Almost Ready to Go

It’s 4:00 PM and I just changed my outgoing voicemail message for the first time in three years. Because that’s how long it’s been since I flew abroad. When I arrive in Tuscany to lead my Write, Travel, Transform retreat, I’ll be buying an Italian SIM card and won’t be able to get calls on …

Almost Ready to Go Read More »

We Made it to Tuscany

An uneventful flight in cattle class. Flying internationally is one of the places my childhood training in dissociation comes in handy. I can sit in one of those squished seats overnight and nap and watch three movies: the new West Side Story, a documentary about a big wave surfer, and a father-son saga set in …

We Made it to Tuscany Read More »

Early Morning Walk Firenze

Despite a loud party going on outside our hotel window last night, .5 mg Ativan and my c-pap machine helped me sleep through the night. I woke up at 5:00 AM, which is pretty much when I’ve been waking up in Santa Cruz. I got up, checked the weather—60 degrees and heading up to 88—and …

Early Morning Walk Firenze Read More »

Traveling Without a Phone

I’m a phone addict. There’s no doubt about it. My laptop and my phone are extensions of my being and my fingers. My work life is entwined with them. My teaching is entwined with them. My home life is entwined with them. I write on them, communicate on them, blog on them, post on them, …

Traveling Without a Phone Read More »

The Red Leather Jacket

If you walk around Florence, you see leather goods everywhere. From the cheapest tacky tourist shops to the highest end stores, brilliant leather is on display. It comes in the most luscious colors: butter yellow, creamy orange, brilliant reds, emerald green, glowing teal—in amazing combinations. I just wanted to touch it all, and at times …

The Red Leather Jacket Read More »

The Secret Garden

Before we came to Italy, Karyn and I didn’t give any thought as to what we wanted to see or do in Florence in the three full days we had before our travelers arrived, aside from getting over our jetlag and marveling over the fact that we had actually made it to Italy during a …

The Secret Garden Read More »

Scroll to Top