Staring
Peach Granita, Brand Trip, Solo Traveling, Margherita Pizza for One, Dark Chocolate Gelato, and Italian Men.
It’s 12:40 pm on Tuesday, May 26th, and I’m writing this on my phone from the spiaggia in Ortigia, Sicily.
I smell like spray tan and my skin is still sticky with the almond granita and brioche I had for breakfast - despite having just waded down the rocky beach into the Mediterranean. I like how people stare here. I think this may be the best Tuesday of my life so far.
I love traveling alone. I love knowing my day is between me, the city, and no one - nothing else. I can have ice cream for breakfast and cafe freddo for lunch. I might have four coffees today. I can do work if I want, I can have a long morning, and I can decide I’m ready to leave five minutes ago.
I got in to Ortigia last night at 10pm, after a wedding in London. I dropped my bags at the Airbnb and went for dinner. I ordered a margherita pizza and Sicilian salad (tomatoes, red onion, cheese, basil). I ate half then went around the corner for gelato. The girl at the counter said the cheesecake was her favorite. My waiter at the pizza spot said to get the pistachio cream, I got both. I carried my leftover box of pizza and ate my ice cream on my short walk home. Wearing black jeans and black boots and a black tee, I felt somewhat out of place but in a way that I liked.
On my Uber from the airport my driver asked me “may I ask why a beautiful woman is all alone.” I’ve gotten this question before, and I have a feeling most solo women travelers have too - probably more often than not when the driver is Italian. I replied “why not?”
This beach is the best game of iSpy I’ve ever played. There’s the two older women holding each others hands and giggling as they teeter out of the water onto the rocky beach. A woman playing crossword puzzles with multiple shopping bags at her side. The teenage boys scanning the crowd with their hands on their hips. The older woman next to me with a dark tan, backpack and rolled cigarette. An older tatted man drinking milk from a cardboard box. The oversunscreened and unclothed tourists struggling to the water in their Tevas and snorkels. Then there’s me. Slightly (artificially) tanned, on my Airbnb’s white towel on the rocks, also somehow already covered in pebbles, freshly swum, sunned and granita-d. Reading Strangers, writing on my phone and staring right back.
It’s now 3:12 pm CET or 9:12 am EST. I’m somewhere between the two time zones flying back from Italy to NY. It’s a 9 hour 45 minute flight. I spent the last 4 days in Siracusa, Italy on a brand trip with Reformation and Courtney Grow. The first night I went to sleep with a bit of anxiety, worried I’d wake up and none of this would be real.
I woke up to fresh coffee and breakfast on the terrace. I chatted with interesting and dynamic women. I went into the “atelier” to pick out clothing and get it tailored to my body. I had a massage, a day trip to Taormina, dark chocolate gelato, and a lot of granita (peach, strawberry, almond, citrus…). We played dress up and tanned and giggled. It sort of felt like the beginning scene in Legally Blonde when Elle is biking through campus. A sort of Barbie dream world full of women and outfits, pool and beach.
The brand had me sign a contract which essentially said that I didn’t have to post anything or share anything on the trip. I say this to share I have no skin in the game when I say the clothing - the collection Courtney and Reformation launched, is my dream wardrobe. The pieces were funky and beaded, comfortable and playful. Elevated without taking themselves too seriously. They feel like smoking a skinny cig, but only when you’re in Europe. I don’t really know how else to describe it.
I’m on my way back and grateful. I’ve got my work cut out for me with Spilt Milk but I’m feeling more inspired than ever. I’m excited to spend the summer enjoying my life, with small trips to the shore and to Maine. My only other trip this summer is a solo trip to London with my 93 year old grandpa. You’ll hear about it.
Ok that’s all.
Z
this is the EXACT sort of effortlessness I wished my own travel writing evoke
The food, the fits, the beaches!!! That’s amoreee <3