I haven’t been blogging much lately.

My social media posts have also become less frequent. If you miss me and want more regular travel musings from yours truly, you can always sign up for my weekly(ish) travel newsletter here.

But Matt just turned 40, and we just returned from a magical vacation involving Paris, Florence, Rome, our favorite spa in Tuscany… and the secret transport of a teenager from southern France.

So yes, it’s time to blog again.

Why Haven’t I Been Blogging or Posting as Much?

I wish I had some profound reason, but the truth is much simpler: life has just been busy.

Some of you may know that Matt and I recently launched a personal podcast, and my 9–5 job keeps me plenty occupied. On the travel business side, I’ve been focusing primarily on my weekly newsletter and working with previous clients. In fact, I’m getting close to capacity there, which I’m grateful for.

This blog has always been a little different. It’s never really been about building a business. It’s mostly been a place for me to think out loud, share photos, and document our travels.

Social media has also started to feel a little… tiresome.

I don’t get the same thrill out of “showing off” travel the way I once did. In fact, I’ve started asking myself a simple question when we’re on the road:

If I wasn’t posting this, would I still want to do it?

It turns out that question can save you a surprising amount of money.

I’ve also been trying to stay off social media more while traveling. It’s not easy, but I’m getting better at it. I spend enough time staring at screens at home. When I travel, I want a break—from work, from the internet, from politics, and sometimes from the general noise of life.

Why This Trip Was Different

Matt turned 40 this year, and I wanted to make it special.

But if I’m being honest, we were also a little tired.

Since “the boy” abandoned us… err… went home in June, we’ve been moving pretty fast. Literally the day after Marius left, we flew to Venice, hiked through the Dolomites, and wandered the streets of Vienna. Just a few months later we were back on a plane headed to South Africa and Zimbabwe for safari and a visit to Victoria Falls.

All amazing trips.

Also… a little exhausting.

In between those adventures we dealt with a few health scares and some personal setbacks. Our eldest dog has also started slowing down, and we’re realizing we don’t want to be away from him quite as much as we once were.

In many ways, this trip felt like a bit of a “last hurrah” for a while—a milestone birthday and one more big adventure before slowing things down.

Back To Basics

For this trip, we wanted something simple.

A place where our souls could fly a little.

And for us, the place that does that better than anywhere else in the world is ADLER Spa Resort Thermae.

It’s our favorite place in the world, and I’ve written about it before here.

But for Matt’s 40th birthday, I wanted to turn the volume up a little.

The Adler was always going to be the setting. But let’s be honest—a milestone birthday like this needed something extra.

And that something extra just happened to involve a certain younger Reiser from southern France…

Upcoming Posts From This Trip

• Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing a series of posts from this adventure, including:
• The logistics (and anxiety) of secretly getting a teenager with his own life from southern France to Italy without Matt finding out
• Paris Trip Diary and a review of Renaissance Paris Republique Hotel
• The day of the surprise
• Florence Trip Diary and a review of The St. Regis Florence
• Letting our souls fly again at the Adler
• A review of The Rome EDITION

And a special guest post by Matt comparing the ice cream sundaes in Delta One vs United Polaris… because some travel journalism simply must be done.

It was the kind of trip that reminds you why you travel in the first place. In the end, who you travel with and the memories you create matter far more than the next pretty thing on Instagram. I’m looking forward to sharing the stories from it over the next few posts.

Bon Voyage,

Andrew Reiser |Travel Advisor

Website: https://www.foratravel.com/advisor/andrew-reiser

Instagram: @areiser86

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