put in your toiletry kit, good luck seeing that anytime soon. There are so many other benefits to the One Bag Life™, anyway, so just pack intentionally and ditch the checked bag. This isn’t new advice, but after surveying the airport recently the checked bag crowd is still going strong.

Know your rights as a passenger. If the flight is traveling home from Europe, even if it’s a U.S. carrier like Delta or Alaska, you’re automatically entitled to some cash. On my flight back from France that was cancelled, I had to email Delta and let them hear about it and eventually they sent me $700. Stay strong, don’t let the corporations win!

Get yourself Trip Delay Insurance of some kind. This can come in a few different ways, but the most common is through credit cards like the American Express Platinum or Chase Sapphire Reserve. Yes, I just outed myself as a card-carrying member of the millennial premium credit card gentry, but I’ve used this insurance a surprising number of times now so it’s worth a mention.

The benefit is pretty simple: once your flight has been delayed a certain number of hours or requires an overnight stay, your food, transit, and lodging costs are covered/reimbursed:

Coverage is provided that reimburses an Eligible Traveler for reasonable additional expenses (including but not limited to meals, lodging, toiletries, medication, and other personal use items) incurred for a Covered Trip that is delayed more than six (6) hours, if the Covered Trip delay is caused by a Covered Loss.

…

Coverage is provided that reimburses an Eligible Traveler for reasonable additional expenses (including but not limited to meals, lodging, toiletries, medication, and other personal use items) incurred for a Covered Trip that is delayed more than six (6) hours, if the Covered Trip delay is caused by a Covered Loss.

There is some fine print and each credit card handles it slightly differently, but generally speaking it’s pretty straightforward to submit a claim. I’ve used this benefit at least four times to get food, taxis, and hotels covered during a big delay. It’s even reimbursed me for hotels that I already booked but ended up missing because of a delay. The paperwork is a bit onerous and you need to provide all your receipts/documentation, but it’s still worth a few hundred bucks and some peace of mind.

Gear Talk

Do we like gift guides? I can’t tell, so I’m not sure I’ll make one. Though if you’re shopping for someone (or yourself) this year and are looking to upgrade some travel kit, below are a few things I’d look for:

• The Matador Globerider35 is an easy backpack recommendation to give right now. I took this bag to Iceland this year and was impressed by the way it could handle general travel and hiking. It’s a little over-engineered in some ways (who needs four pen slots??), but overall it’s well built, comfortable, and the perfect size (35L). It’s expensive, but I’d bet Matador does some kind of Black Friday deal, so if you’re intrigued definitely keep an eye out.
• Merino wool is also another easy gift. It’s expensive, there’s no way around it, but after traveling indefinitely for over a year I personally found it will easily pay for itself over time. Unbound Merino continues to be my personal favorite for t-shirts, but the Proof 72-Hour line from Huckberry is slightly more rugged and a little cheaper (especially since they updated the fit). Both will probably have some sort of sale.
• Despite what I thought in my youth, socks are never boring. Darn Tough socks are pretty much the only kind I put in my backpack. They always seem to be discounted around the holidays, check REI.
• For photographers in the Nikon system, my favorite travel lens, the Nikon 24-120 f4, is $150 off right now. The images out of this are just awesome.

And for the ladies, I’ll let Steph tell you about her favorite travel purchase ever:

• I’ve been obsessed with Pashion Footwear for a while now and finally picked up a pair. Convertible heels anyone?? Sure, they’re expensive, but you really get two shoes in one - a flat and a heel (if you’re struggling to imagine what this looks like, check out their website). And they’re comfortable. I walked all over Paris and Arles in a pair of their sandals and could easily transition them to heels for nights out. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say these shoes solved all my problems when traveling out of a small carry-on. Okay maybe a little hyperbolic but I still love them.

I can genuinely tell you I’ve never seen her more excited about anything than she was for these shoes. Anyway, if you want more ideas let me know.

Reading / Watching / Listening

Who Was the Foodie by 

Alicia Kennedy is a great read, especially if you have been close to food media or at least grown up consuming it through the early to late aughts. As someone who often writes adjacent to the food and restaurant world, I think about the idea of the foodie pretty often. Sometimes I’m not quite sure who I’m writing some of my pieces for (everyone on this newsletter, obviously!), because it feels like today’s iteration of the foodie is far more caught up with the scene rather than the context. There are so many good snippets in here, but one of my favorites is:

If all you want is a nice meal on the table, you don’t have to think about the overworked and underpaid farmworkers who made it possible. If you want pop history or recipes, you can gorge on them. This may all be perfectly pleasant. But what’s been lost in the process is the foodie’s potential power as both tastemaker and advocate.

What US Tech Did to Ireland by Jessica Traynor is a familiar story if you’re a millennial and have seen what the tech industry has done to some of the cities we grew up in. I knew of the tech presence in Ireland as a tax haven, but for some reason 2003 is even earlier than I would’ve assumed. It’s sobering to realize how long these companies have been looming around in our lives and shaping our infrastructure and policy decisions.

Talk soon.

Skylar