At the end of March I quit my job of ~6 years in order to get some mid/long-term travel under my belt before the grey hairs fully take over.
LOS ANGELES
My last day was Thursday 30-March, then I flew on to LA Friday 31-March (connecting in Arkansas of all places) for a week of Tacos.
LOS ANGELES – CHICAGO TRAIN
Train from LA -> Chicago takes 3 days snaking through the US via California, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois.
Arthur Morgan vibes all around (way less horses though)
NYC
1x much-too short Chicago pitstop later, back in NYC for a hot second, and onto Ireland
IRELAND
PARIS
Paris (bypassing London for a change) to start my version of the Orient express route. Some of the locals were doing a spot of rioting (aka burning wheelie bins in the streets) to protest increasing the retirement age from 62 -> 64.
MILAN
Milan, where the city center was mobbed with tourists.
ROME
Rome, also incredibly rammed with tourists. The post-covid travel boom is ON. Imagine what a mess it’s going to be in summer..
NAPLES
Short 90 min train down to Naples which is an interesting place… Lots of rubbish and insane drivers. Think cars speeding towards you at pedestrian crosswalks, then slamming on the brakes to land 1m away from you every.single.time.
Also stupidly packed with people, worse than Milan and Rome. You couldn’t walk down the street without stopping every 4 seconds because foot traffic was blocked.
I’ve lived in NYC for 11 years, and I’ve only seen this heave of people at clubs/concerts + festivals.
POMPEII / SORRENTO
Day trip to Pompeii and Sorrento. Crazy to see 2,000 year old frescos up close and untouched. It’s also way bigger area-wise than I was expecting (12 km2 / 5 sq mi)
BARI
Bari for a few days to relax, read some books and eat all the pizza.
FERRY -> GREECE, BUS -> ISTANBUL
Short 8 hour overnight ferry to Greece, then 4.5 hour bus across to Thessaloniki, followed the next day by a 9 hour overnight bus to Istanbul to kick off May:
| MODE | KM |
| Flight | 12,043 |
| Train | 5,635 |
| Ferry | 222 |
| Bus | 1,200 |
| TOTAL | 19,100 |
Lastly, some food I liked this month:
