It’s time to get back on the road and get back to writing. The beginning of the month was fairly chill with daily work on projects for my graphic design company NomadDesigner. My daily schedule over the past year and a half has mostly been quite solitary – get up, workout, work on design projects, make dinner for my stepmom, sleep, repeat. Since my dad died, I have been based out of Orlando to help out at home. It’s been tough dealing with the grief and being so far away from all of my friends.
So mid-month I took a much needed mental break to go visit a good friend up Connecticut/New York. Her family had rented a house in the Catskills region of central New York state. It was a lovely mid century modern style AirBnB located on a small lake.
She had a lot of work to do, so I mostly spent my time running on the backroads, paddle boarding on the lake, and listening to records on the home’s record player. Also got lots of work done on several projects. It was nice and relaxing, and a happy break from the emotional hole I’ve been feeling in back in Florida.
The following week I went to New York City and stayed in an awesome Hyatt property called Hotel 50 Bowery. The view was next level, especially after I got upgraded to a higher floor because of my status with Hyatt. Even if you are not staying here, I highly recommend visiting the rooftop bar called The Crown. It has wrap around balconies with views of both midtown and the Wall Street/Trade Center area.
The first few days were great being back in the city, but that weekend I went out with friends and partied way too hard, spending the next several days recovering. I am not as young as I used to be and need to remember that. Going to take a few weeks off of drinking to recenter myself. This past month has been a rollercoaster of emotions and interactions. I’m hoping September will be more even and generally more positive.
The end of the month was a mad dash in preparation for my next big overseas adventure for two months to the Balkans! It will be my longest trip overseas since returning from Mexico at the end of this past Winter and my first time in Europe since October 2018!
Where I’ve Been
Countries Visited: 1
United States
Cities Visited: 4
Orlando (my home base over the course of COVID), Stratford CT, Callicoon NY, New York City
Where I’m Going
For September, I am leaving on my next international adventure and will be visiting two new countries – Albania and Greece! I fly into Tirana, Albania on the 8th of the month and am planning to spend 2-3 weeks exploring before meeting a friend in Athens for the last few days of the month. Both Albania and Greece will be new countries for me!
