Travel & Discovery
Exploring places, hiking, cities, or cultural experiences abroad.
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If Ardèche in Southeastern France Isn’t on Your List Yet, It Should Be.
I had been wanting to explore Ardèche for some time, so when a good friend and I finally had two days to do it, we knew we would have to be selective. There is far too much to see in one weekend, and trying to do everything would have defeated the point. We chose a handful of villages, left some room for walking and wandering, and knew that at some point we would head towards Villefort for the activity I was most looking forward to: the Via Ferrata above the lake. What I hadn’t expected was how much I would enjoy everything that happened in between. For anyone unfamiliar with…
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Two Kenyan Women — One, the Mother of a Winter Olympian at 1,926 Mtrs in the French Alps.
“A chance connection, a hike to Le Grand Rocher, and a conversation about motherhood, winter sport, identity and who gets to belong in the mountains.” I knew immediately which one was Josephine. We had never met before, but as I arrived at our meeting point in Crolles that Saturday morning, there she was wearing a bright green T-shirt with KENYA written boldly across the front. I laughed to myself as i drove towards her. She had certainly made identification easy. Although, truthfully, I probably would have recognised her anyway. When you spend enough time hiking in the French Alps as a Black African woman, you become accustomed to being one…
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The Mountain I Had Been Warned About: My Journey to the Dent du Chat
Some mountains remain in your imagination long before your feet finally touch their paths. For me, the Dent du Chat was one of them. I had wanted to climb it for the longest time. Its distinctive tooth-shaped summit is difficult to ignore when travelling around Lac du Bourget. It rises above the lake as though keeping watch over the towns, villages and water below. Yet whenever I mentioned wanting to hike it, the responses were almost always the same, “It is very steep.” You need to be careful.” “The final climb is not easy.” The warnings did not make me want to abandon the idea. If anything, they made the…
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Chasing Cool Air: Following an Ancient Mountain Pass Above France’s Heatwave
Another heatwave.By now, the warnings have become part of everyday life in France. Every radio station reminds us to stay hydrated. Electronic road signs flash messages urging people to avoid the hottest hours of the day. Communes check on elderly residents. Windows remain closed, shutters drawn against the afternoon sun. It is remarkable to think that summer has barely begun. As temperatures climbed once again across much of the country, my children and I found ourselves asking a simple question that many families across France were probably asking too: Where can we find cool air? Living in Savoie has one enormous privilege. The Alps are never far away. So we packed our camping…
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Winter Break Between the French Alps and Alsace
When I first moved to France, winter felt like something I was observing from the outside. Snow was beautiful, yet unfamiliar. I did not grow up with ski culture or avalanche forecasts. Instead, I grew up under a different sky.
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Discovering the French Mountains as an African.
When most people think of France, they imagine Paris—cafés, museums, and long afternoons on sunlit terraces. But living in rural France introduces you to something else entirely: the mountains.
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Understanding Immigration and Legal Pathways in France.
One of the most important realities to understand before moving to France is that the country operates through very structured legal pathways. Everything begins with documentation.
