👨‍✈️ The Briefing Room:

Notes and open topics from the editor’s desk.

Welcome Departures. The place to be for where to go and what to see. In this edition, we hit the highest restaurant in Paris for one of the best dinners with a view, I take you to my favorite city in Europe and look at one of the best ways to beat your the dreaded analysis paralysis when packing.

So now without further ado, let’s take it away!

Alvin

📰 This Week in Travel:

A TLDR approach to some of the week’s most important headlines.

• Czech Republic removes all Covid related entry restrictions. Effective April 9th, the government will lift all pandemic related entry restrictions. This makes the Czech Republic the 29th country in the world and 14th in Europe to go back to 2019, pre-pandemic travel controls.

• Spanish airline Level returns its direct transatlantic routes to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Picking up where the now defunct Norwegian left off, this route adds to the carriers growing push to become the de-facto low cost long haul carrier for the United States.

• Tourist will now pay more in New Zealand. In what is an ever growing trend from different countries to offset the impact of tourism, the government is taking steps to ensure they attract the right visitors as the country’s borders slowly reopen to international travel.

📸 Destination Deep Dive:

Comprehensive multipart series on a single destination.

France Part 09

Last week on Destination Deep Dive: France Part 08 we visited the terrace at Printempts Hausmann and one of my favorite watering holes in the city. This week we revisit Montparnasse Tower, this time for the highest restaurant in Paris.

Located on the 56th floor of Montparnasse Tower, it offers diners unobstructed views of Champ de Mars, Eiffel Tower and La Defense financial district. Service has always been impeccable. The menu is varied but not overwhelming and definitely a lot more accessible to narrower food palettes. Though I would not go as far as calling it child friendly, the menu options are less likely to alienate anyone like some of the more exotic dining options I typically recommend.

Whether you choose to go for only drinks or multi course dinner, I can guarantee the view will not disappoint. Note that window tables are prime real estate and unfortunately cannot always be guaranteed.   

For menu and reservations:

cieldeparis.com

Next week on Destination Deep Dive: France Part 10 we continue our tour of the best roof tops in Paris.

About Destination Deep Dives

Destination Deep Dives offer a more immersive look at one particular destination in a recurring format over a several editions of the newsletter. It is where I give myself room to explore a broader set of points of interests, for all travel styles and budgets. Think of them as small parts of a larger travel guide. Even though I will be publishing them all together as one guide at the end of the series, you may access them all as individual articles inside their corresponding Departures edition here:

• France Part 01 // Notre Dame

• France Part 02 // La Tour d’Argent

• France Part 03 // La Samaritaine

• France Part 04 // Shakespeare & Company

• France Part 05 // Café Le Procope

• France Part 06 // Square du Vert-Galant

• France Part 07 // Montparnasse Tour

• France Part 08 // Printempts Haussmann

🗺 Bucket List:

Short highlight of a dream destination.

I have personally been obsessed with the city of 100 spires since I was a child. More than any other city in Europe, I would always find myself daydreaming about coming here in what I could only describe as the closest thing to a real life fairytale. It was for obvious reasons one of the very first cities I visited on my very first trip to Europe and in a very surreal twist of fate, the city I was stuck for 6 months when the pandemic locked down the world in March of 2020.

Although the details of that last stay are the subject of an excessively extended blog post I am actively working on, I will just say that to this day, Prague remains my favorite city in all of Europe. Now that the Czech Republic has finally lifted all entry restrictions, I recommend anyone who’s in Europe add it to their bucket list as well.

🧳 Carry-on Only:

Travel experience, tech and accessory reviews.

We’ve all been there. Fumbling through the terminal from one gate to another wishing we had an extra set of hands to juggle all the travel knick-knacks and incidentals that we need to get us through the day. Well a little known company called Riemot has come up with one amazingly simply but clever solution to assist us in a jam. Their Luggage Travel Cup Holder is a foldable storage solution that attaches with velcro to your rollaway’s handle poles and has enough room for your boarding passes, passport, cellphone and a couple of beverages.

via riemot.com

🛠 Hack of the Week:

Tips and tricks for better travel quality of life.

Ever find yourself overwhelmed trying to decide what to pack? There is an app just for that! Available for iOS and Android, PackPoint is a travel organizer that will advice you on the best options based on the weather at your destination, the length of your trip, and any activities you have planned. Take a peek at how it works below:

via: packpnt.com

🛫 About Us:

Departures is a free newsletter about photography, travel & lifestyle. To find out more about what this is, who I am and why should you be here, visit our dedicated about page here:

About Departures