I’m having a hard time fathoming how we managed to speed through an entire decade so quickly, let alone a full year.
When 2009 began, ParisienSalon.com was still in development, the world was preparing for the inauguration of the United States’ very first African-American president, and the Euro was worth less than $1.40US. And when I started considering all the changes we’ve seen over the last year, it got me to thinking about what the world was like when we kicked off the decade.
January 1, 2000 was, after all, not just the start of a new decade; it was the beginning of a new century and, at least symbolically, the turn of a whole new millennium. After a night partying like it was 1999 and breathing a sigh of relief that the world’s computers hadn’t been destroyed by the Y2K bug, it was time to get to work.
My first trip overseas in this new decade took place in May of 2001. When I arrived at the airport for my flight, I had a big bottle of water in my bag, all of my toiletries (I never checked them) and my portable CD player (that weighed more than my current MacBook Pro). I stepped through airport security without having to disrobe. Nobody cared if I had a bottle of water in my hand or a pair of travel scissors in my bag. And when I landed in Rome, there were quite a few armed soldiers patrolling the airport. “You’d never see that in the U.S.,” I thought to myself at the time.
The changeover to the Euro hadn’t yet taken effect, and I enjoyed the strength of the dollar against both the Italian lira and the French franc. I bought myself a lovely Francesco Biasia bag from one of his boutiques near my hotel for 300,000 lira, which translated to a little less than $150 at the time. By today’s conversion rates, that bag would cost me $221.93. In Paris, a bottle of water cost me four francs, which was less than a dollar. Today, that same bottle would cost two euros, or nearly $3.00.
A few months later, the world changed forever with the terrorist attacks of 9/11. So did the way we travel. Only a few weeks after the horrible events of that day, I arrived at the airport for a flight to Los Angeles—to find the airport patrolled by dozens of armed soldiers. And security got even tighter after Richard Reid attempted to shoe bomb a flight from Paris to Miami just before Christmas of that year. Shortly thereafter, we learned a new number: 3-3-1.
On the last day of February in 2002, France (and much of Europe) transitioned to the euro. The next day, the euro was worth $.86. That was pretty much the last time the dollar was so strong against the euro. In fact, in the few years, it’s been almost painful to spend money in Europe.
Security lines weren’t the only things slowing down air travel this past decade. We lost the Concorde and thus the only way to get from New York to Paris in under four hours. Several airlines, including Air France, are making plans for bigger airplanes to get us to and from Paris, but there seems to be no hope for faster ones.
As for Paris, well, the only way to sum up the past decade is this: plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. The more things change, the more they stay the same in the City of Lights. Jacques Chirac and smoking in public venues are gone, Nicolas Sarkozy and McDonald’s at the Louvre are in. Controversies and riots come and go in Paris, but the people and places remain firmly in place. Perhaps that’s why we all love Paris so much. We know that no matter how fast the world turns, Paris will always be Paris.
Have a very happy and healthy New Year … and may all your dreams be sweet. See you in Paris in 2010!
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