Hi!
Welcome to my little corner of the internet! It’s not lost on me that you’re likely here for one of two reasons: 1. You follow my travels on Instagram (have also maybe/hopefully read some of my published work!?) and are constantly wondering WTF I do and how I got here, or 2. You’re a friend or family member who I’ve guilted into becoming a paid subscriber. Regardless of why, I’m so happy you’re here.
Moving forward, this newsletter won’t be so much about me, but I wanted to start off by giving you a little context on who I am and why you can trust me—or why I hope you will. And then, we travel!
I began my career in fashion, working across Condé Nast publications, such as Vogue, GQ and Glamour. After nearly a decade as a fashion editor, I grew weary of the fashion industry and decided to “go freelance,” which led me (sort of accidentally) to pursue my other passion, travel, after a trip to Malta with an ex boyfriend inspired me to write my first travel story (ever!) for Vogue. I should have expected I’d end up here—in my early twenties, when all of my fashion colleagues were spending their first tax refunds on the season’s Céline platform sandals, I was spending mine on a trip to the Costa Brava. (Still one of my favorite places! I wrote about it for Prior here.)
Travel journalism during the time that I was working in fashion in the mid 2010s felt very one note to me. It wasn’t what I was looking for at my age, with my interests, and within my tax bracket. I couldn’t afford luxury travel on a fashion editor’s salary, but the “travel on a budget” articles I’d skim didn’t satisfy the aesthete I was and still am. So I began asking my friends around the world, who I’d met in fashion, for their recommendations in places they called home. For instance, my friends Luisa and Antonine, the designers of Rome-based brand TL-180, gave me all the best suggestions in their city and even shared where cool Romans would go on their summer weekends (“Ponza!”). These were people I trusted, and back in the years before the social media/travel app/newsletter boom that has now disseminated a trove of new voices and information, there was no one place to get the type of hyper-curated and personalized intel I was after.
In addition to suggestions from like-minded friends, I’ve always valued those super authentic, completely unstylish places that you won’t find on anyone’s list—the ones you discover by chance through sheer spontaneity fueled by an open mind and an open heart, like that little hole in the wall enchilada joint my taxi driver in San Miguel de Allende told me was his favorite place to eat (I insisted he take me there on our way to the airport). I began sharing all of these discoveries in articles I’d write for Vogue, Condé Nast Traveller, Architectural Digest, etc., and before I knew it, I had traded Prada patchwork boots for a boat day in Filicudi that culminated in a dinner at the home of the island’s legendary fisherman. Suffice to say, I never gave those Prada boots a second thought.
Earlier this year, I was in Terminal 1 at Rome-Fiumicino airport traveling home from a friend’s wedding. As I was walking towards my gate, I was moved by the sound of a piano and slowed down to listen. It was a young boy playing Bach, while he was waiting to board his flight. “How beautiful,” I must have said. “You always pay attention to the little things,” my friend Justin mused, “I never would have noticed him, but you’re right, it’s nice.” It was at this moment that I realized something: I am so much like my dad.
My dad finds beauty everywhere; sometimes you think he must be kidding: a reservoir with murky grey water on the side of a New York highway—but hey! It’s fresh water being fed by the mountains and that is beautiful to him. So we stop and he marvels… or he swims… I probably swim with him. Like my dad, I discover beauty everywhere I go. I find it in the crowded beaches of Napoli in July or at the purple sunset on Famara Beach in Lanzarote. I find it tasting the first strawberries of the season in Provence, indulging in Francis Mallmann’s perfectly cooked churrasco with chimichurri in Uruguay, or at a nonna’s restaurant in Piedmont, where she delivers eight courses of food with shaky hands and a smile that reveals every beautiful wrinkle on her face. I find it in the stately jewels at the Gem Palace in Jaipur, as well as in the Afro-Caribbean beats that echo through the streets of Salvador in Brazil. I find beauty at a five-star hotel that I can’t afford, where the bathrobes are plush and the breakfast buffets are decadent, and in that tiny Airbnb in a fisherman shack in Serifos with no AC (but a sea breeze that does the trick) that I found for 60 euros a night. And yes, even in the unlikely sound of a piano gently vibrating through the chaos of terminal 1 at Rome-Fiumicino airport.
There are beautiful places and beautiful moments—grand or simple as they may be, as long as you stop to look. Traveling is a privilege, I am so aware of this. I travel to some luxurious places– some places that I could never afford on my own (I concede that my job has its perks), but I also take trips that I can afford and those are just as memorable– so maybe you’ve come for that!? There is beauty in luxury and in accessibility, I assure you. I am privileged in that I get to experience both and I plan to share it all with you.
This newsletter is ultimately for YOU! I love traveling with friends, partners and family. I love taking them to my favorite places or discovering new places together. And now, you’ll get the same insights as those near and dearest to me. This will be a deeper look into the places I go and the things that move me. It’s not so much about the best restaurants and the best shops—although, of course, they will be mentioned—but that is not what traveling is about for me. Traveling is about letting go; forgetting to book reservations and letting that *good* light at the fork in the road determine which path you take. It’s about staying curious, staying open and finding beauty and connection in the roads less traveled.
You can find my professional work in many places on the internet or on newsstands, but I created this newsletter so I could share my more intimate experiences as I would with my friends and to finally have a place to answer your questions! I know that booking a trip can be daunting. I want my newsletter to be a resource for you—when you need inspiration in deciding where to go, how to navigate planning your trip or where to save and splurge in all of these places. I will do my very best to answer your questions as often as I can. I can’t wait to take you all along.
So… there’s this place and I hope you find everything you’re looking for there.