Hello,
We are Claire and Emmanuel ROBINSON, a brother, a sister, a polyglot, a lover of the French language, a traveler, an epicurean...
After our first intense professional lives, we decided to slow down a bit to share with you our love of our beautiful French regions.
It's been 9 years since Claire took the plunge, and publishes travel guides around the world that have become references for road-trip lovers. For Emmanuel it is a new life that begins!
In all simplicity and independence, we indicate you through this blog the visits which marked us the most, the landscapes which impressed us the most, our most beautiful culinary discoveries...
If you agree, we offer to be your local guides!
Region Lovers
Region Lovers was born in August 2022. Emmanuel was back from a stay in the Lot et Garonne with beautiful experiences in his head, Claire was leaving for new adventures in Spain to enrich her travel blog started 9 years earlier.
It was while walking along the beach in Le Havre, our family home port, that we had the idea of developing the blog that Claire has been writing for the past 9 years, on the French regions.
We have chosen to start with Normandy, where we have our roots, and with the Loire Valley, where Emmanuel lives, but we intend to share with you very soon new regions where it is good to travel and vibrate.
There is so much to say and do...
Our ethics
All our opinions are independent and guided solely by our travel experience and taste.
As we have always done, we have made the choice torefuse any remuneration to tell you about such or such place, hotel or restaurant on our blog. We travel anonymously and pay all our bills at the normal price.
We also try to avoid intrusive advertising to provide you with the most enjoyable reading experience possible.
To allow us to live our passion and continue to bring you the maximum of information, we count only on you:
- by buying us a coffee;
- by purchasing one of our guides;
- by choosing your hotel or car rental through one of our affiliate links (we get a small commission, without increasing your purchase price);
- by following ourrecommendations to purchase items or books related to your trip.
Our ambition:
- inspire you to choose your next travel destination
- to provide you with all the practical information you need to plan your trips
- allow you to get the most out of each of your visits
- Offer you itineraries that cleverly combine places and experiences
- open yourself to experiences that fully engage your senses
Loire Lovers
The Loire is where Emmanuel has been living for 20 years, first in Angers, then in Nantes and now in Saumur! So many opportunities to discover in depth the incredible richness of this natural and royal region!
What we like about the Loire Valley
Do you know many places in the world where you can start from volcanic sites, walk along Renaissance castles, go through beautiful and tasty vineyards , and finally jump into the sea to refresh yourself from this long journey?
Have you ever tasted a Savennière, whose vines grow at the gates of Angers, on a pike-perch from the Loire with beurre blanc... Followed by a Touraine goat cheese mousse with basil ice cream... Before concluding with the famous Nantes cake ? The Loire has been able to put its terroir and its climate on our plates and glasses, and we like that!
But, there are also those who want to hiking on the way to Saint Jacques, starting from Saumur (as Alix de Saint André tells it in his book "En avant, route!"), or doing paddle on the sacred river, or go for a running while admiring the elephant on the island of Nantes...
And for those who love the extraordinary, what could be better than a hot air balloon flight from the castle of Brissac, or a night in a troglodyte cave?
And because we need to rest after all these adventures, we have plenty of choices: sleeping in a castle, on a barge, in cozy guest houses, in a barrel...
Oh yes, one last thing, if you're afraid to bother, there will surely be a theater festival in remarkable sites, an electronic music concert or a contemporary art exhibition to discover.
We love life, diversity, intellectual and culinary delights, discovery... and of course Loire Lovers!
The Loire Lovers community
You will have understood, we love the Loire, and we hope that after your trip, you will come with us to enlarge the community of Loire Lovers!
To inspire you, put a smile back on your face during the grey days and live at the pace of Loire Lovers, all year round, we've opened an Instagram account, TikTok and a Facebook Group. Feel free to share the content with your friends and followers
On Youtube, you will find the little videos that make you feel good.
Finally, stay connected to the Region Lovers community via the e-newsletter, the best way to receive inspiring and useful information directly to your email box.
We try to write the most accurate and complete posts, but this does not protect us from the little mistake that spoils everything... Also, we have opened the possibility for every reader to become an"ouperator!", because "oops, we are sorry for this (small) mistake!"... We are counting on the finicky ones to continue to improve this blog and make it as useful as possible for everyone.
About Claire and Emmanuel (and their family...)
Claire, the tireless blogger
Claire founded in 2013, ZigZagVoyages.fr, the reference blog on roadtrip.
After several years in the health world, notably in Australia, but also in Germany and France, Claire decided in 2013 to devote herself to her passion for travel. From trip to trip, from guidebook to guidebook, from page to page, his little company, ZigZagVoyages, has become a reference for all those who want to plan a roadtrip. Her scientific mind and generous nature, pushes her to give all the advice to be useful to travelers.
She likes to connect with nature, to find the practical advice essential to the traveler, and especially to get up at dawn to enjoy a place in absolute silence...
Emmanuel, the insatiable curious
Emmanuel has accompanied Claire since the launch of ZigZagVoyages, but it is only in 2022 that he decided to leave his job (a little sad...) to devote himself to blogging. Lover of words, authentic epicurean and devourer of all forms of culture, he wants to share with you his discoveries in the Loire Valley, his gastronomic and cultural pleasures. He grew up in Le Havre and lived in Nantes and Angers.
And their wonderful family...
They embarked on the adventure with Eugenie (12 years old), Emmanuel's daughter, who was born in Anjou and shares their love of life. We warn you, she's a real happy chatterbox!
And as "family is sacred", their parents, Hélène and Ernest, come regularly with them, because for tourism and curiosity, there is no age limit!
