The IAEA 1568th Board of Governors meeting at the Agency headquarters in Vienna, Austria, in March 2021.
Dean Calma / IAEA
Instagram and TikTok often offer picturesque views of amazing travel destinations that can be worth the visit. However, some travel influencers are posting the reality of getting those perfect shots, and everything is not what it seems. Including in Paris, one of the most iconic travel destinations around the world.
Photographer Henry Wu recently took a trip to the City of Lights with his girlfriend Zory, who is also a photographer and content creator. On Instagram, Wu revealed how hard it could be to get the perfect shot.
Pre-COVID-19, the Eiffel Tower attracted between five and eight million people per year, according to Statista. So if you’re planning on getting that fantastic Instagram shot, you better get there by sunrise. Otherwise, expect to spend a lot of time editing photos.
Another spot the couple hit up on their trip was the Jardin des Plantes, known for its amazing cherry blossom trees in the spring. But for the photo, the two had got there at sunrise before loads of families came.
If you’re interested in seeing the blooming Wisteria at the Grande Mosque de Paris and using it as a colorful background, you better get ready for another early wake-up call. Wu noticed that by 10:30 AM, there wouldn’t have been a shot to get. It’s also worth noting that certain types of photos at a mosque might be considered disrespectful or offensive. So it might be wise to skip the photoshoot and just enjoy the scenery.
So if you find yourself in Paris craving the perfect Instagram content, expect to get up early. If you’re not an early riser, it’s not such a bad idea to go enjoy the sites and take a couple of less than perfect photos. No pressure. 
Breast pumping while traveling can be daunting, especially if it’s your first time. Being successful goes beyond just knowing the TSA regulations and breast milk storage. A holistic approach to traveling with breast milk that considers your comfort and stress level is essential.
As a first-time mother with a job that requires me to travel every few weeks across the US, I had to learn how to pump and store breast milk while traveling. I learned how to pump anywhere, from cozy airport pumping pods to fumbling in convention center bathrooms. There was so much variety in my TSA experiences that I learned the hard way the most efficient and painless strategies for traveling with breast milk by plane.
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Photo: Nor Gal/Shutterstock
The first thing you’ll need before even boarding the plane is a few essential supplies, especially breast milk storage bags. A popular producer of postpartum products like nursing pads and nipple cream, Lanisoh, makes a sturdy and reliable version that doesn’t leak and that has well-marked measurements. You’ll need to store the milk you pump in these bags in order to transport it home.
Some pumps allow you to attach these storage bags directly to your pumping equipment, but you’ll need to check the exact specifications on your pump. Otherwise, you can use the collectors that come with your pump, then transfer the milk into storage bags. Pump brands like Medela sell breast storage systems that simplify the entire process. You might also need an ice pack and a tote to carry the collectors in; Medela also sells a breast milk cooler set that combines all these items.
Here’s how Elisabeth, new mom and editor at Matador Network, prefers to do it: She usually packs four collectors in the Medela tote, along with an ice pack. At the airport and on the plane, she pumps into those collectors (she finds this is much easier to do with the lighter and more discrete manual pump, but the downside is that you can’t pump both sides at the same time with it.)
Once she arrives at her destination, she transfers the fresh milk into the storage bags which she keeps in the fridge. Throughout her stay, she pumps into the collectors and keeps transferring the milk into the storage bags until they’re full (the maximum capacity on most brands is six ounces.) Depending on the length of her stay, she brings at least ten storage bags with her so that she doesn’t run out of space to store the breast milk.
TSA regulations about carrying breast milk are not straightforward, so be sure to review them before your trip. Even better, print them out and carry them with your breast milk as a reference.
Below is a simplified version of what the TSA website states, but remember that even with a reference on hand, you may still go through extended security screenings, depending on the airport.
Because TSA does not explain what a “reasonable quality” of breast milk represents, each security screening may be different.
Note that you can request that TSA agents not X-ray or open the containers of breast milk.
During my first experience flying with breast milk, I filled each breast milk storage bag up to the brim (about six ounces/180 milliliters) and packed them all into quart-sized Ziplocs. Unfortunately, the TSA agent tested each storage bag by opening it and doing a non-invasive scan to make sure it wasn’t a harmful substance and the process was lengthy. While the agent was testing the individual bags, he gave me a piece of personal advice that helped me immensely: Only fill the bags to 100 milliliters (3.3 ounces), at the most. That way, TSA doesn’t have to check each bag individually.
Being keenly aware of my pumping schedule and planning for extra time were the two ways I managed to travel with breast milk smoothly.
Know when you will need to pump, what your hour intervals are between pumping sessions, and the maximum amount of time that you are comfortable going between each one. This will help you greatly when you face long security lines or flight delays. Each body and each experience with pumping is different, so make sure you know what is specific to you before you travel.
However, that’s another reason the manual pump is such a lifesaver while traveling. If you find yourself in a long line at TSA, in a taxi, or another crowded location where you might be standing for a long period of time, the manual pump makes it easier to get that pumping session done without worrying about the bulk of the electric pump. Skipping a pumping session could mean hurting your supply in the long run, otherwise. Thankfully, most electric pumps come with a battery pack, so no matter what pump you choose, you don’t have to worry about scrambling to find an outlet.
Plan for delays while going through security with breast milk. As mentioned earlier, how individual airports deal with breast milk isn’t consistent, and so the only thing you can do is plan for even more extra time than usual, and be patient.
Photo: Luuuusa/Shutterstock
Adjusting to nursing while out in public can take some time. Learning where to pump, however, is less emotional and more tactical: Pumping has more equipment and requires a specific type of space.
At the airport and at some convention centers, I got to use my favorite pumping spot: Mamava pods. These spacious, clean pods were originally created for nursing parents, but work great for pumping too. Many are wheelchair accessible and if you download the Mamava App, you can find their locations wherever you may be. It is a great place to go and pump in peace and not fret about sanitation (they often came stocked with hand sanitizer and wipes.)
On the plane, I found my only options were to pump in the tiny bathroom or in my seat. Try to pump before or after your flight, and if you have no choice but to pump on the plane, bring a blanket, sweater or large scarf for your discretion.
On location, your type of space will vary. Hotel rooms are an obvious pumping locale, and Mamava pods wherever possible are my preferred options. I didn’t always have these options and ended up pumping in convention center bathrooms, often on changing tables in family stalls. Make sure you clean your areas before pumping to minimize contamination risks, and don’t feel guilty about how long you might need the space. These spaces are for you and you’re doing the best you can with what you’ve got.
Photo: Monthira/Shutterstock
Know that refrigerators in hotel rooms are no longer the standard to depend on. If you can, check this before you get to the hotel, so you will know if you will have to pump and dump (meaning you would, as heartbreaking as it is, dump your milk out because there is nowhere to store it) or rent a fridge from the front desk. Depending on where you’re staying, you can request a mini fridge, and specify that you’re using it to store breastmilk — you usually won’t be charged.
If you do use a fridge, make sure the fridge you use is plugged in, stays cold, and isn’t turned off by a certain lightswitch in your room. Also, remember that breast milk can only be in a fridge for four days before it needs to be thrown out. When in doubt, throw it out: contaminated milk isn’t worth the health risks.
If you’re away from your baby for more than four days don’t despair! There are still ways to get your breast milk to them so that it doesn’t go to waste. You can use services like Milk Stork, a breast milk shipping company that will ship your milk home quickly, or you can purchase a cold storage box from Fedex, pack your milk into it, and drop the box at the nearest Fedex store, where it will be delivered to your doorstep within 48 hours.
If you are traveling with frozen breast milk, consider ways to keep your cooler as cold as possible as long as possible. Pack it with lots of frozen ice packs, and pack milk tightly, as air flow will cause your milk to thaw faster. You can minimize gaps between storage bags by using newspaper as packing material and line your cooler with aluminum foil to keep the cool air inside. Keep the cooler closed as much as you can to keep the temperature cold. By following these methods, your milk should stay cool for 24-48 hours.
Conference attendees mingle in the halls of a hotel convention center in 2008. HotelPlanner specializes in group bookings for events.
Dion Hinchcliffe / Flickr.com
In Italy, the phrase prendiamo un caffè – “let’s get a coffee” – is loaded with meaning. From the macchiato you throwback at an opulent bar in Milan to the espresso you savor al fresco in Palermo, getting a coffee in Italy involves engaging with a well-established set of cultural and culinary regional practices.
Coffee arrived in Italy in the late 17th century, entering Venice from the Ottoman Empire. When Venice’s first cafe, Caffè Florian, opened in 1720, coffee consumption became popular among wealthy intellectuals. It wasn’t until the early twentieth century — relatively recently, in fact — that coffee became more widely accessible.
In 1905, Luigi Bezzera and Desiderio Pavoni, both mechanics from Milan, teamed up to improve on the steam-powered coffee machine that launched at Turin’s General Exhibition in 1885. The improvements Bezzera and Pavoni added enabled the water to get hotter and the machine to produce more pressure when brewing. While their machine didn’t produce espresso by modern standards, coffee could be prepared faster than ever before.
This quick-serve style of coffee arrived alongside the industrial revolution. Coffee transformed into an affordable indulgence that exhausted workers could grab running to work. But it took Italy’s economic boom following the second World War for espresso as we know it today to embed itself into Italian culinary culture.
While American money from the Marshall Plan was helping to reboot the Italian economy and increase wages, Milanese engineer Achille Gaggia was building a lever-operated horizontal espresso machine. Not only did the horizontal positioning enable drinks to be briskly passed from server to customer, the machine also exerted nine bars of pressure. This pressure resulted in a frothy cap on top of the coffee, known as crema. Modern espresso had arrived.
Photo: Henk Vrieselaar/Shutterstock
If you’ve visited Italy and tried to order a post-lunch cappuccino, you probably are already familiar with the coffee rituals and routines that Italians revere. Alongside these rituals sit unique recipes, roasters, and drinking styles, all of which vary across Italy’s twenty-one different regions. Being fluent with these nuances is key to enjoying your caffè all’italiana (Italian-style coffee).
Before we delve into these regional traits, we need to establish the coffee protocols that are universal throughout Italy. First, call it caffè, not espresso. Second, milk is reserved for morning drinks – you’ll struggle to find an Italian drinking a cappuccino as an afternoon pick-me-up (bad for the digestion, they’d say). You’ll pay less to drink standing at the bar, as the government controls the price of an espresso to keep it affordable (a 2021 survey says the price of a standard caffè tops out at 1.21 euro in Trento). Drinking at the bar is also a social experience; Italians see coffee as an excuse to chat. This ritual starts in the morning, when people catch-up with friends over colazione al bar (breakfast at the cafe), then continues throughout the day with regular breaks for a pausa caffè (coffee pause).
Photo: Kirk Fisher/Shutterstock
Head to the North – which for the purposes of this article we’ll say extends as far south as Rome – and you’ll be among the country’s most illustrious coffee cities. There are internationally renowned roasters in Turin (Lavazza) and Trieste (Illy), while opulent, storied cafes dot cities from Florence to Bologna.
No matter where you go in the North, there are some key commonalities between the styles of coffee you’ll encounter and ordering strategies you’ll need to get your perfect drink.
The majority of cafes serve only one brand of coffee. In the North it’s frequently Illy or Lavazza, though also common is Caffè Vergnano, which comes from a town outside Turin. While these are reliable options, you should also seek out smaller, regional roasters to sample more unique flavors. Each city tends to boast their own hyper-local roaster, from Caffè Janko in Pavia (Lombardy) to Spinetta in Valdobbiadene (Veneto). Also notable are Caffè del Doge, tucked behind the Rialto Bridge in Venice’s San Polo district, Rome’s Sant’Eustachio near Piazza Navona and Bergamo’s third-wave roaster Bugan Coffee.
These northern roasters tend to favor Arabica coffee beans, which produce a drink with a thick body. The aroma can range from floral to caramel notes, depending on how long the beans are roasted.
Photo: Kcuxen/Shutterstock
Arabica coffee provides an ideal canvas for dessert-worthy drinks. For a chocolate-dusted pick-me-up, head to Milan and order a marocchino, which mixes espresso and steamed milk with a generous dusting of cocoa powder. Turin’s bicerin layers espresso, hot chocolate and milk with a spoonful of whipped cream on top – you can find it across the city, or head to its source Caffè Al Bicerin. Complete your chocolate-coated coffee tour in Padua, where the historic Caffè Pedrocchi serves espresso blended with mint cream and cocoa powder.
There are also more moderately flavored drinks to sample. When in Trieste, opt for a capo in b. Served in a small glass, the drink has more milk than a macchiato but less than a cappuccino. A similar formula is available in the Veneto by asking for a macchiatone. If you’re trying to pass as a local near Milan, you can order your cappuccino by requesting a cappuccio. And for a post-dinner pick-me-up, Livorno in Tuscany offers the potent ponce (punch), which combines espresso, rum, sugar and a lemon peel.
For breakfast around Milan or Turin, order a brioche. This croissant-shaped pastry can be eaten plain, or vuota (empty), but is more likely to come filled with sweet options like crema pasticceria (pastry cream), marmellata (jam, typically apricot) or gianduia (or its name-brand equivalent, Nutella). And if it’s dessert for breakfast you’re craving, seek out bomboloni, sugar-dusted doughnuts filled with pastry cream, or a veneziana, a cream-filled pastry most commonly found around Milan.
Photo: AP_FOOTAGE/Shutterstock
Once you head south of Rome, coffee flavors and rituals transform. Broadly speaking, southern coffee roasters tend to appreciate Robusta beans more than they do in the North. This quick-growing, hearty coffee varietal has a strong, bitter taste. The presence of robusta in the coffee gives the area’s drinks a distinct bittersweet tinge.
Many people choose to accentuate robusta’s flavour by ordering a caffè ristretto, or a restricted coffee. In comparison to a standard caffè, caffè ristretto is made by letting water pass more quickly through the coffee grounds during brewing. While this results in a smaller overall quantity of liquid, the flavour is more concentrated. The resulting coffee is also lower in caffeine since the water has less contact time with the grounds during which to extract it. Most people sweeten their caffè ristretto with sugar.
Naples should be your first stop. Start by popping into a postage stamp-sized bar on Spaccanapoli – a collection of streets splits the historic center in two. Inside, you’re likely to find locals trading quipps about soccer over a caffè al volo (coffee drunk on the run). From there, walk over to Caffè Gambrinus, whose belle epoque interior has hosted leading Italian intellectuals. Splurge on table service to sip coffee elbow-to-elbow with well-heeled locals savoring baba au rhum, Naples’ favorite cream-stuffed, liquor-soaked pastry.
This dichotomy of the grand cafe and the casual bar permeates southern Italy. In Palermo you can bounce between wood-clad Antico Caffè Spinnato and trendy bars in the seafront Kalsa district. Cosenza’s (Calabria) Gran Caffè Renzelli opened in 1803, while in Lecce (Puglia) the cafe Doppiozero weaves together new American cuisine with Italian coffee rituals. And in Bari (Puglia), Martinucci serves traditional pastries among modern decor.
Both types of cafe offer an extensive array of one-of-a-kind, regional drinks. In summer, you can sample everything from a simple caffè sul ghiaccio (espresso over ice) to a caffè shakerato (espresso shaken with ice, milk and sugar). While these are available at bars throughout the south, there are a few more drinks that merit a detour. Head to Lecce to try the city’s iconic caffè leccese, which swaps the simple syrup in a shakerato for almond syrup. And in Sicily, it’s acceptable to order a granita al caffè (sweetened shaved ice with espresso and cream) all day long.
Photo: Andrei Molchan/Shutterstock
No matter what drink you choose, you’ll want to sample the region’s pastries alongside your coffee. While many of the breakfast pastries have the same crescent shape as their northern counterparts, in the South they’re referred to as cornetti. Order a brioche and you’ll receive a yeasted roll, sprinkled with sugar. Like in the North, you can find cornetti with many fillings, but pay special attention to those filled with regional specialties, such as ricotta or pistachio cream.
Southern pastries extend beyond cornetti. In Puglia, sample a pasticciotto. These ingot-shaped cakes combine a thick pasta frolla (shortcrust pastry) exterior with a filling of crema pasticceria, which can be studded with candied cherries or citron. Occasionally you’ll find slices of crostata (tart), slick with apricot jam. And you can even opt for a sfogliatella, a Neapolitan favorite. These can be made either riccia – which involves filling an ultra-flaky pastry with cream – or brioche – stuffed with the likes of cream, chocolate or Nutella.
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Matador Network will be taking travelers to Mexico City and Oaxaca from October 24 to 30, 2021. Venture into the cultural heartland of two of Mexico’s most celebrated cities and join in the excitement of the days leading up to the Day of the Dead festivities! For more details, check out Matador Trips.
An artist as dynamic as Frida Kahlo deserves to have her work showcased in an equally bold setting. Mexico City’s newest exhibition, “Frida: La Experiencia Inmersiva,” lives up to the task.
The installation opened in Kahlo’s hometown last month in celebration of her would-be 114th birthday. Part music and light show, part living diary, and part interactive experience, the exhibition is the latest in the immersive art trend that garnered traction in the past couple of years with the wildly successful launch of the traveling “Van Gogh Alive” exhibit.
Photo: Frida Inmersiva/Facebook
According to Cocolab, the multimedia experience brand that produced the show’s visual effects, “Frida is an immersive, multi-sensory experience that takes the work of artist Frida Kahlo and presents it on a monumental scale accompanied by music, scenography, sculpture, interaction, and digital animation.”
A 35-minute light show illuminates many of Kahlo’s most moving works, including “The Two Fridas” and “The Broken Column.” In total, the installation uses 90 projectors and 50 speakers to breathe new life into the artist’s vision.
Photo: Frida Inmersiva/Facebook
Also included in the exhibition are interactive displays such as “Free Stroke,” which invites visitors to create digital masterpieces of their own, and a “Fantastic Creatures” game room that lets visitors select the subjects from Kahlo’s work that they most identify with. Even the bones of the exhibition space honor the artist’s genius, with thoughtful touches like textured curtains, visuals projected on the floor to mirror the artworks on display, and walls designed to disappear to make the installation feel limitless and larger than life.
“Frida” also immerses visitors in Kahlo’s life. The exhibition is soundtracked by Spanish musicians the artist loved, and it includes narration from her personal journals and letters. This allows visitors to “get to know Frida’s paintings, but with a little bit of familiarity and intimacy,” Kahlo’s great-grandniece Mara de Anda told Agence France Presse. “I believe that Friday was very avant-garde and modern, so this fits perfectly. She was a woman ahead of her time.”
Photo: Frida Inmersiva/Facebook
According to Spanish news organization EFE, Anda also expressed her family’s hopes that the installation will help viewers get to know the woman behind the artwork, “not the Frida who suffered, but the one we know and the one we love.”
This hope reflects the nature of Kahlo’s work. Famous for her self-portraits, Kahlo’s portfolio reads like an autobiography, chronicling her life as a woman, an artist, an influential figure, a person with illnesses and disabilities, and the wife of fellow artist Diego Rivera, whose romance with Kahlo was notoriously complicated.
Photo: Frida Inmersiva/Facebook
“Frida: La Experiencia Inmersiva” is on display every Tuesday through Sunday in the Frontón México entertainment center by Alameda Central, the oldest public park in Mexico City and one that’s fittingly ringed by several must-see museums, including the Museu Nacional de Arte, Museu de Arte Popular, and Museo Mural Diego Rivera. Art-loving travelers in the Mexican capital can experience all of the above on a single outing, then head to La Casa Azul, or Blue House, a museum dedicated to Kahlo housed in the home she once shared with Rivera.
Tickets to the exhibition range between $14 and $18, and shows start on the hour from 10:00 AM to 7:00 PM. For optimal immersion, visitors can download the Frida app, which syncs with the audio-visual performance and offers more in-depth background on the artist and her works.
For US-based Frida lovers, “Frida Kahlo: Timeless,” an exhibition displaying 26 of her paintings, will be taking place in Chicago until September 6, 2021.
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An airplane in an aircraft hangar. IAG, International Airlines Group, sped up its sartup accelerator in 2020. Hangar 51 accelerated 22 startups — its largest cohort yet. IAG
