100 years ago today: The Great Race

by Jerry Guo on

One hundred years ago on this date, a half dozen or so teams set out from New York on the longest automobile race in history. Six months later, the first team pulled into Paris.

Here’s a colorful account of their epic journey. If you’re thinking, “Boy I wish I could do something that awesome,” well, you can!

This May 30th, 40 teams will retrace the Great Race, except this time they’ll only take 2 months. I just checked on the logistics and details–you travel through a dozen or so countries from New York to Paris, having what I’m sure will be the trip of your lifetime. The only downside?

The entry fee is something like $100,000.

Photo of the Day (02-12-08)

by Martha Edwards on


Quick question: Is this escalator, which leads weary travellers to the deepest Metro station in the Paris transportation network, shot from the bottom looking up or the top looking down? With a bit of consideration, I realize it’s taken from the top looking down, but it’s almost like one of those optical illusions that can go either way.

But that’s only one of the aspects I like about this photo of the Place des Fêtes from Orange Duck–I also love the lines and the urban feel of the shot.

Got travel photos to share? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool and we’ll consider them for our Photo of the Day feature.

This time, a passenger struck a flight attendant

by Iva Skoch on

Just last week, we wrote about a pilot whose mental breakdown caused an emergency landing.

Now, AP reports that a flight from New York to Paris was diverted to Boston last night because a French passenger “struck a flight attendant.” Why? We don’t know. Nonetheless, the American Airlines flight landed safely after 8 p.m. Wednesday night at Logan Airport. The “attacker” was taken into custody.

Is it the cabin pressure that makes people go crazy?

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A commercial airplane with a king size bed? I wonder how much that costs…

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Photo of the Day 1-27-2008

by Catherine Bodry on


When I lived in France, I made sure to try every single pastry available. I took me most of my stay there to get through them all, but sampling those sweet delicacies was a highlight of my trip. This photo, taken by Annie White in Paris, takes me back to those winter days in France where I would warm myself up with a café creme and pain au chocolat fresh out of the oven.

Do you have any travel photos you think might invoke tasty memories? Upload them to Gadling’s Flickr pool and we’ll consider them for our Photo of the Day feature.

Majority of births in France out of wedlock

by Iva Skoch on

Children born to unmarried parents used to be the kind of “lifestyle confined to Paris”. Now, it has spread to rural areas of France as well, making 2007 the first year when the majority of children born in France are born to unmarried couples, according to Bloomberg.

Contrast that with the US, where 37% of children are born to unmarried couples. What this statistic doesn’t show, though, is whether or not they are “unmarried by choice.” Call me crazy, but that makes a huge difference.

In the Czech Republic, for example, a growing number of people don’t get married because they a) do not believe in the institution of marriage and b) get substantial tax benefits by not getting married (e.g. single mothers get generous benefits from the state.)

I don’t know how much that actually says about the “Paris lifestyle.”