After one intense month of working online and hiding in my house during an 119 degree Arizona summer, I realized that the money I spent on food delivery apps could have flown me to Italy.
So I did what any sensible woman of a certain age would do…I spent a month in Italy.
I'm not a travel influencer or a culinary expert. I still work, even when I’m traveling. I’m just a lady who realized it's never too late to chase la dolce vita, and maybe, just maybe, it can help me enhance every area of my life.
SUNCARE FOR EPP
This started out as “An Old Lady Goes to Italy”, so maybe that sets the tone better. It is one woman’s stories and notes from her own travels in Italy. I’m not a travel guru or a culinary expert (I have set 2 kitchens on fire, so I’m about as far away from a cook that you can get). I’m a working woman of a certain age sharing what I learn, eat, and figure out as I go, with a focus on safe and moderately comfortable travel.
I’ve walked around Rome more than I have my own city of 20+ years at this point. So there’s a lot of things about Rome, Florence, Venice, some small towns and a whole lot of the Marche Region. As I travel to more of Italy, I’ll add new destinations rather than writing about places I’ve never seen.
Goodies on the Go is my running list of small things that have made my travels easier or better. Travel products I bought, packed, or wished I had, plus the kind of practical tips that don’t show up in glossy travel magazines.
That’s up to you and the company you work for, but generally yes, and I do it on every trip. The Working While Traveling section covers what’s actually worked for me: finding usable wifi, managing time zone differences with US clients, and protecting focus hours when la dolce vita is calling from outside the window.
Look, I’m not busting hostels, in my 20’s that would have been appealing. I’m not in my 20’s. I’m in the phase of life where a firm mattress, a private bathroom, and knowing breakfast is waiting for me downstairs is the basic necessities. It means I’m not roughing it and I’m not staying in five-star resorts. I look for clean, safe, well-located places that don’t cost more than the flight to get there. The whole brand is built around the idea that you don’t need luxury money to have a beautiful trip.
Yes. Most of my travel is solo, and safety, comfort, and confidence on the ground are core to everything I write. The Travel Tips and Travel Hacks sections cover neighborhoods I’d stay in again, things I learned the hard way, and small habits that make solo travel easier.
EPP stands for erythropoietic protoporphyria, a condition that causes serious sun sensitivity. The Suncare for EPP section is for fellow travelers managing the condition and don’t want to hide in the daytime, or for people who just generally don’t want to be in the sun.