The Bittersweet Life

As you know if you're a regular listener, our show goes a lot deeper than travel tips an "best of"s. Our weekly conversations explore many aspects of life (both abroad and at home), and we encourage …

Rome's fountains are nothing short of inspiring—as we discovered on Monday's episode that features excerpts from Ottorino Respighi's symphonic tone poem, The Fountains of Rome.

But there are so many …

Rome not only has more fountains than any city on earth, it also has the most beautiful ones, from the delicate Fountain of the Turtles (ispiration for Tiffany's book Midnight in the Piazza), to the …

Looking back on her eventful gap year, our childhood friend Suzanne (whom me mention often on this show) talks about what prompted her to put off college for two years (in a time and place where it s…

What about if you dream of moving abroad—but love your life and your community in your home town?

This was the dilemma of longtime listener Darlene, who wrote to us several times during her years-lon…

It's hot in Rome right now, and all over Italy. Unbearably hot. Tourists and locals alike are dropping like flies.

On this mini-episode, Tiffany shares her tried-and-true tips based on her experience…

When your co-hosts stumble upon Tiffany's old apartment on Via Garibaldi, where she spent several memorable years between her late 20s and early 30s, it sparks a conversation about aging.

Not just th…

As Katy wanders through her rental aparment in Rome, she revels in the quiet joy of simply waking up in a new place (especially after so much time sticking close to home). Part of travel is not just …

You may know that St. Francis of Assisi traveled to Rome in the early 13th century, but do you know where he stayed? Did you know that you can vist the very cell where he slept and even see (and touc…

When traveling in Italy, how do you know when you are getting your money's worth and when you are getting scammed?

Last week, Tiffany shared tips gathered from her long experience living Italy to hel…

You've finally arrived in Italy for your dream vacation and all you want to do is dive head-first into pasta, gelato, art, history, and beauty but... [record scratch] ...you just got robbed. Passport…

After more than two years of staying close to home during the pandemic, being as careful to avoid infection as one could possibly be, with no international travel to speak of, Katy and her husband fi…

As we prepare to launch our "Summer in Rome" series, Katy muses on her favorite suitcase, a piece of luggage that has seen her though nearly every trip she's ever taken for the past quarter of a cent…

Does the language that we speak influence the way that our thoughts work?

An article in the New York Times by Guy Deutcher, Does Your Language Shape How You Think? explores this topic in depth.

Takin…

The sounds that follow you throughtout your day have a way of slipping into the background and going unnoticed. But how often do you stop to really listen?

On Monday's episode we played audio that li…

What are the sounds you truly love, not for how beautiful they are, but for what they mean? Sounds that, for whatever reason, make you happy? Sounds that, when you hear them, you know something good …

Two years after the worldwide outbreak of Covid-19, what will the long-term effects be? Not just in terms of public health, but in terms of privacy, censorship, and government control? This week, we …

How many weeks (roughly) do you have left to live? The answer will probably shock you, accoriding to author and cartoonisht Tim Urban, as most of us like to think our lives are, somehow, infinite. Bu…