The Beauty of Discomfort

There’s something uncomfortable about being alone and hungry on the other side of the planet, in a place where you don’t speak the language. Sometimes you don’t quite know what to do next, how to move forward, or how to even get a meal. There’s something disquieting about navigating that uncertainty and figuring out how […]

Two Vacations

People who know me, or at least regularly read the blog, know that I love good food: high quality, rich, flavorful food. Even at home, I want crave-able meals. So when I boarded the plane today it was to go on two vacations, in a sense. The first, of course, is the trip I’m embarking […]

A Delicious Layover

I left Rome this morning, headed to a night in Istanbul, which probably sounds strange, but makes sense in its own way. Turkish Airlines has a deal – of sorts. They like to brag about the number of countries to which they fly, but that has a downside, which is the logistics of a connection […]

When Presence Suffices

I sat on the cool stone steps of the Piazza Trilussa resting my feet and just breathing in the moment as the twilight deepened toward darkness. On the other side of the square, cars zipped along the edge of the Tiber, and all around me people came and went as the warm spring day yielded […]

Peeling Back The Layers

Scilla has a stunning solitude this time of year. When the tourists are away, the narrow streets are quiet other than an occasional pedestrian and some hushed voices sitting at a cafe. The storefronts mostly stand closed, and the rare few that are open are staffed by lonely shopkeepers. Even the ripples of the Sea […]

Hypnotized by You if I Should Linger

In the ancient epic poem, The Odyssey, the Greek poet Homer tells the tale of Odysseus’s journey home from the Trojan War. He became lost on the way and had to brave numerous trials and dangers including the brutal cyclops, the sirens with their bewitching song, and the Scylla and Charybdis. As the story goes, […]