Ever since I hit the horrendous 3 - 0 (hawking cough) I’ve decided that birthdays abroad are the way to go. It just makes life more beautiful. You can’t be upset about turning a year older if you’re on a beach with champagne or a friendly waiter is carrying in a cake singing happy birthday in another language or you weave drunkenly back to your hotel and the staff cheer when they see you.
With less than six months to go, I needed to start thinking about what I’m doing. My big birthday is going to be massively epic and I can. Not. Wait! The epic ness means that I need to be a little bit thoughtful about how much I spend on this pre-big trip. I’ve had a shocker of a year already and we’re only four months in (!) so as part of my necessary self-care, I’m going Saarf, to the boot of Italy for a week of beaches, pasta and self amore!
With the drama of Brexit, I’m all too aware of the changes that may be in place by the time I go away, but my love for Italy has been immediate and enduring. I mean, look at that photo! Why would I go anywhere else and endure my limit on a flying tin can!
You know when you go somewhere and it feels familiar and new and embracing? That’s how I felt the moment I arrived in Naples. It helped that the driver who collected me from the airport was beautiful, blond and deeply Neapolitan. He drove me along the coast in a way I described word for word in A Life Sublime. It’s still one of the most beautiful views I’ve ever witnessed. And I’ve seen Bobak from Another Level up close. (Man still bufffff). I honestly thought that maybe it was a fluke. Then I went to Venice. And that insta-home sensation swept me off my feet again. I arrived to St Marks Square at night and it was lit up like Christmas, Vivaldi playing and the scent of seafood in the air.
Europe has a deserved reputation for racism - ongoing and excused by thinly veiled liberalism. I'm a dark skinned black woman; it's part of my travelling history to be ultra aware of people's reactions to me. There are few places where I personally feel safe as a tourist specifically and not as a resident. Italy happens to be that for me. I mean the majority of it is surrounded by water, they produce some of the best booze in the world and they feed me. In cheese, in meat, carbs and chocolate. My four good groups. When people approach me, they want to talk to me about where I’m going, where I’m from, if I need directions, am I hungry, do I want to eat because they'll find me something to eat now; just like a nonna. You can’t ask for anything more from a holiday and a ho could not be more excited!
Now that I’ve picked my abroad situation, lemme see what’s going on with Cornwall this summer. You’ve seen Poldark, right?
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