“Responding to the French-American community’s travel needs”

Jean-Francois Drageon arrived in 1981 and has been managing International Travel Brokers - Calparrio since 1986 when he started it. He joined forces with Edith Yhuel in 2005. It was the first French owned travel agency and it caters to the French American community on a variety of products. It gives a personalized and human alternative to the Internet Travel industry. It is nowadays a reference in the transatlantic trips and many other products such as exotic holidays, domestic business trips.

International Travel Brokers and ClubMed have offered the featured auction item for La Soiree. This year, they are donating two tickets and a delightful 7-night stay for two people at ClubMed!

Contact International Travel Brokers at jfd@calparrio.com

Thanks to its creations in silver, Christofle is a symbol of luxury and elegance. Always an influential force in creating trends with collections designed by legendary artists like Man Ray and Jean Cocteau as well as avant garde architects such as Gio Ponti. Today the tradition continues with designs by Andre Putman and Martin Szeskely amongst others. A remodeled store, new collections and new attitude are some of the wonderful surprises that await for you when you visit Pavillon Christofle.

Christofle has generously donated a case of two Scottish cocktail glasses for La Soiree. The set’s Scottish barware pattern features alternating polished and frosted thin bevels cut to resemble a plaid.

Visit www.christofle.com or Pavillon Christofle at 140 Grant Ave, San Francisco

From January 2009, travelers under the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) will be required by the Department of Homeland Security to obtain an electronic travel authorization prior to their departure .

Instead of filling out the green I-94 visa waiver in the plane, travelers from countries exempt from visa requirements - including UE, Japan and Australia - must register online via the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). The new measure is one of the 9/11 Commission recommendations to tighten border security, and is aimed to expand the Visa Waiver Program to more countries.

What you need to know about travel authorization via ESTA:
• All VWP travelers must register prior to boarding a carrier to travel by air or sea to the U.S. under the VWP beginning January 12, 2009
• The electronic travel authorization is valid for up to two years or until the traveler’s passport expires.
• It is valid for multiple entries into the U.S.
• Note that the online registration is not a guarantee of admissibility to the United States at a port of entry. ESTA approval only authorizes a traveler to board a carrier for travel to the U.S. under the VWP.
• The DHS recommends that applications are submitted as soon as an applicant begins making travel plans.

For more information, please visit www.cbp.gov/esta

Pour les voyageurs français, plus d’informations sont disponibles sur le site de l’Ambassade des États-Unis à Paris.

On Sunday, October 12th, the members and prospective members of the FACCSF joined us with their families for a great picnic under the California sun!

It was an unforgettable opportunity to meet each other and network in the beautiful Copia gardens, the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts. A special thanks to Gary McGuire for his gracious welcome, and the delicious catered buffet on the terrace! We also enjoyed the fantastic exhibition of Ira Yeager’s pivotal and transitional works.

While the children played in the gardens, the adults had the chance to taste a large selection of French and Californian wines thanks to Château Lassègue, De Novo Wines and Malbec & Malbec!
We thank everyone who participated in this nice daytrip to Napa during the Columbus Day week-end, and we are looking forward to see you next year for a great outing!

Offer a baby plant to show how green you are!

In a market of ordinary lifeless company gifts, Weeplant™ offers a real and never-seen-before alternative: the Pinky Trees, living baby plants in a customizable 2’’ capsule that you can take with you everywhere. It is the ideal promotional object for companies wanting to support their green communications or create an emotional link with their customers.

Pinky Tree is a living and breathing baby plant that grows in a 2″ ‘capsule,’ aka incubator. It will grow for about 6 months to a year inside its capsule and then will need to be re-potted and join the real world. It needs to be watered once or twice a month by dipping its base into one-inch water for 5 minutes.

There is a large choice of plants to choose from amongst succulents and cactuses.
The capsules can be imprinted with the company’s logo, so are the packaging in order for the company to better communicate its promotional message.

Moreover, thanks to the partnership with American Forest, each time you buy a Pinky Tree™ you directly contribute reforesting the planet.

Find out more about Weeplant’s fantastic gifts here.