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July was a VERY busy month. This month I ricocheted from the city of Prague to the lavender fields of Provence to the green cliffs of Ireland to a concert swelling with thousands of people in bald caps to my favorite island in Italy.
Yes. It was such a big month, it was TOO MUCH of a month, and I’ll be getting into that in the post.
Let’s take a look!
Table of Contents
Destinations Visited
- Prague, Czech Republic
- Sainte-Croix-du-Verdon, Parc naturel régional du Verdon, Moustiers-Sainte-Marie, Valensole, Cassis, La Ciotat, Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer, Arles, Nîmes, Pont Saint-Esprit, and Domaine de Valbonne, France
- Dublin, Ireland
- Naples and Ischia (Forio, Sant’Angelo), Italy
Highlights
Charlie and I went to Provence to celebrate our friends’ Patrick and Grégory’s wedding. And we turned it into a weeklong road trip, visiting parts of France we had never visited!
We started with Lac Sainte-Croix and the dramatic, craggy Gorges du Verdon, which were a spectacular place to rent a boat and go for a swim. Around here we also came across a spectacular field of lavender illuminated at sunset. Not touristy. It was just there. And it smelled DIVINE.
Next up we headed down to the Mediterranean Coast, staying on the border of La Ciotat and Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer. The town of Cassis was so pretty and a nice place to visit (especially eating at Le Petit Oyster Bar!). And we loved spending a day at La Boheme Beach Club in Saint Cyr.
Next up, we headed to Arles, the city of Van Gogh, where there were so many interesting art shows on display. One of the artists is a friend of my sister and brother-in-law, so we made sure to drop in to see her exhibition!
And then we headed to Nîmes, and I didn’t really know what to expect, but Nîmes BLEW ME AWAY. Especially since Thursday nights in the summer are filled with live music events all over the city! Great street life, nice restaurants, and Les Halles is the BEST place to pick up some ingredients for a picnic or lunch at home.
Finally, we headed to Domaine de Valbonne in Provence, where Patrick and Grégory put on three days of wedding events. Their wedding was one of the most beautiful ceremonies I’ve ever seen. And it was so much fun hanging out with our blogger friends.
Charlie and I went to Dublin for the weekend to celebrate my brother-in-law Matt’s 40th birthday. Matt planned a fun weekend full of activities for a big group of friends, similar to what I did for my own 40th in Korčula two years ago, and we had so much fun celebrating together.
Dublin is a city that I’ve never really gelled with, but I enjoyed Dublin so much on this trip! In Dublin, I think it helps to get out of the city center a bit, and two of my favorite things we did were swimming at the Forty Foot in Sandy Cove, a gorgeous seaside neighborhood, and going on a hike in Howth, another seaside spot.
On top of that, we did a fun whiskey tasting at the Teeling distillery, and Charlie and I enjoyed the Guinness Storehouse, which feels a bit like adult Disneyland! And there was a LOT of good food, too.
Some of Matt’s friends rented a big house with a piano — and I played and led a singalong for everyone on the final night. “Shallow” was a huge hit!
My friend Ashley and I saw Pitbull in concert in Prague — and we wore bald caps! THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!!! I’ve wanted to be a baldie at a Pitbull concert for so long!
If you’re considering going to a Pitbull concert, go for it! There is nothing like it. Pitbull understands that people only want to hear the hits, and the whole show is nothing but hits. Lil Jon is the opener, playing a variety of 2000s songs, and later he joins Pitbull for a few more songs. (And yes, Lil Jon kept yelling, “PRAGUE!” the way he yells, “YEAH!”)
And people were so into their Pitbull costumes! I would estimate about half the people there were wearing Pitbull-themed clothing (most people in white tops and black bottoms with a black tie and sunglasses), and about 25% of people were wearing bald caps.
Pitbull is actually coming back to Prague in November (!!) and I’m thinking of going again. Anyone want to be a baldie with me?
And Charlie and I finished the month in Naples and Ischia. This was the beginning of my birthday trip (my actual birthday is August 2). We enjoyed spritzes, buffalo milk gelato, and a huge plate of raw seafood in Naples before heading to my beloved island of Ischia to soak up the sun.
Good times in Prague. One evening, my friends and I took a ride on the super modern T3 Coupé tram, which has rides open to the public a few times a year. It was SO nice, with white leather seats, big open windows, and a bar.
We had so much fun, we want to rent the whole tram for a group of our friends sometime. You can rent the whole thing for one hour for 7,700 CZK ($367 USD), which can be quite reasonable if you have a big group!
My friends and I watched the World Cup final at Hooters, which unironically is our favorite bar for watching sports (what can I say, there are TVs at every angle and we like the wings).
And I’m pretty sure the ratio of Spain fans to Argentina fans in Prague was about 99 to 1. That made that final red card especially cathartic.
Also this month, Charlie and I went to see the Prague Shakespeare Company perform As You Like It outside at Prague Castle. I had never read or seen As You Like It, but it quickly became one of my favorites — such a funny play, and the PSC did such a fun production of it!
Challenges
We had a car mishap while driving on the highway. Everyone’s okay, the car is okay, but car trouble when you’re speeding down a highway can leave anyone feeling unsettled.
It was HOT HOT HOT in Provence! And we had accidentally booked one hotel without air conditioning, which is not fun when it’s 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 C). Phew.
If you’re planning a summer trip to the south of France, I recommend staying on the sea, where you have a nice breeze! If you’re planning on exploring the interior, I recommend sticking to late spring or early fall.
I got the worst cold I’ve had in years. Summer colds are the worst! Thankfully, I think I was able to shorten its duration by eating a lot of honey with raw garlic and onion. Gross and effective.
Burnout!
And finally, on a personal note, I am feeling quite burned out on travel at the moment. My schedule has been packed from late May through late September.
Every trip was VERY much worth it, several times over, but I think the problem was having too many trips without enough downtime in between. And that was because several of these trips were scheduled around unmovable events. I’m not blaming anyone — that’s just how life is sometimes!
But how can a professional traveler feel bad about traveling?
For me, I feel awful being away from my cats (but much more comfortable if someone is staying at our apartment as opposed to dropping in to feed them). On top of that, I feel discombobulated when I am away from my routine and feel like I can’t work, exercise, or even relax. Especially when I’m changing accommodation often.
So once I get back from my long-planned Africa trip in late September, I’m going to scale my travels back. I’ve committed to a conference in Hamburg in mid-October and our annual Christmas visit to London and Boston. That’s it. Everything else has been axed.
I might add on a quick Christmas market excursion somewhere close by (maybe Bratislava and Brno?), but want to keep it brief and low-key.
So how do I keep this from happening again? I’ve been weighing the idea of limiting myself to one shorter trip and one longer trip each quarter. I probably won’t be able to pull that off every time, but maybe I can make that work half the time.
If any of you frequent travelers made an effort to scale down your travels, I’d love to hear how you did it!
Blog Post of the Month
Best eSIM for Travel in 2026 — and don’t forget you can get 5% off any Holafly eSIM with the code HOLAKATE!
Most Popular Reel on Instagram
Is French useless? In the US especially, people act like learning French is an indulgence and the only language worth learning is Spanish for its usefulness.
But in the past year alone, I have used my French SO much — in Mauritius, quite intensely in Réunion and Madagascar, unexpectedly in Uzbekistan, and on two different trips to France. My reel goes into detail on it.
What I Watched This Month
On a whim, Charlie and I watched Outlast: The Jungle on Netflix. On the surface, it looks like a low-budget version of Survivor: a bunch of people are marooned on an island in Panama, split into teams, and need to survive off the land and outplay their opponents. The twist is that they must be part of a team in order to win.
But beneath the surface, this was a VERY interesting study of gender dynamics. It’s fascinating watching how the teams operate in their different iterations.
A team with one man and several women has the man trying to dominate them, a team with one woman and several men turns terrifyingly misogynistic, and not surprisingly, the all-women team works together better together than anyone else.
So yes. It’s a relatively quick watch, and worth it if you’re interested in those dynamics. There are two earlier seasons of Outlast set in Alaska, and I hear they are wilder with far worse people.
What I Listened To This Month
I’m listening to all 500 of Rolling Stone‘s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, which I am enjoying immensely. I am loving discovering new artists and listening to albums I’ve somehow missed my entire life until now!
And in July, I listened to albums number 12-1. I FINISHED! It took more than a year and a half!!
Favorite Discovery: Pet Sounds by The Beach Boys. What a gorgeous album, start to finish, layered and interesting and with the most beautiful harmonies you can imagine.
Months ago, I listened to the album Smile by Brian Wilson, and it absolutely blew me away. Now I realize that it was intended as the spiritual successor to Pet Sounds.
All I will say is that this might be the greatest pop album ever written.
Other Favorite Discoveries: Blue by Joni Mitchell.
Favorite Revisited Album: What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye. The number one album of all time, according to the list, and one that I’ve always enjoyed.
The entire album plays out like one long, ethereal track, all consistently focused on how we need to make the world a better place.
Other Favorite Revisited Albums: Revolver by The Beatles, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill by Lauryn Hill, Thriller by Michael Jackson, Abbey Road by the Beatles.
Favorite Songs: “Doo Wop (That Thing)” by Lauryn Hill, “Eleanor Rigby” by the Beatles, “Human Nature” by Michael Jackson, “Knocks Me Off My Feet” by Stevie Wonder, “God Only Knows” by The Beach Boys, “I Would Die 4 U” by Prince.
Get the playlist: I’m creating a playlist of my favorite songs from the 500 albums — maximum one per album — on Spotify. You can listen to it here.
Lowlight of the Month: Hard to find a lowlight in the top 12 — but Nirvana doesn’t really do anything for me, even after listening to three of their albums in this challenge. Nevermind didn’t seem like a top 10 album to me.
And this may be odd coming from a Stevie Wonder fan, but I find Songs in the Key of Life to be really intense and overwhelming. There are some AMAZING songs on here, but as an album, I would much rather listen to Music of My Mind or Innervisions or Talking Book or Fulfillingness’ First Finale…
Other music of the month: I am really enjoying two new albums from this year: Madonna’s CONFESSIONS II, which is an absolutely superb dance album and the best music she’s released in 20 years; and Olivia Rodrigo’s you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love, which is so interesting and layered and has so many influences from The Cure.
SO NOW WHAT DO I DO?! This challenge is one of the best things I’ve ever done! I think I need to create a big post about it, or maybe a video!
*Disclaimer: QUITE A LOT of the musicians featured on this list are problematic in various ways — there are even two murderers in the mix. I’m looking at their music solely from an influential perspective.
What I Read This Month
This month I had to buy a new Kindle, as the old Kindle that I’ve been using no longer downloads new books (gotta love planned obsolescence). But the new one did come with three months of Kindle Unlimited for free. I’ve never used KU before, so if you have any recommendations, I’d love to hear them!
Kin by Tayari Jones (2026) — Vernice and Annie are two motherless daughters growing up as close as sisters in Honeysuckle, Louisiana. Then their lives diverge — Vernice heads to Spelman College and becomes part of Atlanta’s wealthy Black community; Annie runs away to Memphis to track down the mother who abandoned her.
The women stay in touch through letters and their lives change both beautifully and painfully.
If there’s anything I love, it’s a story about two young women whose lives diverge, one for better and one for worse. (My Brilliant Friend, Swing Time, The Vanishing Half…)
And on top of that, the writing is fantastic. I loved Tayari Jones’s An American Marriage, but this is SO much better! The characters are so richly drawn. I loved how there was a lot of ambiguity to each character, and Jones resisted the temptation to make anyone too arch, too pious, too kind.
If there’s any new book you should read in 2026, it should be Kin.
Baby-Sitters Summer by Ann M. Martin, Becky Albertalli, Coe Booth, Sarah Kuhn, Peter Lerangis, Jahnna N. Malcolm, and Emma Straub (2026) — Yes, in the year of our Lord 2026, just in time for the 40th anniversary, there is a BRAND NEW BABY-SITTERS CLUB BOOK.
The book takes place in the middle of the series — a summer when most of the girls are away, and Mary Anne and Stacey are home. They all have adventures in Massachusetts, in Los Angeles, in Ireland.
And Kristy has a crush on a girl she meets.
That is HUGE. Kristy was queer-coded throughout the series — as much as you could get away with for a children’s series that peaked in the 90s. Author Ann M. Martin herself is queer. But only in 2026 is Kristy finally allowed to realize that hey, she might like girls! And her romance is so sweet.
The rest of the book is nice, though some parts are better than others. I loved that Jessi’s chapters clearly had a Black author for the first time (and she had a Black hairstyle for the first time ever — oh, and Black is capitalized in a BSC book for the first time ever). I loved that Mary Anne fostered kittens, another first for the series (Ann M. Martin herself fosters a lot of animals).
On the negative end, I couldn’t stand the Dawn chapters, which I immediately knew were written by Peter Lerangis, my least favorite BSC ghostwriter, who has a penchant for onomatopoeias and shouting. I hated that Stacey had yet another plotline about getting a huge crush on a guy and shirking all her other responsibilities.
But overall? It was nice to read. I hope they write more of them.
Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza (2025) — Lizzie and Bex were best friends in college, and inseparable until their early 20s. Now Bex has emerged as a tradwife influencer, and she reaches out to Lizzie, now a journalist, to attend an influencer conference and write her story.
Then Bex’s husband is murdered, and Bex and her children disappear, leaving Lizzie to unravel it all.
Now — I loved this at first. I loved the setting; I loved the pacing; I loved that in some ways, it got some things right that Yesteryear got wrong.
But unfortunately, this book did NOT stick the landing. It got worse and worse as it went on, and I cringed at some of the characters. It’s too bad, because it had so much potential!
Mourning MAGA: Short Stories on the Loved Ones We Lost by Lisa Marie Martens (2026) — This short wisp of a book (37 pages) is a collection of intertwined short stories about people who fell into Trumpland and whose personalities changed as a result.
It’s sad because we all know people like this.
This was a free read on Kindle (and is now on KU), and was worth 37 pages of reading. But I have the feeling that it was more cathartic for the author to write than for most people to read.
Coming Up in August and September 2026
I won’t be writing an August recap next month, because I will be very busy for almost all of September! Instead, I’ll be writing an August-September recap that will come out in early October.
The month of August began with the remainder of my birthday trip to Ischia and Naples, and I turned 42!
And I will be in Prague for a bit until it’s time for a FULL MONTH IN AFRICA.
Charlie and I are flying to Cape Town and spending a full week there. This will be my fourth trip to Cape Town and Charlie’s first trip to Africa, ever!! We plan on hitting up some of my favorite spots, doing some wine tasting in Constantia and Franschoek, and hopefully finally making it to Robben Island.
Next up, we fly to Botswana to join the Rock My Adventure Botswana and Victoria Falls tour! (Also, you can get £100 off any Rock My Adventure tour with the code KATE100!)
There is so much I’m looking forward to on this tour. Meeting meerkats, seeing elephants, quad biking across the desert, going on a mokoro safari, swimming in the Devil’s Pool. And maybe some whitewater rafting on the Zambezi!
After the tour, my mom meets us in Victoria Falls. We spend a few days with Charlie, then he flies back, and then Mom and I head on to safari — in Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, then a little bit more falls time in Zambia, then more safari in Botswana!
I am especially hoping to see an adult male lion with a full mane, as that’s something that’s evaded me on every safari so far! Luckily, Hwange is especially good for lions.
Botswana will be my 100th country! Zambia and Zimbabwe will be 101 and 102. And I’m really looking forward to seeing Charlie and my mom experience Africa for the first time.
What are you up to this month? Share away!