Adventures with Sarah’s Substack

As weā€™ve now hit August, I was reminded recently of a day I wrote about some time ago, walking through Trastevere in Rome one past summer with a group and eating our way through the neighborhood. Itā€™s still one of my favorite Roman food memories, so I thought Iā€™d dust off that old post and share it with you now.

One of the most thrilling experiences on my Sicily tours is the moment that we emerge from the south and head east, where, suddenly, the outline of the Queen of Sicily emerges. It sends a chill up my spine every darned time. Mount Etna does not merely exist on the Sicily landscape; she rules it. Rising like a regal mother over the island's eastern coast, "Mamma Etna" (as she is fiercely and affectionately called by locals) is a constant, pulsating presence.

As the USA turns 250, there are a lot of mixed feelings about the state of the American experiment. Having spent most of my life working outside of the US, I have a different point of view than most. You might be surprised to hear it, but I appreciate my American upbringing quite a lot. Someone like me, from my background, probably wouldn’t exist in anywhere else. Why is that? Well, I’ve spent a lot of time considering it and I’ve tried, perhaps inelegantly, to put those thoughts together here.

If you stand on the shores of Villa San Giovanni in Calabria, squinting across the glittering, wind-whipped water toward Messina, Sicily looks close enough to touch. At its narrowest point, the Strait of Messina is just over two miles wide.

For years, I made a massive mistake. Despite spending a career guiding travelers through the winding streets of Florence, the canals of Venice, and the monumental ruins of Rome, I completely overlooked Italy’s largest province. I stayed away because I had swallowed the same scary urban travel legends, Mafia myths, and logistical warnings that everyone else does. I thought it was just too difficult, too chaotic, and too far off the grid. Then, I finally went.

For decades, Palermo was a city spoken of in whispers. It was the grit under the fingernails of Italy—a place defined in the foreign imagination by manic traffic, crumbling Baroque facades, pollution, and the dark shadow of the Mafia. Timid travelers skipped it entirely, choosing the manicured piazzas of Florence or the romantic canals of Venice. Times have changed.

I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted with technology. The pervading presence of notifications, text messages, social media. It gives me anxiety to have everything be so present all the time. The way it’s become so easy to doomscroll. It sucks. We all do it. Travel should be the way to get out of out bad habits and be present in the moment, but I find that is harder with each passing year. I’ve often found myself wondering, was travel better before the internet?

Stop buying STUFF. It's Travel Anxiety Weighing You Down You don’t need any of this In my previous Substack post, we explored the psychological anxiety that causes us to treat our suitcases like safety blankets. I’m not saying it’s you, but it may be you and it’s definitely me. Stuff makes us feel safe in an uneasy situation. Today, I want to take that conversation a step further. We need to look directly at that stuff and the industry that feeds this anxiety.

An Anatomy of Travel Anxiety Many years ago, I had a tour guest who had a bag that weighed at least 75 pounds. After weeks of watching her struggle and beg for help from other guests, I had to stop and ask her what the heck was in her bag. It was full sized hair, body, and face products.

If you’ve spent any time following my travels, you know I have spent a lot of time in Amsterdam in recent years. Aside from a family connection, there is something about the canals, the frantic but rhythmic symphony of bicycle bells, and the unapologetic gezelligheid (that cozy, social soul of Dutch culture) that keeps me coming back. But if you’re planning a trip to the Netherlands in 2026, I have to give you a bit of a reality check.