May Travel Diary
Taormina, Amalfi, Ischia, Venice, Umbria and London—plus what I packed!
I’m always writing these travel diaries at least a couple of weeks after the fact. Because I don’t always have time to write them in the moment, and because I’m traveling so much, when I do sit down to document my month of travel it can feel overwhelming. I hope they don’t read like a “what I did this summer” report—or if they do and you’d rather I skip this kind of content, please TELL me! I think Club Yolo feels like the best home for my personal travels—especially when they’re quick and span multiple destinations that no rational traveler would combine (like right now I’m coming off of a two-week streak that took me from Corsica to Provence to St. Tropez to Rome to Florence to Warsaw to Portugal!). Whereas our Yolo Journal website is home to our deeper-dive travel articles that focus on single destinations or practical/actionable itineraries. I know our split between two platforms can be confusing, but as I like to say, think of our website as the library and Club Yolo as the cafe next door. Both serve a distinct and complementary purpose.
And to that end, we genuinely want to hear from you here! In addition to talking to us in the comments, if you’re a paid subscriber you can use the Chat, where there’s a good amount of back and forth over travel questions and recommendations. So let us know: what hotels you’re loving or are disappointed in, what cities or places do you want us to do a deep dive on, where are you going this summer that you need recs for? And since some of you have been asking in DM about what I’m wearing on my travels, I put my MVP travel pieces here in this ShopMy link.
Sicily
I spent a week at the end of April and early May in Catania, Etna and Taormina. I hadn’t been to Taormina since 2021, pre-White Lotus. Not gonna lie, I was worried it was going to be a completely different vibe. Other than more luxury brands than before, and some new additions to the food and cocktail scene, it thankfully felt the same. Plus I found a really cool tennis club. I wrote all about it in this Dispatch.
Amalfi Coast and Ischia
We were invited to the 75th anniversary of Le Sirenuse, which kicked off with the opening of their new Sirenuse Mare Beach Club. I’d seen it very much in construction-site mode several years back, and it was so great to experience it in all of its glory—the plants have come in, the space is gorgeous, and I can’t wait to spend a long lunch and afternoon here. More than a couple of people have asked me if it’s a walk from