Michael Schuermann

Author, "Paris Movie Walks"

The Oligarch's Riviera, a constellation of playgrounds for billionaires and fantasists, does exist, but it is not the whole story.

Stephanie Sarkis, Ph.D.

Psychotherapist, author, www.stephaniesarkis.com

The concept of ADHD as a serious, treatable disorder is gaining strength in France.

Tom Mulhall

Nude Recreation Specialist Owner Terra Cotta Inn Clothing Optional Resort, Palm Springs, CA

Poor Kate Middleton. She was laying near a pool dressed like millions of other English women on holiday -- in just a bikini bottom and a smile -- and now there is scandal and a stampede of headlines all of which seem to ignore just how normal her toplessness was.

Joy Pecknold

Fashion and travel writer, Passport blog editor for Kiwi Collection

'Tis the season to slip on a sweater, tour wine country and taste just-released reds and whites. To help guide the oenological pursuits of others, I polled a few of my fellow travel junkies on where to find the best hotels and resorts in wine country.

Bernard-Henri Lévy

French philosopher and writer

Strangely enough, what I find most shocking in this Richard Millet affair is the reaction of an entire part of the French literary milieu. There appeared this strange, new technique which consists of, above all, not taking sides.

Elizabeth Zephyrine McDonough

Writer, Filmmaker, Actress, Notary Public

10 reasons that France is still cooler than the U.S.

SmarterTravel

Smartertravel.com

For the past year, I've split my time between the office and culinary school, breaking only to dust the sugar off my clothes. Since my training focuses on classical French pastry, I thought it was only fitting to combine my two biggest passions with a visit to Paris.

Vivian Norris

Ph.D. focusing on Globalization and Media Studies

If it is true we are sleepwalking into a depression worse than we have known before, we must wake up quickly.

Rick Steves

Writer of European travel guidebooks and host of travel shows on public television and public radio (www.ricksteves.com)

Europe's most scenic train ride is the Glacier Express across southern Switzerland. The most scenic boat ride is from Stockholm to Helsinki.

Dr. Faheem Younus

Muslim, professor, doctor and philanthropist

Islamophobia in America is not innate. Rather it's the fruit of a decade long hysteria against Muslims generated by a largely Republican machine comprised of Republican pundits, conservative funders, media conglomerates and fiery politicians.

Elizabeth Zephyrine McDonough

Writer, Filmmaker, Actress, Notary Public

Imagine that eerily quiet Thanksgiving Day feeling that happens for one day in America -- but if it lasted for an entire month.

Leigh Flayton

Editor-In-Chief, Arrive

In late summer 1981, an incredible rumor spread among the kids in my small Long Island town: Our seventh grade class was getting a French exchange student that year.

Joshua Franklin

Student, University of Bristol

Political commentators have, as usual, been searching for clues in U.S. presidential history to help predict how the race will turn out. However, it may be that the answers to 2012 are to be found not in the history books, but rather across the Atlantic Ocean.

Georges Ugeux

Chairman and CEO, Galileo Global Advisors and Adjunct professor at Columbia Law School

Mario Monti, the Prime Minister cum Minister of Finance, toured the capitals of Europe to obtain support for Italy, indicating that Italian sentiment would turn anti-Euro without such help.

Barbara Ernst Prey

Artist; Member of the National Council on the Arts

Although I grew up in New York and have lived there for many years, I have a summer studio in Maine. Every summer I pack up and go to paint following the tradition of so many of America's painters from Winslow Homer to Alex Katz.

Oyster

Oyster.com visits, photographs, reviews, and rates each hotel, uncovering the truth before it's "uh-oh" time

Here's a list of our top picks for overnight trips, all less than a two-hour flight from London. Start packing!