The One Checked Bag Newsletter — Issue 10

Where I Unpack the Experience, Not Just the Itinerary

Issue 10 — September 15, 2026

Welcome to One Checked Bag.

The blog tells you where I went.

The newsletter tells you what I learned once I got there.

Sometimes that’s about travel. Sometimes it’s about life. Usually, it’s a little of both.

Honoring My Sister

A little over a year and a half ago, my sister passed away. She was far too young.

We adopted her in 1977. She arrived at JFK from South Korea as an 18-month old. New people, new language, and new surroundings. She was starting a new life.

Our family lived in Vermont. At that time, Vermont was not the most diverse state in our country.

She stuck out from the rest of us. Yet it was with us that she wanted to be.

I can’t imagine what it was like for her to grow up in a place where she was somewhat of a novelty.

My wife and I decided to visit South Korea while in Taiwan next month. While there, we will be visiting Busan, my sister’s birthplace.

I have debated what I should do while in Busan. Do I try to find the orphanage where she started her life? Do I try to look up birth records to maybe fill in some of the gaps in what we know of her early life?

Or do I just take the coastal city in, walking the beach, eating the local cuisine from the food market, and finding a temple to say a prayer and give an offering?

At this moment, I think the latter would be the best way to honor her life. Maybe I’ll change my mind. I don’t know yet.

Neither will change the fact that she is gone.

But I know if I was in South Korea, I wouldn’t be able to not go to Busan in her honor.

The Road Less Traveled

We decided on a whim to take a day trip from Rome to Florence, Italy.

With the high-speed train, in less than 90 minutes you can be at the Firenze Santa Maria Novella in Florence. And the time flies as the train speeds past the beautiful scenery of rolling hills, dotted with olive groves and vineyards.

Our last-minute tickets were expensive, but that is the price for poor planning.

We arrived in Florence at 9:00 a.m., just in time for the rush hour crowd. I say that tongue in cheek because once the crowd from the train dispersed, the streets seemed so empty for a Wednesday morning.

Our morning started with some of the touristy things, like a stop at the Florence Cathedral in the Piazza del Duomo and viewing the original statue of David by Michelangelo. But that was really it.

By late morning, we just strolled all over Florence.

We haggled with the leather goods merchants at San Lorenzo Market. Much too long for my liking, but my wife thinks of haggling as an Olympic sport, and she’s competing for a gold medal.

Inside the Mercato Centrale, we walked around sampling the food offered while enjoying the aroma of fresh fish and poultry resting on a bed of ice.

Leaving the market, we stumbled upon a small restaurant that my wife and I fell in love with during our first visit to Florence. We learned that COVID-19 shuttered the restaurant and it later reopened under new ownership. Everything looked very much the same as it had before and the Cacio e Pepe didn’t disappoint.

We crossed the Arno River after dozens and dozens of photos of my stepdaughter on the medieval bridge, Ponte Vecchio. I took my favorite photo of her on that bridge. I would love to show you, but she would disown me. Apparently I take photographs like an old person.

As my wife and I enjoyed a bottle of Montepulciano d’Abruzzo at this beautiful wine bar, my stepdaughter was feverishly posting on Instagram.

We watched the sun set with the golden skies reflecting off the Arno River.

The walk back to the train station was interrupted by the numerous stops at the designer stores on the Via dè Tornabuoni.

While my first visit to Florence was racing from museum to exhibit to church (rinse, lather, repeat), this short visit was anything but.

The pace of the day was perfect.

Giving each moment the time to breathe enhanced our experience. I saw Florence for what it is and can be—a place I would like to stay for an extended period of time once I retire.

What’s in My Carry-On?

With our trip to South Korea and Taiwan coming soon, I am about to experience something that I have never dealt with before—a huge language barrier!

French comes back to me (gradually), so Paris and Morocco didn’t present me with many problems.

I am able to piece together Spanish and Italian. Well, enough to get by.

But Mandarin Chinese (which we will encounter in Taiwan) and Korean are a totally different ballgame.

Apps, such as HelloChinese and Duolingo, have made me feel completely inept.

These languages are so foreign to me!

Even simple words like “hello” and “thank you” have so many sounds and syllables. My less-than-impressive attempts to speak even the basic words just come out as a garbled mess.

So, I will be relying on Google Translate for this trip. And I fully expect to spend many hours on the flight to Taipei practicing both languages on that app.

Seriously though, what did people do before these apps?

One Thing I’d Do Differently

As I have mentioned before, I am really not a collector of stuff.

I value experiences over possessions. My camera and my journals capture those moments for me. And as I look back at my photographs and writings, I remember those days vividly. At least at 61, I remember them.

Honestly, there are only a few “things” we have ever purchased as a memento from our journeys. And of those, I only know the whereabouts of one.

But I’ve started to rethink my philosophy on these purchases.

Not a wholesale departure from my belief on limiting possessions. But rather adding something of personal meaning from each trip. Something that helps tell the story of our adventures.

Have you ever looked in someone’s bookcase and asked about an item? I love the stories that come from these questions.

I can see myself telling the story of the hand-carved camel we purchased under the moonlight in the Sahara Desert. After leading us across the desert on camelback to the outskirts of our campsite, the young Moroccan cameleer spread a cloth across the sand and proudly began pulling his father’s carvings from his satchel. That little carving now carries the memory of that night—a story I’ll happily retell every chance I get.

So maybe it’s a book or print from a museum bookstore. A small, handcrafted dish to hold the coins or stamps from our destinations. Or that Merino Wool sweater I’m still kicking myself for not buying in New Zealand.

These wouldn’t represent knick-knacks or meaningless clutter, but rather symbols of what I’ve been blessed to experience and possibly the impetus to tell a great story.

Zipping It Up…

If you haven’t visited the blog lately, you can find it at www.onecheckedbag.com.

I have recently published posts on my experience regarding the Paris Museum Pass and where to stay (or not stay) while in Paris. I also posted tips for a successful multi-generational vacation.

We leave soon for Taiwan and South Korea and I honestly have never felt so ill-prepared. All flights are booked and our high-speed train from Seoul to Busan will be booked later today. But everything else feels like a bunch of loose ends.

I trust it will come together. It always does.

And if it doesn’t, you’ll surely hear about it!

You can also find me on Instagram and Pinterest.

I’ll see you back here on October 1.

If you enjoyed this issue, forward it to someone you’d travel with.

—Stephen