WELLNESS TOURISM

Meaning Europe faced devastating forest fires this summer, driven by extreme heatwaves, wind and drought. It has been a hard season for many Spanish and French landowners, as wildfires took lives, land and livelihoods. In southwestern France, around Bordeaux, the damage was severe: whole towns and ten thousand hectares of forest turned to ash within days. Other parts of the French countryside went unscathed. A reminder that valuing farmers’ land and their hard work has always been important...

Meaning Hunter-gatherers knew food carried purpose. Eating for survival, certainly, but food connected these people to each other and their environment. Preparing and sharing it built community, passed on knowledge of the land and shaped how they lived with nature. Then somewhere along the supermarket aisle, companies began weaponizing nutritional information, and the function of food has become the focus du jour. Food as a source for pleasure, social connection, or sustenance is not enough....

Meaning Mid-Year Reflections We're halfway through the year already. Midpoints have a way of turning into audits of everything we set out to do: the wishful thinking, the resolutions and the goals. The mind can have a tendency of loudly counting what we missed rather than crediting what we did build, or focusing on highlights rather than how we felt and our own wellbeing. Somehow, it reduces our time to the human doing over the human being. Before stepping into the second half of the year,...

Meaning Across cultures, islands have long represented escape, solitude and survival. By the sea, life is more exposed to the elements, and you quickly learn to adapt to them. Island life tends to be about keeping things simple and finding practical solutions. Sometimes a rediscovery of old ways of doing things. When everything is stripped back to essentials, much of what goes on in the world becomes noise and you make do with what is in front of you. While island life has universal appeal,...

Meaning Birthdays come and go, but certain milestones warrant more significant celebrations. Career accomplishments can fly under the radar but achieving meaningful goals merits reward. Similarly, a wedding anniversary may be acknowledged privately, but being in love is worth celebrating daily. Life’s special occasions; honeymoons, retirement, friends’ reunions and spontaneous vacations, all draw global visitors to The Riviera, a region synonymous with elegance and celebration. All year round...

Meaning Watching the ocean play never gets old. Open water meeting spacious air where clouds are constantly shapeshifting, scattering light. Sky colours mirrored in the water. The temperature and smell of sea breeze. The wind scribbles messages on the surface, currents below respond by shaping waves. Watching slow, billowing swells rising and falling, like deep belly breathing. Undulating movement. Rolling of waves. Repetitively flowing, yet never the same. Expansive movement in all...