Ernestas Tyminas felt “stuck” in his role as a marketing manager at a newspaper in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
So he requested two months off to backpack through Asia, he said, landing in Beijing in January 2019.
“On the first day … I meet this one,” he said, gesturing to Darina Karpitskaya, sitting by his side.
The couple, speaking to CNBC via video from Dubai, said they met via the travel app Couchsurfing, which links solo travelers together. Karpitskaya, 31, and a flight attendant at the time, had been grounded in Beijing for two days because of mechanical problems with her return flight.
Though more solo travelers agreed to meet that day, Tyminas and Karpitskaya were the only two who showed up.
After one day together, they planned to meet again in Asia one month later.
A monthlong second date
Karpitskaya returned to Asia, and the couple’s second date was a “crazy one-month adventure” to Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines, said Tyminas, 29.
It was in the Philippines, he said, that he decided he wasn’t going back to his old life.
“We were … laying on the beach under the stars,” he said. “We were kind of starting to dream about this lifestyle.”
After returning to Colorado, Tyminas quit his job, sold his belongings and moved to Europe, he said.
Karpitskaya wasn’t quite there yet, saying, “At first it sounded like: Oh my God, you’re quitting your job. You’re moving from America. Maybe it’s too soon. But at the same time, when I came back from that trip I felt like I’m living a life that I’m not enjoying.”
A dog in tow
Tyminas flew from Denver to Paris with his dog — an 82-pound Borzoi, once known as the “Russian Wolfhound,” named Cosmo, who is over 6 feet tall on his hind legs.
“They gave me three rows of seats, and the dog was just laying on the floor,” he said.
From there, the couple traveled often — to places like Italy and Iceland — but not yet full time, they said.
Ernestas Tyminas and Darina Karpitskaya have taken his dog, Cosmo, to 26 of the more than 40 countries that they have visited together, said Tyminas. Cosmo is a great networking tool, added Karpitskaya: “We meet a lot of people walking the dog.”
Source: Dream Team Travels
Then Karpitskaya got what she called her “dream job” — a position with Emirates airline. She moved to Dubai, but the couple continued to meet and travel together.
Then Covid hit, and Karpitskaya accepted four months of unpaid leave from her job.
“We said: We have four months — we can go explore whatever is open,” said Tyminas.
The trio — including Cosmo, who traveled in a huge bed in the back of their SUV — traveled first to Croatia, then slowly across much of Europe, including many former Soviet states, said Karpitskaya.
She never returned to her job, and couple have been traveling ever since, she said.
What it costs to travel the world
In the beginning, they spent between $1,000 and $2,000 a month — all from savings — by staying in cheap accommodations, cooking at home and seeking out free activities, said Tyminas.
As money started to dry up, Tyminas took several online jobs, which netted between $2,000 and $3,000 a month, which wasn’t far from his salary of $3,300 in Colorado, he said.
Tyminas said the couple stayed longer in Romania because “we saw how the people are nice … how they how much they have to offer. Sometimes you Google and you’re like: ‘There’s nothing to do here,’ and then you get there and [realize] that’s only because nobody travels here.”
Source: Dream Team Travels
But the work was cumbersome, and it “felt like I still had a job,” he said.
So the couple decided to open a marketing and graphic design company, despite the fact that “we didn’t know a lot,” said Tyminas.
They reached out to thousands of people, they said, often working late into the night. Potential customers would ask, “Can you design book covers?” “Can you promote music?” Tyminas said his response was always the same, “Of course I can.”
In reality, he was learning on the job, he said, relying on YouTube, Google and online research. But clients were very happy, he said.
“They paid me half of what they would pay other marketing agencies and the results, they said, were better than they had before,” said Tyminas.
In the first month, the couple made $6,000, he said. Now, sometimes they earn several thousand dollars in a day working with real estate companies and music labels, he added.
“We write blogs for people — we do everything,” said Tyminas. Plus “we don’t have to report to anybody. We’re our own bosses.”
In the past six months, the couple said they spent an average of $4,000 a month. More than half goes to accommodations, which vary by location — from $3,100 per month in Dubai to $1,500 in Lisbon, Portugal, they said. They limit stays in expensive locations, like Switzerland, to no more than a week, they said.
One way to save money is booking monthlong stays on Airbnb, which cuts down average nightly rates and reduces service and cleaning fees, said Tyminas. But even when they bounced from place to place to visit Europe’s Christmas markets last year, they still ended up paying about $2,500 that month, he said.
Karpitskaya said she doesn’t want these costs to scare people because they spent far less in the beginning. At the time, they spent about 80-100% of their income, but now Tyminas said “we spend about 30% and … save the rest.”
The couple told CNBC they still travel modestly — no five-star hotels — and they still cook most meals at home. But they spend more on activities that they film for their YouTube channel Dream Team Travels — another “completely self-taught” venture, they said.
Hiccups on the road
A life of constant travel isn’t all fun and games, they said.
They encounter dirty Airbnbs and hosts who cancel reservations at the last minute. They’ve also had their camera equipment and clothing stolen twice — once in Mexico, and more recently in France — plus an attempted theft of their belongings from their car in Barcelona, while they were sitting in it.
They have also thought about settling down when they find a place they really love, such as the beaches of Portugal or the French Riviera, said Tyminas.
“But then … we drive somewhere else and we’re like this place is also just as good,” he said.
When Russia invaded Ukraine, quickly occupying the Kherson region where Karpitskaya’s parents live, Tyminas emailed CNBC to say that they’d stopped traveling for the time being.
Tyminas and Karpitskaya (pictured here in Abu Dhabi) stopped traveling at the outset of the Russian-Ukraine war. Karpitskaya’s family is now out of Ukraine, except her brother, who “has signed up to be in the military to defend his country,” said Tyminas.
Source: Dream Team Travels
“The first few weeks we didn’t even leave our apartment,” he said. “We spent a lot of time arranging transportation for civilians as well as many dogs from shelters to be taken out of dangerous regions for adoption in Europe.”
By the summer, they had resumed traveling, but were still helping to evacuate Karpitskaya’s family.
“Just a week ago we were able to finally get Darina’s parents out of Ukraine,” said Tyminas, adding that they are currently in his family’s home in Lithuania. “We also did a trip to Romania to pick up Darina’s sister and her five-month-old baby from the border and took her to live in Germany.”
The couple are now in Malaysia, they said, and plan to explore Southeast Asia for the next two months.
One of the perpetrators of Kim Kardashian’s 2016 Paris robbery has spoken out, declaring he feels no guilt over the crime.
Yunis Abbas is one of 12 elderly men arrested for the burglary, in which Kardashian was bound at gunpoint while the band of thieves now known as the ‘grandpa robbers’ plundered $10 million worth of jewelry from her luxurious hotel suite.
In a new interview with VICE News, Abbas confirmed that he developed the idea for the robbery after seeing Kardashian repeatedly flaunt her jewelry on social media.
‘Since she was throwing money away, I was there to collect it, and that was that. Guilty? No, I don’t care,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘I don’t care.’
He also divulged details of the robbery itself, alleging that Kardashian’s ‘secretary’ attempted to call for assistance – but dialed 911 despite being in France.
‘I don’t care’: Yunis Abbas, one of the perpetrators of Kim Kardashian’s 2016 Paris robbery has spoken out, declaring he feels no guilt over the crime
Before: Kim was bound at gunpoint and robbed of $10 million worth of jewelry in October 2016 while attending Paris Fashion Week, where she is pictured at the Balenciaga show
When asked about celebrities posting about their valuables on the internet, Abbas defiantly argued: ‘They should be a little less showy towards people who can’t afford it. For some people, it’s provocative.’
Kardashian reportedly experienced flashbacks after the robbery, during which she feared she might be raped or murdered.
Abbas acknowledged: ‘You don’t come out of it unscathed. We didn’t expect this. Of course she must have been traumatized.’
When the crime was committed in October 2016, all the men were in their 60s or 70s, prompting the French media to dub them the ‘grandpa robbers.’
Dazzling: One of the pieces Abbas and his gang took was the $4 million 20-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring Kardashian was given by Kanye West
‘Provocative’: When asked about celebrities posting about their valuables on the internet, Abbas defiantly argued: ‘They should be a little less showy towards people who can’t afford it’
One of the pieces Abbas and his gang took was the $4 million 20-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring Kardashian was given by Kanye West.
‘I went on the internet, and it’s true, I saw her jewelry, I saw her ring, I saw that she showed it everywhere, and we knew this information through social media,’ Abbas said while explaining the crime to VICE News.
Back then he was less aware of her than of her husband ‘but I saw one of her shows where she threw her diamond in the pool in that episode of Keeping Up With The Kardashians. I thought: “She’s got a lot of money. This lady doesn’t care at all.”‘
Abbas may have been referring to a notorious episode in which Kardashian lost a $75,000 diamond earring in the ocean in Bora Bora.
Defiant: ‘Since she was throwing money away, I was there to collect it, and that was that. Guilty? No, I don’t care,’ he said with a chuckle
Whoops: Abbas told VICE that his arrest stemmed from the fact that he left some of his DNA on the concierge while tying him up
She worked herself up into hysterics over the earring, exasperating her elder sister Kourtney Kardashian, who drawled: ‘Kim, there’s people that are dying.’
The ‘grandpa robbers’ discovered online that Kim Kardashian was headed to Paris Fashion Week in October 2016 ‘so we went there to do some reconnaissance.’
They successfully traced her to the Hotel De Pourtales in the 8th arrondissement, and according to Abbas they ‘were there from midnight’ the night of the crime.
Kardashian’s sisters had left the hotel that evening with their bodyguard Pascal Duvier in tow, leaving her alone and vulnerable in her suite.
Alone: The robbers successfully traced her to the Hotel De Pourtales in the 8th arrondissement, where reporters are pictured after the crime
‘We got in through the little door that was open on the inside,’ Abbas said. ‘As soon as we got in, we took control of the concierge. We overpowered him. We tied him up. But then we looked for the keys of the bedroom she stayed in.’
He explained: ‘I stayed downstairs, but my two colleagues went upstairs with the concierge to go to Madame Kardashian’s room.’
The men who breached her suite then tied her up, gagged her and threw her in the bathtub as she reportedly pleaded for her life.
When Abbas’ ‘colleagues’ returned downstairs, he said: ‘Madame Kardashian’s secretary called for help. But she called 911 in the United States, which scared us, which made them lose a lot of time. And when we got out, there was a bunch of police outside who didn’t know anything about the robbery.’
Vulnerable: Kardashian’s sisters had left the hotel the evening of the robbery with their bodyguard Pascal Duvier in tow; Kardashian and Duvier are pictured just one day before
While making his getaway by bicycle, Abbas dropped a 30,000€ diamond-encrusted cross, and France 24 reports that hours later it was discovered by a passerby.
However Abbas told VICE that his arrest stemmed from the fact that he left some of his DNA on the concierge while tying him up, allowing the police to track him down, a task made easier by the fact he ‘already had a record.’
Abbas then spent 22 months in prison but was granted a release on health grounds and has since published a memoir of the robbery.
Aomar Ait Khedache, one of the men arrested for the heist, told French police the engagement ring was the only surviving piece of Kardashian’s stolen jewelry.
Hand in hand: Kardashian is pictured with her elder sister Kourtney Kardashian (right) in Paris just one day before the robbery took place
In early 2017, Le Monde obtained a transcript of Khedache’s police interview, where he explained that his gang melted down and sold off the rest of the spoils.
‘For the jewelry never to be recognized, we made a common decision to melt it,’ he said, claiming their loot was taken to the diamond trade hub of Antwerp.
Kardashian later told David Letterman the experience left her so ‘paranoid’ for a year that she would have ‘half a dozen’ guards constantly posted at her Calabasas home.
Last year, five years after the robbery, she revealed she was still so scarred by the incident that she no longer keeps any jewelry at home, even in a safe.
Trauma: Kardashian later told David Letterman the experience left her so ‘paranoid’ for a year that she would have ‘half a dozen’ guards constantly posted at her Calabasas home
‘I can’t sleep if I have jewelry in my safe, or money, or anything at my house. I just don’t live my life like that,’ she said in a Keeping Up With The Kardashians special.
She insisted ‘no expensive items ever come’ to her home and ‘As far as jewelry, if I’m wearing something, it’s borrowed. It’s fake.’
Kardashian claimed she has become a ‘completely different person’ after the robbery ‘in the best way’ by dialing back her materialism.
Prior to the ordeal she ‘had to have the coolest car, the best rims, the best outfit and I thought that I was the s**t because of that. I thought that made me,’ she said.
Terrified: Last year, five years after the robbery, Kim revealed she was still so scarred by the incident that she no longer keeps any jewelry at home, even in a safe
‘The things I valued before that happened were genuinely completely different than what I value now,’ said the reality star, who is now a mother of four. ‘It’s fun to get dressed up and all this, but like, things don’t make me.’
Last November the 12 ‘grandpa robbers’ were indicted on various charges in connection with the Paris jewel heist that sent shockwaves around the world.
French law shields Kardashian from having to be cross-examined, meaning she will not have to face her accused assailants in court.
Until this worldwide outbreak, monkeypox was usually spread by infected rodents — including rats, mice and even squirrels — in west and central Africa.
Humans can catch the illness — which comes from the same family as smallpox — if they’re bitten by infected animals, touch their blood, bodily fluids, or scabs, or eat wild game or bush meat.
The orthopoxvirus, which causes monkeypox, can enter the body through broken skin — even if it’s not visible, as well as the eyes, nose and mouth.
Despite being mainly spread by wild animals, it was known that monkeypox could be passed on between people. However, health chiefs insist it was very rare until the current outbreak.
Human-to-human spread can occur if someone touches clothing or bedding used by an infected person, or through direct contact with the virus’ tell-tale scabs. The virus can also spread through coughs and sneezes.
In the ongoing surge in cases, experts think the virus is passing through skin-to-skin contact during sex — even though this exact mechanism has never been seen until now.
How deadly is it?
Monkeypox is usually mild, with most patients recovering within a few weeks without treatment.
Yet, the disease kills up to 10 per cent of cases. But this high rate is thought to be in part due to a historic lack of testing meaning that a tenth of known cases have died rather than a tenth of all infections.
However, with milder strains the fatality rate is closer to one in 100 — similar to when Covid first hit.
The West African version of the virus, which is mild compared to the Central African strain, is behind the current spread. No deaths have been reported as part of the ongoing outbreak.
How is it tested for?
It can be difficult to diagnose monkeypox as it is often confused with other infections such as chickenpox.
Monkeypox is confirmed by a clinical assessment by a health professional and a test in the UK’s specialist lab — the UKHSA’s Rare and Imported Pathogens Laboratory.
The test involves taking samples from skin lesions, such as part of the scab, fluid from the lesions or pieces of dry crusts.
What are the symptoms?
It can take up to three weeks for monkeypox-infected patients to develop any of its tell-tale symptoms.
Early signs of the virus include a fever, headache, muscle aches, backache, swollen lymph nodes, chills and exhaustion — meaning it could, theoretically, be mistaken for other common illnesses.
But its most unusual feature is a rash that often begins on the face, then spreads to other parts of the body, commonly the hands and feet.
The rash changes and goes through different stages before finally forming a scab, which later falls off.
How long is someone contagious?
An individual is contagious from the point their rash appears until all the scabs have fallen off and there is intact skin underneath.
The scabs may also contain infectious virus material.
The infectious period is thought to last for three weeks but may vary between individuals.
What do I do if I have symptoms?
The UK Health Security Agency advises Britons to contact their sexual health clinic if they have a rash with blisters and have been in close contact with a suspected or confirmed monkeypox case or have been in West or Central Africa in the last three weeks.
Britons are asked to contact clinics ahead of their visit and avoid contact with others until they have been seen by a medic.
Gay and bisexual men have been asked to be especially alert to the symptoms as most of the cases have been detected in men who have sex with men.
What even is monkeypox?
Monkeypox was first discovered when an outbreak of a pox-like disease occurred in monkeys kept for research in 1958.
The first human case was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the infection has been reported in a number of central and western African countries since then.
Only a handful of cases have been reported outside of Africa and they were confined to people with travel links to the continent.
The UK, US, Israel and Singapore are the only countries which had detected the virus before May 2022.
Monkeypox is a rare viral infection which kills up to one in ten of those infected but does not spread easily between people. The tropical disease is endemic in parts of Africa and is known for its rare and unusual rashes, bumps and lesions (file photo)
Nurses and doctors are being advised to stay ‘alert’ to patients who present with a new rash or scabby lesions (like above)
Is it related to chickenpox?
Despite causing a similar rash, chickenpox is not related to monkeypox.
The infection, which usually strikes children, is caused by the varicella-zoster virus.
For comparison, monkeypox — like smallpox — is an orthopoxvirus. Because of this link, smallpox vaccines also provide protection against monkeypox.
Are young people more vulnerable?
Britons aged under 50 may be more susceptible to monkeypox, according to the World Health Organization.
This is because children in the UK were routinely offered the smallpox jab, which protects against monkeypox, until 1971.
The WHO also warns that the fatality rate has been higher among young children.
Does it spread as easily as Covid?
Leading experts insist we won’t be seeing Covid-style levels of transmission in the monkeypox outbreak.
A World Health Organization report last year suggested the natural R rate of the virus – the number of people each patient would infect if they lived normally while sick – is two.
This is lower than the original Wuhan variant of Covid and about a third of the R rate of the Indian ‘Delta’ strain.
But the real rate is likely much lower because ‘distinctive symptoms greatly aid in its early detection and containment,’ the team said, meaning it’s easy to spot cases and isolate them.
Covid is mainly spread through droplets an infected person releases whenever they breathe, speak, cough or sneeze.
How is the UK managing the outbreak?
MailOnline revealed monkeypox patients and their close contacts, including NHS workers, are being offered the Imvanex smallpox vaccine.
The strategy, known as ring vaccination, involves jabbing and monitoring anyone around an infected person to form a buffer of immune people to limit the spread of a disease.
Additionally, close contacts of those with a confirmed monkeypox infection are being told to stay at home for 21 days and avoid contact under-12s, immunosuppressed people and pregnant women.
The Government said unprotected direct contact or high risk environmental contact includes living in the same house as someone with monkeypox, having sexual contact with them or even just changing their bedding ‘without appropriate PPE’.
As with Covid, someone who has come within one metre of an infected person is classed as a monkeypox contact.
This lower category of contact, which also includes sitting next to a person with monkeypox on a plane, means a tracer will call the person every day for three weeks and they will be advised to stay off work for 21 days if their job involves children or immuno-suppressed colleagues.
The UK has stopped short of requiring people by law to quarantine if they develop monkeypox, but ministers are considering a public health campaign to alert gay and bisexual men, because of the number of cases in this group.
What if it continues to spread?
Experts told MailOnline they ‘could see a role’ for a targeted jab rollout to gay men in the UK ‘if this isn’t brought under control quickly’.
Close contacts of the UK’s known cases are already being offered the jab, which was originally designed for smallpox. The two rash-causing viruses are very similar.
A health source told MailOnline ‘there would be a number of strategies we’d look at’ if cases continued to rise.
Professor Kevin Fenton, London’s public health regional director, said if the outbreak in the capital continues to grow then the rollout of vaccines and treatments could be broadened to more groups.
He said there are ‘plans in place’ to have more antivirals if the outbreak keeps growing.
What other countries have spotted cases?
More than 40 countries — including the US, Spain and Italy — have detected cases of monkeypox.
The most cases have been detected in the UK, Spain, Portugal, Canada and Germany.
There are a handful of antivirals and therapies for smallpox that appear to work on monkeypox, including the drug tecovirimat, which was approved for monkeypox in the EU in January
Is there a vaccine for it?
The smallpox vaccine, called Imvanex in the UK and Jynneos in the US, can protect against monkeypox because the viruses behind the illnesses are closely related.
Data shows it prevents around 85 per cent of cases, and has been used ‘off-label’ in the UK since 2018.
The jab, thought to cost £20 per dose, contains a modified vaccinia virus, which is similar to both smallpox and monkeypox, but does not cause disease in people.
Because of its similarity to the pox viruses, antibodies produced against this virus offer cross protection.
Are there any drugs to treat it?
There are a handful of antivirals and therapies for smallpox that appear to work on monkeypox.
This includes the drug tecovirimat, which was approved for monkeypox in the EU in January.
Tecovirimat prevents the virus from leaving an infected cell, hindering the spread of the virus within the body.
An injectable antiviral used to treat AIDS called cidofovir can be used to manage the infection, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
It also works by stopping the growth of the virus.
Authorities have not released the suspect’s name and nationality. The investigation was launched on Tuesday.
The woman, a 27-year-old American female tourist, was raped last weekend in a public restroom in the 4th arrondissement in central Paris, a source close to the case told CNN. The source spoke on the condition of anonymity due to professional norms.
French police declined to tell CNN when the arrest took place as the case is already in legal process.
The area of the attack is a tourist hotspot where many famous landmarks in the French capital can be found, including Notre Dame and Centre Pompidou.
Paris has been conducting special police operations near major attractions this summer. Between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning, Paris police conducted 16 questionings and inspected more than 60 people near the Eiffel Tower, according to a statement from the police.
An American woman was raped in a public toilet in the bustling heart of Paris’ tourist district Saturday.
The 27-year-old was walking with a boyfriend on the River Seine across from Notre Dame Cathedral when she stopped to use a public bathroom around 1 a.m., according to The Sun.
“It is well lit, and there were plenty of people around, but the woman’s partner became concerned when she remained inside for a long time,” a source told the paper.
Her boyfriend then approached the toilet, heard her cries and reportedly witnessed the attack.
The victim managed to break free from her attacker, who was detained by her companion and other women in the bathroom before police arrived, according to the outlet.
The 23-year-old suspect denied wrongdoing and claimed he had a “consensual arrangement with the woman,” according to the report.
He was charged with rape and remained in custody while the victim was treated at a hospital before returning to the states.
She remained in touch with French police and prosecutors.
The singer turned 53 on Sunday and celebrated her special day by enjoying a romantic stroll in Paris with her new husband, Ben Affleck.
The newlyweds looked smitten as they were spotted cuddling up close while walking in front of the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the courtyard of the Louvre on Sunday.
The newlyweds took a stroll through Paris for the singer’s birthday.AbacaPress / SplashNews.com
The birthday girl – who also launched her new JLo Body booty balm on Sunday – turned heads in a stunning red dress that featured a keyhole neckline. She completed the look with a matching purse and sky-high nude stilettos.
Meanwhile, Affleck, 49, kept it classy and casual, sporting dark slacks and a blue button-down shirt.
The iconic pair walked past the similarly iconic courtyard of the Louvre on Sunday.GC Images
We’re told Lopez and Affleck have been staying at the Hôtel de Crillon on the Champs-Élysées, home to the iconic fashion district off of the Right Bank of the Seine.
An eyewitness told Page Six that the pair walked through the Jardin des Tuileries, popped into eatery LouLou Paris for lunch and checked out Dior’s new brick-and-mortar showroom-cum-exhibition space, dubbed La Galerie Dior.
On the way back to their hotel Saturday night, the lovebirds stopped for ice cream at the lux French sweet-treat purveyor Berthillon.Best Image / BACKGRID
One night prior, the lovebirds also enjoyed a romantic dinner in the City of Light. We’re told they dined at rooftop restaurant Plénitude at the Cheval Blanc hotel and stopped for ice cream at Berthillon on the Île Saint-Louis on their way home.
The amorous-looking getaway followed Bennifer 2.0’s Las Vegas wedding on July 16 at A Little White Chapel. Minister Ryan Wolfe, who oversaw the nuptials, exclusively told Page Six that Affleck “gasped” as his blushing bride walked down the aisle.
The two tied the knot in Las Vegas earlier this month.Best Image / BACKGRID
“He watched her walk down the aisle and you could just tell he was like, ‘Wow, woah,’” Wolfe told us. “You could tell he was definitely just in the moment.”
Lopez confirmed she tied the knot with Affleck via her “On the JLo” newsletter one day after their intimate nuptials.
Silver balloons could be seen in the window of Hôtel de Crillon over the weekend.Best Image / BACKGRID
“We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” she wrote, describing the ceremony as “Exactly what we wanted.”
The two stars famously met in 2002 on the set of 2003’s “Gigli,” while Lopez was still married to her second husband, Chris Judd. The “Hustlers” star filed for divorce from Judd in July 2002, around the same time she and Affleck were first seen canoodling in public.
Lopez and Affleck were previously engaged in the early 2000s.Best Image / BACKGRID
Lopez and Affleck were engaged just months later, but eventually called it quits in January 2004 before rekindling their romance last year.
In the interim between their whirlwind early aughts romance and the two tying the knot this month, Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005 while Lopez wed singer Marc Anthony in 2004.
The singer legally changed her name to “Jennifer Affleck” following the nuptials. OnTheJlo
Lopez birthed twins Emme and Maximilian in 2008 before divorcing Anthony in 2014.
Not long after, Affleck and Garner, who share kids Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10, got divorced in 2015.
Mr. and Mrs. Affleck have made a trip to an iconic French landmark.
The celeb newlyweds were spotted out in Paris today, continuing their honeymoon with lunch and some shopping on Lopez’s 53rd birthday. In photos taken during their stroll outside the Louvre Museum, the couple look inseparable, either walking arm in arm or holding hands.
The “Jenny from the Block” singer embraced the Barbie-core trend with her hot pink halter gown, which featured a plunging neckline, a circular cutout at her midsection, and a flowing midi-length skirt. She also wore nude platform heels with clear straps, and her accessories included large gold earrings, a gold chain necklace with multiple coin pendants, and a matching pink square-shaped bag.
The Argo director looked cool in a light blue shirt and navy trousers, paired with brown boots and a silver watch.
Pierre SuuGetty Images
Pierre SuuGetty Images
Bennifer have been spotted all over Paris this weekend, as they and their blended family jetted off to the City of Love days after the couple’s surprise wedding last weekend. Lopez confirmed that the couple were married at A Little White Wedding Chapel in Vegas this past Saturday night, sharing details of the midnight ceremony in her newsletter, On the Jlo. She also revealed that she changed her legal name to Mrs. Jennifer Affleck.
While the familymoon has included sightseeing outings with their children, the newlyweds have also taken time to themselves. On Saturday night, they stepped out for a romantic dinner and trip to an ice cream shop. For the dinner, the pop star wore a full-length floral gown, featuring gold detailing, pleating, ballooned sleeves, and a modest train. The filmmaker coordinated in a classic gray suit featuring a subtle blue plaid pattern.
Pierre SuuGetty Images
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Wow! Philipsen’s second stage win of the race is sealed in Paris! Back down the road, Jumbo-Visma ride across the finish line in formation. Jonas Vingegaard safely negotiates the final stage and wins his first Tour de France.
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Judging by the relentless nature of this Tour de France, it wouldn’t be too much of a surprise to see Tadej Pogacar massing UAE Team Emirates on the front of the peloton in Paris, rejecting tradition and attacking with all they’ve got to try and overhaul Jonas Vingegaard and Jumbo-Visma for the overall win.
But it’s unlikely, of course: barring catastrophe the GC battle is done and dusted following Saturday’s stage 20 time trial when Vingegaard again showed himself to be the strongest of the overall contenders. He leads Pogacar in the GC by 3min 34sec. The Danish rider’s win on the Col du Granon on stage 11, when Jumbo-Visma threw everything (kitchen sink included) at Pogacar, turned out to be the decisive moment of the race, and the day that the Slovenian’s previous dominance evaporated. After Vingegaard’s man-marking job on Pogacar in the following stages, champagne flutes will be out for Jumbo-Visma on today’s largely ceremonial trip from Paris La Défense to the iconic Champs-Élysées.
Plenty to fight for, however: mainly a prestigious Paris sprint victory for the fast men who bravely battled through the mountains. Who will be on the top step of the podium for stage 21? We’re about to find out.
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Key events
On the podium.
Jumbo-Visma’s Jonas Vingegaard holds his daughter Frida on the podium. Photograph: Thomas Samson/AFP/Getty ImagesThe top three. Photograph: Thibault Camus/APWout Van Aert with his son Georges. Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images
Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) has a chat and is asked about his stage 13 win: “It was definitely one of the last options for me in this Tour. I planned to go all in for the first week, but I was a little bit sick before, so to have this stage win is absolutely amazing …
“Cycling is the new national sport in Denmark. It’s absolutely crazy … of course with the start in Copenhagen it was really special for all of us. And to see all these people on the road, we didn’t expect that, not that many people. Of course with Jonas in the yellow jersey it makes cycling grow even more, and now we see half the Danish people here, so that’s pretty amazing.”
Vingegaard, the champion, speaks while holding his young daughter: “It’s just incredible. I mean, now I’ve finally won the Tour. Now nothing can go wrong anymore and I’m sitting with my daughter, and it’s just incredible.
“It’s just incredible, it’s the biggest cycling race of the year, and it’s the biggest one you can win, and now I’ve done it, and no one can take this away from me.
“I always had the feeling that at least I could fight for the win. But I think yeah, in the end, when I really started believing was after Hautacam. I mean, I always believed in it, but then I was really thinking: something has to go almost wrong before I don’t win, that was after Hautacam.”
He is asked about seeing all the Danish fans: “That was really incredible for me. So many Danes here, so many Danes arrived to see me ride in the yellow jersey. I appreciate it so much and I have to say thank you to every Dane who’s here and that has been cheering for me for three weeks now, it means everything to me.”
How will he celebrate? “Tuesday I have to go to Holland … Wednesday in Copenhagen, Thursday in the town I live in, and Friday I’ll be on the couch for one week.
“Of course I’m super happy about my victory now. Of course now I want to celebrate, relax, but then I also want more, yes.”
“Where’s my make-up,” asks south London’s Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) when he appears for a chat on Eurosport. “I’ve loved it. I loved it last year, but to be that percentage or so stronger, and be able do stuff in the races, it’s been so much fun … You get so wrapped up in it. It’s only when you look at your phone afterwards that you’re like: ‘Oh yeah, actually, this is the Tour de France’.
“You’re trying to get me a bit emotional again … it’s great, I’ve loved every minute of it. Even the mountains: it’s suffering, but it’s beautiful suffering. It’s been great – I’m happy.”
Peter Sagan speaks! He is asked about the final sprint on Eurosport. “Pretty messy … On the last turn my chain dropped … I started my sprint but Jakobsen was in the front. His chain dropped out … I came over, I gained some positions, but in the end it was not enough.”
There you go: Jaksobsen dropped his chain, says Sagan, which explains why he was nowhere in the end.
How was his Tour? “For me it was quite easy. A lot of years I was dealing with media every day, podium, I did it with green jersey … interview stuff, people around the hotel … just quite good. The average speed was high, every day full gas.”
And what about his performance? “It could be better, it could be worse, that’s life. No victory but I’m here, I finished. It’s quite special [in Paris].
“Wout van Aert is like some kind of new level. If you see his results in Tour de France, it’s very impressive. Sprint, time trial, climb … I don’t know why he doesn’t go for yellow jersey … it looks like easy, he can go [for yellow].”
The outgoing champion, Tadej Pogacar, speaks about his late attack on the final lap in Paris: “It was kind of funny. Thomas and Ganna on the right side, me on the left. Fuck, it was funny, because I said to Pippo [Ganna] two kilometres before, I said to him: “We go for an attack?” And we were sprinting against each other. And i think I was just dead by the Triomphe, on the roundabout, finished.”
Philippe Gilbert, after riding his final Tour stage, speaks to Eurosport: “Happy to be in Paris. It was a tough tour, really difficult, and I’m happy to have made it.”
What made it difficult? Wout van Aert? “Yeah. Pretty much him. No, the speed was crazy, out of control. We went with a plan every day, and it ended up with the opposite. Some days we thought it would be controllable, with a nice [breakaway] group like it used to be, but it would end up with a crazy strong group to chase, and finishing with almost 50 [km/h] average. It was dry every day, so it means fast. A lot of tailwind, so it was really fast, fast.
“It’s nice when you can decide yourself, when you stop. That’s my decision and I’m happy to take it. I enjoyed also today. It was nice, yeah.”
Bradley Wiggins remembers rooming with Gilbert 20 years ago when they rode for Française des Jeux. “I never imagined you’d go on to have the career you had. You’ve won everything there is to win in the sport.”
“The same for me about you,” Gilbert replies. “We achieved our goals, I won the one-day races and you won the stage races.
“My career is not over,” the legendary strong man Gilbert concludes. “I want to rest now, and finish on a good note, I hope to win one more race this year.”
Simon Geschke has a chat with Eurosport: “It was a really fun time in the mountains jersey … if I’d lost it after two days, I’d have been like: ‘That was fun’. But the longer you keep it, the longer you start believing that you can take it all the way to Paris. I thought I had a realistic chance, actually, but on the last mountain stage I made a few mistakes here and there probably. In the third week the energy levels reached their limits and that was it.”
“Too bad, but that’s part of the sport. The head wanted it more than the legs, but at least I got to wear it to Paris. Kind of a strange feeling, but still nice for the pictures, I guess. It’s a privilege to wear a jersey in the Tour de France. For sure I enjoyed it today also although I was only second in the mountains classification … it’s sort of a little achievement, as well.”
Simon Geschke (Cofidis) in polka-dots. Photograph: Tim de Waele/Getty Images
Surely you have to question why Groenewegen sprinted so early? It looked like a bit of panic. All he was likely to do was lead out Philipsen, or Ewan, or Sagan, or AN Other. As it happened, Philipsen was in the perfect position to benefit, right on Groenewegen’s wheel. And it was an utterly dominant win by Philipsen in the end. No doubt Mark Cavendish is sitting at home and thinking he could have won that. It was a bad day for both Quick-Step and Jakobsen, who didn’t feature at all.
Today’s stage winner Philipsen speaks: “I cannot believe [it], it’s a childhood dream coming true, this will take a while to realise. I’m just super-proud of the team, that we finished the Tour like this, it’s the cherry on the cake.
“I think it [the final kilometre] went ideal for me. I was in a great position. I think Dylan was forced to launch early and I could really stay in his wheel and do my final sprint when I wanted … I’m super happy and proud that I could win in this Champs-Elysees, the dream of any sprinter.
“It couldn’t be better. We had some disappointments earlier this Tour, things that went not the way we wanted. But to finish off in style like this, to win stage 15 and then again on 21, on the most beautiful stage for a sprinter, it’s just unbelievable.”
Kristoff (who finished third) sums up the final sprint: “Unfortunately there was a big movement maybe 300m to go, everybody had to stop pedalling a bit, and we lost a bit of momentum, otherwise I think we could have been closer to Jasper … anyway I’m happy with third place. Caleb was maybe a bit angry with me, but I felt I was fair, I made a straight line. I got the wheel of Groenwegen and Caleb was a bit boxed in because of that, but that’s not my fault.”
On the final straight, Luka Mezgec took up the leadout for BikeExchange on the left-hand side. trying to set up Groenewegen. Ewan looked pretty much in perfect position but was ultimately boxed in and didn’t even bother to sprint. Groenewegen was second, Kristoff third, Stuyven fourth and Sagan fifth!
Philipsen got on Groenewegen’s wheel – the BikeExchange–Jayco rider went early – and Philipsen timed it perfectly, completely dominating his rival in the final metres after springing out from behind him and heading for the clear road on the right. Ewan looked unhappy to be boxed in by Kristoff. A really bad Tour de France for the Australian and for Lotto Soudal.
Jasper Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) wins Tour de France Stage 21!
Wow! Philipsen’s second stage win of the race is sealed in Paris! Back down the road, Jumbo-Visma ride across the finish line in formation. Jonas Vingegaard safely negotiates the final stage and wins his first Tour de France.
Alpecin-Deceuninck team’s Belgian rider Jasper Philipsen celebrates winning the stage. Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
1km to go: Thomas (Cofidis) attacks!
2.5km to go: Ewan is well placed for Lotto Soudal and has teammates around him. Philipsen (Alpecin–Deceuninck) is right up there. Jakobsen is going to have a say, too …
3.5km to go: Politt leads for a while then pops and drops back. Simmons is there for Trek-Segafredo and Pedersen … The peloton speeds towards the famous tunnel for one final time.
5km to go: Around the Arc for the final time. Ineos are on the front with Ganna. Trek-Segafredo are massed near the front. Politt is up there for Bora. BikeExchange working for Groenewegen. It’s all happening.
6.3km to go: Thomas and Ganna attack on the left for Ineos! Pogacar attacks off the front on the other side of the road! Pogacar isn’t letting his Tour de France crown go without at least reminding us all that he still exists!
7.5km to go: The riders round the right-hand bend which leads up to the start-finish line for the penultimate time. The Arc de Triomphe is visible in the distance. As the bell sounds for the final lap, Schachmann and Rutsch are overwhelmed by the charging peloton. The crowd roars! We are all back together!
8.5km to go: And then there were two. Schachmann and Rutsch are up front together, the two Groupama-FDJ riders having fallen out of it.
9km to go: HUGE ride by Schachmann of Bora-Hansgrohe, on the front again and stamping on the pedals as hard as he can. He has clearly ridden himself into some very good form at this Tour.
11km to go: Schachmann does another turn, then flicks his elbow to ask Jonas Rutsch to have a go. The turns at the front are becoming shorter and shorter as the fatigue really sets in. Are the sprinters’ teams just holding off a touch? No – the gap is now six seconds.
12km to go: Cracking ride by the four up front, this is. They are holding the peloton at around 10sec as they round the Arc de Triomphe. Mind you, the four is now down to three: Le Gac’s tank is empty and he drops back to the bunch.
15km to go: The break’s advantage drops to under 10 seconds. They will be getting swallowed up before too long. Looking grim-faced, Schachmann puts in another desperate dig to try and keep away. These guys are basically sprinting now to try and keep their advantage … and it does creep back up to 11sec to mark the effort they are putting in.
18km to go: Doull has been dropped by the escape group so they are down to four. The gap is holding at 15sec. Le Gac and Duchesne, the Groupama-FDJ teammates, take it up at the tête de la course.
19km to go: The likes of Lotto Soudal are working desperately to set up a sprint. Their sports directors will be yelling down the team radios and no mistake. But will they simply be setting up the likes of Wout van Aert to win in Paris again? If as expected it’s a big bunch sprint, surely Jakobsen or Ewan will have the raw speed to win it …?
How about Alexander Kristoff (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert Matériaux), a man who has won in Paris before, and who tends to excel when everyone else is knackered?
Jonas Vingegaard, wearing the overall leader’s yellow jersey, passes the Louvre Museum Photograph: Bertrand Guay/AP
20km to go: Here we go. Into the final 20km of a truly epic Tour de France. The advantage for this five-man break is 15sec.
The riders in the break are Schachmann, Duchesne, Rutsch, Le Gac and Doull.
21km to go: #LargelyCeremonial
You get a different perception of the Largely Ceremonial and Processional Paris stage when you’re actually there. It’s unbelievable how fast the riders go on the circuit, and it’s exhilarating to see. Plus, Paris is the greatest city in the world.
— Edward Pickering (@EdwardPickering) July 24, 2022
You get a different perception of the Largely Ceremonial and Processional Paris stage when you’re actually there. It’s unbelievable how fast the riders go on the circuit, and it’s exhilarating to see. Plus, Paris is the greatest city in the world.
— Edward Pickering (@EdwardPickering) July 24, 2022
22km to go: Boasson Hagen has a mechanical and grabs a replacement bike. That’ll be another lung-bursting effort to get back into the peloton, let alone do anything to try and lead out his teammate Peter Sagan.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are officially on their honeymoon, and the destination is…Paris! A perfect location filled with amazing food, romance, and the memories of Mary-Kate and Ashley frolicking around in Passport to Paris.
TMZ broke the news that Bennifer had flown to Paris following their Las Vegas wedding, and posted pics of them grabbing dinner on Thursday night which you can see over this way.
Bennifer got married on July 16, so clearly this Paris trip is a Honeymoon (or mini-moon?) related. Either way, a very dreamy location.
In case you missed it and/or don’t subscribe to On The JLo, Jennifer released a newsletter chatting about her and Ben’s big day (literally 20 years in the making), saying in part “We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient. Exactly what we wanted. Last night we flew to Vegas, stood in line for a license with four other couples, all making the same journey to the wedding capital of the world. Behind us two men held hands and held each other. In front of us, a young couple who made the three-hour drive from Victorville on their daughter’s 2nd birthday—all of us wanting the same thing—for the world to recognize us as partners and to declare our love to the world through the ancient and nearly universal symbol of marriage.”
While the couple are legally wed, they are also said to be planning a giant wedding at Ben’s home in Georgia that’ll be packed with family and celebs. Because why stop at one round of “I dos,” you know?
The symmetry would not have been lost on any of them: the United States and Canada, two of the world’s best women’s soccer teams, meeting on a sweltering night and chasing a prize only one of them could win.
A tight match. A late penalty kick. A jubilant celebration.
A year ago at the Tokyo Olympics, it was the Canadians who rejoiced, converting a second-half penalty and winning the match on their way to the gold medal.
On Monday night in Monterrey, Mexico, it was the Americans who were dancing at the final whistle. It was they who had won the penalty kick and then the game, 1-0, to guarantee themselves a berth in the 2024 Paris Olympics. It was they who now had a chance to snatch that gold medal back.
Victory came via familiar hands: Lindsey Horan controlling the midfield. Rose Lavelle slipping in behind the defense and winning a penalty. Alex Morgan stepping up to bury it.
The victory was the second major goal achieved by the Americans in Mexico, in a tournament that served as a qualifier for both the 2023 World Cup and the 2024 Olympics. The United States had sealed its place in the former by merely advancing to the semifinals. But it still had a goal to go, and a point to prove, against Canada in the Concacaf W Championship final.
Morgan had started that Olympic semifinal last summer in Kashima, Japan, but had watched the end of it from the bench after being substituted. During the Games, she had been among the most vocal of the veteran players on that roster who had suggested — in no uncertain terms — that Coach Vlatko Andonovski was getting things wrong.
In the year since that defeat, Morgan, 33, had been among the veterans who had been asked to make way for younger attacking talents like Mallory Pugh, Sophia Smith and Trinity Rodman, to give Andonovski room to tinker and retool ahead of next year’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. But she also knew her chance would eventually come again, and on Monday, after two weeks of matches featuring young players and new lineups, Morgan got her chance to make things right, to prove she still has a role to play.
“I’m not surprised but very happy how she has handled the whole situation in how she came back,” Andonovski told reporters after the final. “I said it early on: Alex is a better player. That’s what makes her special. She doesn’t want to stop growing, doesn’t want to stop developing.”
Her opportunity to break the scoreless tie came in the 76th minute. Handed the ball by Horan after Lavelle was tripped in the penalty area, Morgan took a few deep breaths, strode confidently forward and buried a low, hard shot into the lower-right corner as Canada goalkeeper Kailen Sheridan dived the other way.
A few minutes after the final whistle, Morgan was honored as the tournament’s outstanding player.
“It just always feels good,” she said, “to be called a champion.”
Grateful to be back — her longtime frontline teammate Megan Rapinoe did not get off the bench in the final — Morgan appeared to agree with Andonovski’s choices this time. But she also was quick to note that breaking in new players, especially on the tradition-rich U.S. team, sometimes requires having older ones around to show them the way.
“Some of the younger players are able to look up to the older players in a big tournament like this,” Morgan said. “You just can’t replicate that with friendlies. It has to be the real deal. And this is the real deal.”
Andonovski, too, praised players like Morgan, Rapinoe and defender Becky Sauerbrunn for creating a “superb” environment conducive to success. “We came out for the last game of the tournament, after being in a hotel for a month, with the best energy we’ve ever had,” he said. “That’s a testament, first and foremost, to the senior players.”
How far ahead are the United States and Canada of their regional rivals? Neither team lost a game in Monterrey on its way to the final. Neither surrendered a goal. Each scored a dozen goals in its first four games.
Both teams were so dominant, in fact, that once Costa Rica and Jamaica had locked up the other two semifinal places — clinching the region’s two other automatic places in the World Cup — they appeared to stand down ahead of the final, resting some of their top players in the semifinals and focusing instead on winning the third-place game. Victory there seemed a safer bet, after all, and it came with a consolation prize: a shot at the U.S.-Canada loser in a two-legged Olympic playoff that offered a last-chance bid for a place in Paris in 2024.
Defeat in the final was hardly a catastrophe for Canada: Its team is still widely expected to qualify for the Paris Games by beating Jamaica, which beat Costa Rica earlier Monday in the third-place game, in the playoff next year.
Canada learned a few things about itself along the way, too. Sheridan, who kept her team in the game with several outstanding saves in the first half, was named the tournament’s top goalkeeper and now seems entrenched in that role. Julia Grosso won the golden boot as the championship’s top scorer, and she and her fellow 21-year-old Jordyn Huitema came off the bench Monday to provide the kind of game-changing spark that may force Canada into the same sort of young-vs.-old reckoning that the United States is now embracing.
“I think there’s another level,” Canada Coach Bev Priestman had said after her team’s semifinal win, “and I do think that playing a team like the U.S. will bring out some of our strengths that maybe teams haven’t allowed us to do.”
Now she and her players — just like the U.S. team — know a bit more about the mix they will need to get where they really want to go.
