Before you call us commies and socialists, simmer down now. This is not a post with a political bent.

Last week we rode from Paris to Nice on the glorious TGV train for 75 Euros one-way. The train ride is about five and a half hours long but if you bring along a good book or your laptop (there are power chargers next to the seats), you can while away the time no problemo. Or you can just stare out the window at the serene countryside and when you get closer to Nice, the Mediterranean Sea.

Even better, most of the coaches are never full so you can move to an empty row which is what we did after our train pulled out of Gare de Lyon in Paris. Can you imagine doing that on an airplane? Are there ever any empty rows on a plane anymore?

Then once you arrive at your destination, you simply retrieve your luggage from the luggage rack and skip out onto the platform and you're free! No yucky airport hassle to deal with.

But now that we're back in America, land that we do love, we're utterly dismayed to find that we cannot travel by train from Los Angeles to Oakland, California in one straight shot. ]]> juliana 2010-09-16T17:04:50-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/12/22/85110/985

Over the last few years, there's been a rash of fashion designers teaming up with travel brands to smarten up the employees with new, name-brand and specially designed uniforms. It hearkens back to the partnership of Braniff Airlines and Emilio Pucci, and these days we think of the Delta Richard Tyler uniforms or the Ted Baker suits and DC shoes at The Hotel on Rivington, but who says that trains can't get into the game as well? France's SNCF trains are proving that they can be stylish as well, since some 20,000 of their train system employees will don new duds from French haute couture designer Christian Lacroix in the next few months.

The new suits, pictured above, are "gray and purple and include blouses, skirts and jackets for women, and pants, jackets and striped shirts for men." We remember back in 2006 when the TGV and Tézo trains got his designer treatment for their interiors, but it's about time that the whole system saw some purple.

The economy has not been kind to Monsieur Lacroix however, since he's recently been reduced to a licensing operation and the haute couture shut down. Good thing he's always got his travel partnerships to fall back on, because he's kind of a veteran at this thing, having designed uniforms for Air France and the interior of Paris' Hotel du Petit Moulin. Now he just needs to design new, funky Velib bikes and a Renault, and he'll have a monopoly on French travel fashion.

Related Stories:
· Lingerie As Uniforms Edition [Chic Report]
· Lacroix Designs Uniforms [WWD]
· Fashion Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: WWD, The Cool Hunter]]]> JetSetCD 2009-12-22T09:08:26-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2008/10/27/13311/328

Firefighters in France cut a passenger out of a train bathroom after his arm got stuck in the toilet. Yes, really.

The traumatized traveler was apparently fiddling with his cell phone when it fell into the toilet bowl. When he tried to fish it out, his arm got sucked into the plumbing, causing a two-hour delay for the TGV making its way to La Rochelle from Paris. Said a witness:

He came out on a stretcher, with his hand still jammed in the toilet bowl, which they had to saw clean off.

A spokesman for SNCF, which operates the TGV, called it "an unlikely accident," though unlikely makes it sound like it's happened before. Considering the state of most train bathrooms we've seen over the years, we'd gladly sacrifice a phone before sticking our arm in the plumbing.

Related Stories:
· Frenchman Delays Train After Getting Arm Stuck [Telegraph]
· Man's Arm Trapped in Toilet [BBC]

[Photo: FaceMePLS]]]> pbb 2008-10-27T13:34:21-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/