Will you accept this newsletter?
I don't ask this lightly
I really need to stop overthinking things and by “things,” I mean this newsletter. I stopped writing to you about a year ago because I got really, really busy in my then-new capacity as a travel advisor. It was growing so quickly and I was on such a steep learning curve that I couldn’t fathom writing anything worth reading at the same time. Now… I’m even busier. BUT I have learned enough that it no longer feels like I’m about to drown. Instead, I love it and I’ve neared something like a steady pace and some solid industry knowledge. (Did I just jinx myself?)
So, at the very real risk of leaving you high and dry again someday, I would love to be back at it. I miss showing you what an on-and-off mess my life is and how I learn from it. I miss sending you links and ranting about bad rom coms. I miss asking you questions that no one replies to here and instead just texts me about. I miss giving you absolutely no choice in what you’ll read. I think, if you’ll have me, I can just about commit to writing once per month. It will also stay free. This is, to be completely clear, a vanity project.
One reason I’ve been overthinking it is that so much has happened. The Palisades Fire in LA threw our lives up into the air, was deeply traumatic, and the dust is still far from settled. Trump is… ugh, f*cking hell. And in the midst of it all is parenting and working and traveling and dating. To put a finer point on it, where would I even begin? Do ye readers (who, again, have no choice in the matter) most want to read about the trips I’ve been planning for clients and for myself? Do you most want to read my still-processing feelings about the fires? Do you want my highly educated political analysis on that Trump-Elon-Zelenzskyy circus? Or have you all been sitting around, impatient for updates on my dating life? (Don’t hold your breath.)
Maybe the best place to start is somewhere totally other. With some good old fashioned TikTok advice.
A video that I saw recently has spawned countless conversations with friends and my therapist. This woman said that you can’t call yourself self-aware if the only things you’re aware of are your challenges or things that you need to work on. You’re only self-aware if you can also celebrate your wins. Without that, its just being hard on yourself by a new name. Excuse me!? I have carefully voiced so many of my faults, difficult stories, and Things To Work On™ in the interest of vulnerability and self-awareness. But I’ll tell you the one thing I dislike! Talking about my wins, my accomplishments, my hopes & dreams, my god-given talents. Ick. How embarrassing? I think I’d rather write about the fires (proverbial and literal)… If I do talk about what I’m good at, it’s with a dose of self-deprecation (see here).
Soon after seeing that video—and sending it to 9 people, rewatching it, and saving it for later—I ran into a friend. He mentioned that he’d Googled me recently (stop, it wasn’t like that) and he went on and on about some of my food writing and how cool it was and he saw my BBC Travel piece and and and… What did I say? I begged him to stop, I turned bright red, and I took a long sip of my wine. He laughed and asked why I was getting so embarrassed. I said, I have no idea. But, also, how dare you bring up the things I’ve worked hard on and sent out into the world? To my face!? Crazy work. I spent the next four minutes bringing it all back down to normal, playing it off this way and that, making it all much less.
Not long after that, I was telling another friend about a meeting where I had felt surprisingly comfortable. I worried to her that I had really over-shared and had something like a vulnerability hangover. The following week, I came to discover that that meeting had been even more successful than I’d anticipated. I got more work out of it than I’d even bargained for. Cue all of the texts and voice notes about how being our authentic selves (yes, accomplishments and all) is looking like the way to go.
So, I hope that you’ll be gentle with me when I share that next week, I’ll be in Milan for a travel conference I’d only hoped someday to maybe be invited to. I hope you’ll be chill when I share that I was named among the Top 100 advisors at Fora Travel this year. And I hope you’re happy that I’m back. Because I am!
Ok, but where ARE said clients traveling?
I KNEW IT.
We’ve got spring breaks all over the map: a perfectly English combo of The Berkeley and Beaverbrook; a few families heading to Japan, staying at JANU Tokyo and The Mitsui in Kyoto; the swankiest spring break in Paris at the Crillon; and one family off to South Africa, combining the One & Only Cape Town with the beyond-charming and recently reopened Spier Wine Farm; and a few others off to the rainforest in Costa Rica with a stay at Tabacon.
In Japan, one family is heading to Naoshima (the art island) for a deep dive into the architecture of Tadao Ando while another is going on a cool Japanese ink-making and calligraphy experience at the base of Mount Fuji. Still another is dressing up in traditional samurai garb and learning how to properly wield a sword. In South Africa, they’re taking a hike with the kids up Lion’s Head followed by the cableway up to the top of Table Mountain (all washed down with burgers from Black Sheep). In Costa Rica, they’re getting face to face with some rescued pumas before taking a slow, floating safari down the Peñas Blancas River.
I gotta say, I do not hate my job.
As mentioned, next week I am off to Milan to attend a conference, but both before and after the conference I am taking a grand tour of northern Italy. Please drool over my itinerary: First is my solo road trip around Emilia Romagna. I start in Parma (home of the cheese and the prosciutto, yes) and then I make my way to Massimo Bottura’s Casa Maria Luigia outside of Modena. From there, I’m off to Bologna and a stay just outside at the dreamy Relais Roncolo 1888. I circle back to the coast to have an overnight in Genoa and a quick look at the Cinque Terre. Four nights taking meetings and coffees and dinners with Italian hoteliers and suppliers. And at the end, I go take a look at hotels in Courmayeur and Lake Como. Because if I don’t, pray tell, who will?!
Before we go, a few more important items on the agenda:
Recent reads? I devoured All Fours and am currently loving There There.
Recent watch’s? White Lotus Thailand season is SO good; many of you have already heard me talk about Rivals which is perfect; and Conclave is one of the most visually beautiful movies I’ve seen in a long time. And if you haven’t yet watched Nobody Wants This, you’re a fool. I haven’t yet watched With Love, Meghan. I don’t know if I can bring myself to do it.
And one last, vital, thing:
We should do this again sometime. How’s next month?
xoxo,
Nicole
You came back to us. 🥲 My heart is so happy.
THIS!!! I have missed you! Congrats on your accomplishments (just say "thank you") :)