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This month I headed back to the States for a three-week trip — and it ended up being a much busier experience than I expected. I based on my new home base of the North Shore of Massachusetts, and traveled all over in the process.
Three little trips — Portland, Ottawa, and Scottsdale — made it quite a busy month, and that wasn’t all. As soon as I flew back to Prague, I was off again, to the south of Italy!
It was quite a lot, and I neglected my work in the process (see how there are no new posts or books read in this post) — but that’s okay. I clearly needed this quality time with my loved ones.
Let’s take a look at the month!
Destinations Visited
- Prague and Mělník, Czech Republic
- Beverly, Rockport, Essex, Danvers, Peabody, Reading, Wakefield, Revere, Lynnfield, Swampscott, and Newburyport, Massachusetts, USA
- Portland, Maine, USA
- Portsmouth, New Hampshire, USA
- Scottsdale and Phoenix, Arizona, USA
- Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
- Naples, Ventotene, and Ponza, Italy
Highlights
A bit of sightseeing in and around Prague. We visited the city of Mělník, which has a nice town square (which they were outfitting in Christmas lights for a movie!), a castle overlooking the rivers, and their own wine.
Mělník is special because it’s Lewis and Murray’s hometown, as far as we know. They were left in a box outside a vet’s office in Mělník on a rainy day.
Which sounds so sad — until you realize they were well fed and socialized, and left in a place where they would be safe (most shelters are kill shelters here). Their first family clearly loved them a lot, and I will always be grateful for how well they cared for them.
Lots of great quality time at home in Massachusetts. This trip was to spend time with family and friends, as well as enjoy one of the better weather months of the year in New England.
I got to spend a lot of time with my parents and my aunt and uncle as well, and drove up and down the North Shore exploring the different towns. My dad is now based in Beverly, and it’s been nice to spend time exploring the town, especially in the summer.
I also drove past my childhood home for the first time since it was sold last year — and I’m glad to see that they didn’t knock it down to turn it into a ghastly McMansion, like they’re doing to so many homes in my neighborhood.
A great trip to Portland, Maine. Two of my good friends, who are sisters, moved to Portland a few years ago — and while I’ve visited them briefly a few times, I wanted to come for a few days and dive into Portland in depth so I could write a proper guide.
Portland is GREAT — and so underrated (perhaps because there’s a more famous Portland?). Such an amazing food scene, tons of natural beauty nearby, and some of the friendliest people around. Portlanders seriously give the perpetually sunny Ashevillians a run for their money.
The biggest highlight was visiting Peakes Island, a short ferry ride away — which is home to an UMBRELLA COVER MUSEUM. Not an umbrella museum, an umbrella COVER museum. It is weird and wacky and all about celebrating the mundane. If you’re visiting Portland between Memorial Day and Labor Day, I can’t recommend the museum enough!
A quick, fun trip to Ottawa. Many of you here know Jodi of Legal Nomads, an absolute legend in the travel blogging community and a friend of mine for more than a decade.
Jodi has been living with serious health challenges over the past several years, which she talks about on her Patreon and in her newsletter, Curious About Everything, and hasn’t been able to travel — so I went to see her. Our first time hanging out in person for years.
We had such a great time — taking a walk to the Rideau Canal, eating takeout on her balcony, so much girl talk, and just enjoying our long overdue catchup.
The ultimate girls’ trip to Scottsdale! This month, three of my closest friends and I took our long-awaited girls’ trip to Scottsdale, where we celebrated the four of us turning 40 in 2024. Experience Scottsdale put together a dynamite trip for us, which you’ll be hearing much more about tsoon!
Some of my favorite highlights were staying at the midcentury modern Hotel Valley Ho (and the super-fun weekend pool party), visiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West, enjoying the best wine and cocktail bars, taking a self-driving car for a spin (!!), and eating SO much good food.
But mostly this was all about getting good quality time with the girls. It’s been so long since we took a trip together! Weddings in different cities have been the closest thing we’ve had to a trip for almost a decade.
A trip to some Italian islands. Charlie and I are now attempting to visit all the major Italian islands, so we decided to visit Ventotene and Ponza. I flew into Naples, where Charlie had just finished a work meeting, and we each scarfed down a pizza (as one does in Napoli) before hopping on the ferry to Ventotene.
Ventotene is a VERY small island. Honestly, a little too small. The island has one good beach, which fills up by morning, and the black sand gets so hot, that if you don’t have a chair, you’ll be in pain. There are also no pools on the island, so there’s no other way to cool off. I will say that we ate two fantastic meals down by the water’s edge.
Ponza was more our speed. There’s not a ton to do on Ponza, which is a popular escape for Romans, but there are boat tours, beaches, and good restaurants. Staying at Grand Hotel Santa Domitilla was a highlight — we actually spent a day by the hotel pool for the first time in three years! We haven’t done that since my beloved Hotel Ravesi in the Aeolian Islands!
Challenges
The biggest challenge is that I can’t clone myself. I had so much fun hanging out with various loved ones in different areas. This is the hardest part of living overseas and having people you love all over the world!
Falling into an unhealthy lifestyle. Honestly, it happens every time I go home — I plan to exercise daily and eat well, and I end up eating poorly and barely exercising. Not blaming anyone but myself. Three weeks is a long backslide.
A very unpleasant connection experience in Zurich. I always give myself around a three-hour layover when I’m connecting flights, because that’s enough to withstand a delay. But this time I lived dangerously with only a 90-minute layover — and OF COURSE my flight was delayed an hour.
The Swiss Air people rebooked lots of people with tighter connections, but insisted I had enough time to make my connection. And I did, indeed, make it — only because I RAN MY ASS OFF through the airport, cut the immigration line, cursed out the voice of Heidi on the airport train, and made it to the gate 30 seconds before they closed it.
My bag did not make it. Thankfully, I was prepared for this possibility, and had packed my carry-on with everything I needed for Italy. There are three daily flights from Zurich to Prague on Swiss Air, and my bag got on the next flight at noon, but it wasn’t delivered until 11:27 PM. I had to leave the apartment at 7:00 AM the next day for my flight to Naples. Which brings me to…
Three weeks of busy travel and home time, followed by an overnight flight and less than 24 hours in Prague, then flying to Italy the next morning. I knew it would be rough, but I was willing to try it because it was the best option with Charlie’s work schedule.
Long story short, I am NEVER DOING THAT AGAIN. It was way too much. I was exhausted and discombobulated, and crossing nine time zones in three days turned me into a zombie during the day and an insomniac at night. Which isn’t the worst if both people are equally jet-lagged, but if one person is and the other isn’t, it’s a miserable time.
Breaking my lens. Turns out running through an airport with an overstuffed backpack is not good. One fall damaged a lot more than my ego.
Choosing the wrong tour! Charlie and I decided to visit the former prison on the island of Santo Stefano near Ventotene. The tour would be all in Italian, but we didn’t mind — we both speak a bit, and have done tours all in Italian before.
Well. That three-hour tour turned out to be a boat ride, followed by a challenging climb up a steep hill, followed by a 75-minute lecture, all in Italian. We didn’t even get to explore the prison; we just sat in the courtyard as the guide talked about the history. And there was no signal, so I couldn’t use Google Translate to follow.
Yeah, when I say we take tours in Italian, I mean boat tours — where the only Italian you need to know is, “Okay, now we swim,” “Come back to the boat by 2:30,” and “You want your coffee bitter or sweet?” We should probably stick to those!
Book Club This Month
Our next book club will take place on Sunday, August 18, 2024. We will be reading Dearborn, a short story collection by American author Ghassan Zeineddine.
“Spanning several decades, Ghassan Zeineddine’s debut collection examines the diverse range and complexities of the Arab American community in Dearborn, Michigan. In ten tragicomic stories, Zeineddine explores themes of identity, generational conflicts, war trauma, migration, sexuality, queerness, home and belonging, and more.
In Dearborn, a father teaches his son how to cheat the IRS and hide their cash earnings inside of frozen chickens. Tensions heighten within a close-knit group of couples when a mysterious man begins to frequent the local gym pool, dressed in Speedos printed with nostalgic images of Lebanon. And a failed stage actor attempts to drive a young Lebanese man with ambitions of becoming a Hollywood action hero to LA, but Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have other plans.
By turns wildly funny, incisive, and deeply moving, Dearborn introduces readers to an arresting new voice in contemporary fiction and invites us all to consider what it means to be part of a place and community, and how it is that we help one another survive.”
You can sign up here. Hope to see you there!
What I Watched This Month
I’m really enjoying Loot on Apple TV. This comedy stars Maya Rudolph as the jilted ex-wife of a powerful tech billionaire, and she decides to rebuild her life by throwing herself into her charity.
It’s a fun and heartwarming workplace comedy with an excellent cast. Great music, too — I love how the Apple shows aren’t afraid to spend big on music licensing! This show actually has Mariah Carey’s “Fantasy,” Fat Joe’s “What’s Luv” and Ashanti and Ja Rule’s “Always on Time” as its transition music between scenes!
I also finally watched season 2 of Bridgerton, and I don’t know what kept me away for so long! Such a delightful little show.
Coming Up in July 2024
After a few more days in Ponza, Charlie and I returned to Prague, where we will be spending most of the month. We will be flying to London for a very brief trip to see Charlie’s family, and for my new Czech destination, we are probably going to visit Adršpach, a beautiful rocky area that is especially good to visit in summer.
Also on the schedule for July: seeing Smashing Pumpkins in concert, and watching the Euros.
And at the end of the month, we head to one of my favorite places — the island of Korčula in Croatia. And we won’t be alone — several friends are coming along to celebrate my actual 40th birthday on August 2! We’ve got an incredibly fun week planned.
What are you up to this summer? Share away!
