Part 2 chronicles my experiences with being declared a "missing person" by my Greek mother (CALL YOUR MOTHER), observations about some of the cultural differences I learned very quickly after landing in Italy, my first evening and morning in a small "mom & pop" B&B, and a moment of personal reckoning while visiting Gorizia Castle.

Content Breakdown:

0:00 - Travel Before Google

0:49 - Declared a Missing Person / CALL YOUR MOTHER

6:00 - Wandering Around Venice

8:21 - Travel Lesson 1: Paid Public Toilets and Always Having Change

10:00 - Travel Lesson 2: Not Every Accommodation Operates Like a North American Hotel

13:16 - Nona's Story and Discovering Moka Pot Coffee

15:30 - Travel Lesson 3: Exploring Gorizia and Accidentally Crossing Into Slovenia

18:47 - Travel Lesson 4: Shooting Cappuccino and the Discovery of Caffeine Jolts

21:58 - I'm On Top of the World: Sublime Views from Gorizia Castle (and Harsh Realizations)

22:40 - Sliding Doors Moments: Deciding to Drop Out of Graduate School

23:40 - Paying Off Student Loan Debt Only to Go Back Into Debt (for a PhD in the Humanities)

24:50 - Parallel Universes and the Arrival of Funding

26:35 - Abandoning Freedom and Re-Chaining Myself to Academia

27:04 - What Is My Parallel Doppelganger Doing Right Now?

#gaysolotravel #italy #travelpodcast #academia #personaldiary