"America, the big comeback": the new issue of Figaro Voyage magazine

2021-11-08T04:13:55.564Z

Rediscover the United States and the magic of New York, but also find shelters in the mountains, treat yourself to family getaways ... 146 pages of dreams and escape throughout the world, to be found on newsstands and in online today.

On the road again…

Editorial by Bénédicte Menu, editor-in-chief.

To discover

Partner stay in the United States |
17 days |
Discovery of the Western Lands

“Geography models our state of mind,”

wrote Douglas Kennedy, as a preamble to a literary travel journal published in

Le Figaro Magazine,

in the summer of 2011… With an area of nearly 10 million square kilometers, in this immensity which, from the Arctic confines of Alaska to the forests of giant redwoods in California, can only be defined superlatively, could America escape the madness of grandeur? For Kennedy, one thing is certain, it is on the road, the one where Kerouac locates life, that the soul of the United States was forged and that it must be sought.

From his Jeep road trip, an epic crossing from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from his house in Maine to the Bay of San Francisco, the most European of American authors had thus drawn a formidable portrait of his country.

Without make-up, without autoflagellation either, recalling that

“beyond its manifestations of chauvinism and ignorance, it responds to these stupidities with brio, inventiveness and a joyfully ferocious humor;
as such, we are a much more self-ironic society and satirical society than most Europeans realize.
"

“America the big comeback”, the new issue of

Figaro Voyage

magazine

LE FIGARO

America is like that. Paradoxical. Capable of the best and the worst. Symbol of freedom in its infinite horizons, of unparalleled energy in the verticality of its megalopolises, both inspiring and exasperating. A fantasized land of which one should not, of course, be fooled, but whose essence is delivered to those who take the time to explore it.

After 18 long months of closure, America is finally reopening its borders to travelers, adding its 52 states to the map of possibilities. Where to start ? Alabama, on the road to civil rights? A fascinating museum, the Africatown Heritage House, will open its doors there in the spring near Mobile, retracing the story of the 110 African captives who arrived aboard the

Clotilda

, the last known American slave ship. Florida to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Mickey's kingdom? And why not Vermont, which in just a few years has become the greenest state in the country? To the editorial staff of

Figaro Voyage,

the preparation of this special dossier gave rise to many passionate debates.

It was necessary to decide and reserve these discoveries for future publications.

This country is too large to be summarized in a hundred pages.

And then, to each his own American dream.