Trippy tiles, bottled-up feelings, Alan Cumming's regression, and the funnest garden slides
It’s funny how after you go on a trip—during which you’ve been devoid of your usual habits and routines and the usual pop culture cycle—the comeback to normal life reveals all sorts of trends (both personal and cultural), patterns, and proclivities. Just a few that I’ve noticed of late: voice memos, overalls, barbie-core, abs, lime green apparel, bright colors in general, The Bear, speakeasy(ish) bars, white linen vests; silenced-notifications messages; fizzy natural drinks, early bedtimes, and body-con dressing.
1.
Because I don’t foresee summer travel getting dramatically easier this year, I highly recommend downloading the Flighty app (there’s a free, as well as an enhanced version for purchase). I found it incredibly helpful during my recent trip to Italy, not just for its speedy, real-time updates on flight times, delays, and delay predictions (based on flight records), but for indicating terminals and gates of departure and arrivals, which was great for booking car transfers in advance. It can also provide taxi wait times.
Thanks to my sister who recently used this on a group trip to the UK, I’m now a convert to Tricount, which helps track and break down expenses amongst friends. Maybe you paid $200 entirely for a group house, but your companion bought lunch for you and everyone else one afternoon, while another travel friend purchased the groceries for everyone. Who ultimately owes what (and to whom) to ensure everyone contributed the same? This app mercifully does the algebra.
2.
Could someone please procure a bottle of Santa Maria Novella’s Caprifoglio (honeysuckle) fragrance, and tell me if you also think it smells of sweet florals with distinct top notes of sunscreen? For both my sister and me, it’s the ultimate expression of our childhood summers. I picked up a bottle in Italy last week—a trip souvenir, and yet I’ll forever associate it with our family’s annual late-August vacations on Bermuda.
3.
“No crime was committed. Technically.” I can’t wait to watch how this real-life story ultimately played out; My Old School is a documentary about an adult man who took on the guise of a teenager and enrolled himself back in high school. As a bizarre, meta-layer that only matches the perplexing narrative, Alan Cumming also appears as the film’s sole actor—an understudy of sorts for its subject, who refused to be filmed.
4.
I can’t remember which rabbit’s hole I stumbled down that led me to Studio GdB’s trippy and retro-futuristic custom ceramic tiles, but clearly, it was one straight out of Alice in Wonderland.
5.
Cabbage-patch kicks: In case your Birkenstocks or Adidas shower slides were feeling a little too basic, here’s a pair that will make your smirk every time you look down. (I seriously can’t look at these without cracking up.)