Just in Case You’re Curious
Here’s how to use a bidet in Italy. If you don’t want to wait for the email digest version of my virtual vacation posts, you can follow me directly on social media: IG: laurasaridavis FB: thewritersjourney
Arriving at The Villa
OMG. Did I just die and go to heaven? Here we are—finally— three years later. The dream became a reality. It’s far more stunning in person than any pictures can show. If you don’t want to wait for the email digest version of my virtual vacation posts, you can follow me directly on social media: …
The Most Important Covid Test I Ever Took
This is the best swab I ever stuck up my nose. It is the one I’ve dreaded for months, the one I’ve taken extreme measures to prepare for. For instance, last month I visited my son and daughter-in-law in Medford, Massachusetts for a long weekend after teaching at the Rowe Center in northwestern Massachusetts. Eli …
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 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 …
When in Tuscany, Do as the Italians Do
In January, when I returned from my first pandemic vacation, visiting our son and daughter-in-law and grandkids in Mexico (where I had indulged in lots of beer and guacamole), I stepped onto a scale for the first time in two years and weighed in at 178 pounds, which is pretty much the top of the …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
