Andiamo (Let's go)

Well hello there!

I may have talked to you this week or it might’ve been a few months or even years—either way, sending a warm “Ciao!” from snowy Brooklyn. I’ll be heading to Italy in a few hours on a (mostly) solo adventure filled with a lot of looking & tasting. You’re welcome to follow along via this newsletter, which I aim to send every day or so(ish) since I don’t use social media these days.

Butterbean looking out my window on his visit

The weather is looking bad for my flight out of JFK tonight around 11pm, so please keep everything crossed that the first leg of this adventure doesn’t cancel my Roman Holiday plans. If sleeping in the airport is in the cards for me, I’ve accepted it. I’m of the mind that the trip can only get better from there, right? Famous last words from a pragmatic optimist.

If you’ve also traveled solo, you have probably found yourself inadvertently on a spirit quest. In the literal and metaphorical sense, you are constantly getting lost and finding yourself. Even with a map and planning, you often end up in scary, new, amazing places and situations that weren’t on your itinerary—a lot like life in the past couple of years.

Although I mostly chose to visit Italy to visit my dear friend Erin (hi Erin, ci vediamo presto!), it presents the perfect opportunity to turn on and tune in. As a teetotaler for over a year now, I wondered if Italy was a strange place for me to visit since I don’t drink. In preparing for this adventure, it’s pretty clear that there is more to Italy than wine and plenty of senses will be fully engaged. I plan to drink in the art, feel the food, and be the history. La dolce vita.

I wasn’t intending to share anything other than digital postcards from Italy, but the last week was busy and fun. Shout out to my day job for keeping me on my toes and surrounded by laughter. (And for holding down the fort!) Shout out to The Extreme Ladies who celebrated International Women’s Day at my cozy studio apartment. Shout out to Butterbean for being a really good boy on his first visit to the Big Apple.