Welcome to the Truly Expat Travel Podcast, where I chat with expats about their favourite holiday destination. Let's be honest, expats are some of the best travellers around, always planning the next adventure, exploring hidden gems and finding the best spots everywhere they go. So for better or for worse, for travel inspiration. This episode is a little bit different. It's my very first episode and I am chatting with myself. which is a little bit strange for me because normally I'm there interviewing people. But I've just come back from a really great four-week trip to Sicily and I thought what a better way to celebrate or explain or inspire people to go to this beautiful place. So what I'll be doing is I'm going to be asking the same questions or answering the same questions that I've been asking all the guests that I've been interviewing. So I guess let's get started. Why did I go to Sicily? Who am I? What am I doing? All those sort of questions. So let's get into it. Basically, my name is Paula and I have been a travel blogger for the past six or seven years. And I have now turned my love of travel and writing into content creating, now a podcast, and also writing. taking females on tours around the world. We went to Sri Lanka in January. We're off to Bhutan in August, which we still have a few more spots. And I'm also doing one in November, sorry, in September to Greece. So if you're interested in either of those If you're interested in either of those tours or any of the tours, just go onto my website, which is trulyexpattravel.com. There's a couple of articles there. There's the itineraries. There's a lot of explanation. Yeah, and just message me because there are still some spots left. Anyway, let's get into it. What kind of traveler am I? Oh, okay. So it just depends on where I'm going and what I'm doing. Generally speaking these days, I'm a female, solo female traveler. So what I tend to do is travel to loads of different places around the world on my own and show women that they can do it. I'm not going to lie. My first time traveling solo was scary. It was. It was nervous having to do it all on my own and making decisions on my own. Also, you know, driving car, reading maps. The first time you do it is really, really scary. But I think once you... Excuse me. Get up and go. It's fine. It's actually easier than you think. Well, you know, I say that with tongue in cheek because my Sicily trip, which I'll get into, was one of those scary moments. Anyway, I also travel quite often with my family, with friends, on my own, groups of women. So there's a whole lot of ways that I travel. And to be fair, I like all types of travel. I like adventure travel. I like to go hiking. I've done the Camino a couple of times and a couple of other hikes. I like to go on proper vacations where I relax by the pool or the beach and swim in the ocean. But I also like to go and do a lot of history tours, right, and food tours. Sorry, I don't know what's going on with my throat this morning. So, yeah, I'm kind of like I just like to travel. I like to travel everywhere. The only thing I don't like to do is really travel to a place twice. Unless I haven't really discovered it, then I kind of like to do a little bit of slow travel. So I'm not ticking boxes. I'm not counting how many countries I go to, but I'm really, really interested in the culture of that place that I'm visiting and what there is to offer. I do love the food. I'm a big foodie. So I do love to try the cuisines of the countries that I've been in. And so, yeah, that's a little bit about myself. And basically, this podcast is going to be chatting to a whole heap of people. I've got a lot of family members that are coming on, a lot of expats, a lot of people that were expats that have repatriated. So anyone that's lived abroad who can, you know, everyone who's lived abroad is that, well, not everyone who's lived abroad, everyone that loves to travel is adventurous. But I guess that The people that I know very well are people that are expats, and I've been an expat for 18 years. So they're the ones that are constantly looking for great places to visit, and they're the people that are coming onto this podcast. And I think it's so exciting. I'm actually really excited about this podcast. I'm currently sitting here in Sydney, ready to head out to Canada on an amazing trip. I cannot wait. Yeah, when this goes live, I'll be in Canada. So I'll be able to talk about that next time I'm on. Anyway, so what's the one travel destination that completely stole my heart? Well, I'm going to talk about Sicily. Why? Well, I'm half Italian. So I think Italy has always drawn me to it, especially southern Italy, because that's where my father was born. And although my family now, most of them now live up north, Well, they all live up north. Sicily, well, southern Italy still stole my heart. So when my husband and I had decided that we potentially want to purchase property in Italy, then it was a no-brainer. I went to Italy with the sole purpose to go and find some property because I'm really excited about helping the communities. They really need work. They really need some money coming in, and that's my goal, really. I spent a month looking for the perfect place. Now, I've been to Sicily before a couple of times, but this time was different. This time was I drove myself, by myself, the whole length of the island. No, actually, this is not true. I was able to, my niece came for the weekend, like, friend from the UK came for a few days, for a week. So yeah, I did have some people in the beginning, but yeah, most of it I did all on my own, which I'll get into in a minute. How easy was it to get there? Well, to get from Singapore to Sicily, well, I flew into Palermo, but you can find, they've got four airports there. Palermo, for me, was a no-brainer because I wanted to start and end there, and the other opportunity or the possibility would have been Catania, which is where I flew into the previous time that I was there. I also caught a ferry over from Calabria once or twice, actually, and we drove our car over, which was a completely different, I guess, vibe to what I was experiencing this time. So it was pretty easy. I flew Turkish Airlines and stopped in Istanbul. So it was pretty straightforward. I got into Palermo and it was the first weekend I was there, I didn't have a car. So I actually caught a train straight into Palermo and it took about an hour. It was really easy from the airport. Like even for me, it was really easy. I always get lost for those who know me well. So yeah, it was really, really easy to get in. The second time I flew in, because I went to France for a week. And when I flew in, I actually picked up the car and that was also super easy. And coming from Palermo back into the airport, I caught the bus. So I wanted to try all different ways of transport to see how easy it was. And I have to say, all three were just as easy. The only difficulty I had with picking up the car was that I had picked or had organised to rent an electric car, which I didn't realise at the time because there's not many, there was only mainly manuals to choose from. So I really struggled with trying to find an automatic. For those who know me, I can't drive a manual and, you know, So I didn't want to put that extra burden on myself. So I picked an automatic car and it happened to be electric. Now, the lady behind the counter said to me, there's no way you can drive that all around Sicily because there's very limited, there's an app that you can use, but there's very limited places that you can, what do you call it, fill up, which I've learned driving around Sicily isn't really true because there's a lot of tiny little towns you wouldn't even expect. They actually had... a lot of the pumps there anyway. So long story short, the only car that she could keep me was this huge car, huge for Italy standard. It's like a SUV style car. And I really struggled driving that in some of those tiny, tiny little streets. I tell you what, I have to say I was proud of myself. I only cried twice, once properly, once was a few tears of frustration. And once was a little bit of panic as well. So I think I did pretty considering. And also driving on the other side of the road. So you pull out and the first thing you do is you hit a roundabout. And my head space was, do I turn left or to right? And I started to panic, but then everyone else turned right. So I just followed suit. I think it took me about a week before I started to really feel like it was actually okay. The first few days of Palermo, I wouldn't recommend driving in Palermo. It's just crazy. For me, crazy. And I've driven in Seoul and I've driven in KL. But yeah, this is crazy. This is next level crazy. So how easy was it to get there? I just said that. What did your itinerary look like? Okay, so for me, it was a little bit different because I was house hunting. So I spent a whole month just house hunting. But can I say, what I did do is spent a few days here and there really getting to know the island. Hmm.

Hmm.

It was, so my first week, I'd say my first week was in Palermo getting to know the capital and it was so much fun. For those of you who haven't been to Sicily or in particular Palermo, you need to be there on a Sunday because the markets, so they have two major markets that have been there around for centuries pretty much, they turn into the most exciting, fun places. place to be on the weekend. So I did a food tour with my niece on the Sunday morning and it was a street food tour and I highly, highly recommend it. It was so much fun and you got to taste real authentic Sicilian food, not Italian food, Sicilian food. And it was delicious. While we were there, well, after we were there, we then started walking around the, and I had, look, I know I shouldn't, but I did. And I, well, no, it's not that. anything wrong with it, but I researched, my niece researched on TikTok, as you do, and it said to go to the markets on Sunday. So we did. And it was so much fun. All of a sudden, there's a DJ. This is an open market, you know, like a street, and you could hear the music from miles away. There's a DJ there, and there's people everywhere. There's street vendors there selling food, and these little Aperol Spritz trucks, like, you know, like those, like a bar. And they were everywhere. So people were singing and dancing. Look, we danced and sang as well, even though the words were in Italian. And all of a sudden, out of nowhere, a violinist just pops up. Someone had put her up onto a table and she started playing. It was amazing. It was so much fun. Even for, you know, like it was all ages. It wasn't just young people. That was a lot of fun. We did a whole, I did a lot. I did the on-off baths. I did a walking history tour. That was all. I love history. So for those who love history, a walk into is always the best way to know about the history of the country. And I tell you what, I learned a lot. And for those who haven't, so they kept saying, oh, have you watched this Netflix show? Have you watched this Netflix show? So you know what? I put this Netflix show on called Leopard and it goes through loosely based on a true story about how Sicily became part of Italy. And it's actually all filmed in Palermo and other parts of Sicily. So it was actually a lot of fun. Actually, not fun. It was actually very interesting. And when you watch the show, it's like, oh, okay, I've been there. I know what that is. So that was definitely something that you should watch before you go. Then we went to the palace. I really wanted to go to the palace. I love looking at palaces or, you know, like I love looking at all houses and history and where people live. So we did that. My girlfriend from the UK came as well. And then when my niece left, my friend and I jumped in the car and we went and had a look at some houses. So we went to the next area. And then one day we decided to go to the beach. And can I tell you? They have some of the most incredible beaches in Sicily, you know, like they really do. For those who haven't or who have been to Italy before, the beaches down in Sicily, they just hit differently. They're just beautiful. And going in May, the water was not freezing, but it was cold, like it was cool. And although the first day I got there was 19 degrees and it was like 8.30 in the morning and there was all people on the beach, I'm like coming from Singapore going, what the hell? Why in the world would you be going into the water? But can I tell you, by the end of that trip, it was like 21 degrees and I was out there in the water and I was sunbaking as well because the humidity was higher than I imagined. So it was actually quite hot. It was actually quite hot. And I highly, highly recommend going in May. Because I would hate to think what June and July look like. Because I did the whole, literally, I just went the whole island. When I went to Termina, it was so busy. And it was May. I cannot think how busy it's going to be June and July and how hot. I've been there before in summer and it's been really hot. But it has never been that busy. Like, I tell you, I don't know if it's because of White Lotus, but it was so busy. I went there and I went to the Godfather tour as well, which was fun. I highly recommend, if you're only there for a few days, I would probably either do north or south. I wouldn't try and do the whole island in seven days, but what I did do north that was different to south would have been the fact that when I went to Palermo, I would do... the capital city, the history, the food. And then I would probably go off to Cefalu, which is about an hour, I think. It took me about an hour and a bit to drive to. That's beautiful. That really is. You can't park in the city centre, but you can park outside of that city centre and just walk in. It was beautiful. I went to a Michelin-star restaurant. I went to the beach. It was... I went shopping because there's quite a lot of shops and stuff there. I didn't do any tours there, which I normally do, because I was off looking at houses in a few little villages like Castiglione and stuff not that far. That wasn't that day, sorry. I didn't go to Castiglione that day. I went to another little town called Grottieri. which is beautiful. Like if you do go to Cefalu, having a day trip up there, it's like a Mediterranean, not Mediterranean, a medieval town. And it's beautiful. Like it really, it's really beautiful. And the only thing is it's quite sleepy. And the only people I saw were men, old men having coffee. And they're all so friendly. They really were. But there's heaps to do from there. You know, like if you go to Cefalu, You could do day trips to other places in Italy. You don't have to have a car if you're just going to do Palermo and Cefalu because the train goes through there. But if you're going to go down and you fly into Catania, I'd highly recommend going to Termini. You just have to, you know, I would only stay in Catania for a day or two because I'm To me, it's just another city, whereas there's some beautiful places. Go up to Castiglione and stay there, and it is beautiful. It's a really beautiful, beautiful little medieval town, so highly recommend that. Then you can do a day trip to Mount Edna, which is about an hour's drive. There's some wineries around there as well, which I highly recommend because the grape is different. I don't know much about... about wine in Sicily. All I know is it was delicious. What I would recommend you doing around that kind of area is that if you've only got seven days, you could do Termina, Castiglione, Catania, those kind of things. You could go to Syracuse. That's another option. I actually caught the ferry from Palazzo to Malta, and I spent three days in Malta. And I'm going to do a whole other episode on Malta because I just fell in love with it. So, yeah, you can catch a ferry. It's Sicily. You can catch a ferry to Calabria, the main island of Italy. You can also catch a ferry to Malta, which took me about an hour and 45 minutes to get there from Calabria. the bottom part of Sicily. So there is so much to do. There is so much to do. Wideries, heaps of wideries around. It doesn't matter where you stay, there's heaps of wideries. There's lots of places where there's ruins. There is so much to do in Sicily. Was there a standout experience or moment that made the trip unforgettable? Oh gosh, there's so many. Apart from the fact that I started crying because I got stuck a couple of times because people... Google Maps lie. They don't take you to the best place to get to. They take you to the smaller streets, the most winding roads, and they take you in dead ends, you know, and then you've got to try and get yourself out of those dead ends. I'm never going to believe in Google Maps again because I tell you, the amount of times I got stuck. I would also, if you're going to do a road trip around Italy, I would also remember that. It's not about you. It's about the drivers around you. So you can do 130 on some of the expressways, but some of those people, they're not doing 130. They're doing way beyond that. So you just got to be careful. I was just worried about the car. I was so worried about the car because if you look around, a lot of the cars are banged up and I'm thinking, oh my gosh, I'm going to be one of them. I got through it and I'm here to tell the story. What are the must, oh, so what are some of the things? So some of the experiences that I had that were just mind-blowing. So I have finally found the town that I think that I really would like to move to. I've got two. I really like Castiglione, but I really, really like Salemi. I don't know if you know much about Salemi, but Salemi, for me, was the place that I was looking for in my head. I wanted a place not near the beach, Because as much as I love the beach, it's seasonal and going there in summer and winter wouldn't be much fun. So I decided I wanted to be something that was close enough to the beach, but still had that old world charm, you know, had a heartbeat. And Salemi did that for me. It's about 45 minutes to the airport, an hour to Paloma. It's about, closest winery is like 15 minutes away. It's 40 minutes far. Yeah, about 40 minutes to the beach. It's about 25 minutes to a place very close by that have like old Roman or Greek theater, like temple ruins. It's amazing. So there's a lot to do in such a small town. And for those who haven't, which I didn't realize at the time, I watched this program about two years ago when I was on my way to Greece and it was amazing. I think it's called Amanda and Alan. It's Italian job. I think that's what it's called on the BBC. And I watched it on the plane. I was like, that's what I want to do. I want to buy a one euro home, which I'm not, I'm not buying a one euro home, but I want to buy a one euro home and I want to do it up and renovate and stuff like that. And I guess in my head, subconsciously, that town was a kind of town that I was looking for. And then I realized when I got there, when I was going, I was having a look around. So Amanda, I've been following on TikTok, does this Live Like a Local. And she shows you around to places that you could buy. Then she takes you off and, you know, you have a cooking class and you go to the beach and shows you around and walk to it and stuff like that. But unfortunately, I couldn't do the whole week. I only just did a couple of days where we looked at houses. And they kept talking about this BBC house. And I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. They're like, oh, haven't you seen the program? I was like, That's here? That's here? I can't believe. Because as soon as I stepped there, I was like, I love this. I love this. This is how I feel. And then I realized this is the town. So if you haven't, you should watch the BBC show. That's probably my biggest standout moment. There were other times where I got stuck in a scene. And this lovely couple, you know, they were helping me out. And then when I was trying to reverse out into this tiny little area, This lovely old man came and, you know, helped me. Yeah, you know, it's just those little stuff. I was at the train station and this is one thing I would highly recommend. Don't take a big bag, especially a big bag with wheels and if you're on your own because those cobblestone streets and going up and down floors, four or five flights with a big bag is really painful. Anyway, I was walking down the stairs of the train station. This old man, like when I say old, walking stick old. grabbed my bag and grabbed it and took it downstairs. And I'm like, he's like, and he was holding onto the side and oh my gosh, they're the things that you cannot put word, can't even explain it. It's just that whole beautiful mentality of I'm going to help you. You know, you look like you're struggling. You don't see that in big cities anymore, you know? And so that was probably my all-time standout moment. You know, people wanting to help get me going on the train. Someone's trying to help me on the train and just stuff like that, you know. And when you're traveling on your own, take pride in being able to do most of the stuff on my own. But when somebody helps you, it just feels a bit more special. So What's a must-try local dish or a drink? Okay, well, you have to try Aperol Spritz, but there's also, my favourite is a Hugo, Hugo Spritz. It's of, I don't know, it's only been around, I think, since the 90s, maybe even less than, maybe 2000s, where the Aperol and Campari Spritz and stuff like that, they've been around for a long, long time. My favourite's a Hugo with, it's got elderflower in it and Prosecco. It's, you know, I like it. That's kind of, my go-to when I'm traveling in Italy, any part of Italy, but you can't go without trying a gelato or a cannoli. I mean, I had one of the best cannolis I've ever had in my life. There is a monastery. So there's a convent, a monastery, but there's a convent in Palermo where the nuns, when they left, they left all the recipes. And so one of the recipes was this cannoli. So they have a baker in there and they They make them as they were back in the day. Amazing. But if you don't like sweets, then I would definitely try an arancini, I tell you. You can't go by without having an arancini. I think I might have had one almost every day. I just love arancini. And I just, yeah, you have to try the pasta, the pizza. But yeah, I kept going back to the arancini. That's my, I highly recommend. So did you have any cultural experiences or interactions with the locals? Yes, yes, all the time. Because I was looking at houses, I guess my trip was very different. And although I went to a lot of the touristy spots like Tumina, the Godfather Tour, Sheffaloo, Palermo, Messina, like I went to a lot of the tourist spots, I also went to those little villages, you know. And I think we forget as tourists, people visiting their country, that there is so much more to offer than those highly rated places that you see all over the internet. You know, go to those little towns and explore because those towns are where you meet the real people, you know. And I remember there was one little town that I went to. Oh, the name, I can't remember the name of it at the moment, but there was no one around. Like there was no one around. It was Sunday morning. So, The church bells were ringing, and maybe they were at church. I don't know. There was just no one around. I was supposed to meet the real estate agent at a bar, and I was thinking, is this bar even going to be open? So it was. It was open for a couple of hours in the morning because when I went back at lunch, it was closed. But when I went in there in the morning, I walked in, and there was three elderly men sitting there, all said good morning to me. The guy behind the bar, although he didn't speak any English, he did try, and I tried my little bit of Italian. He just was lovely, like really, really lovely. It's those little encounters that you get where people want you to be there, that you are not a novelty, but people don't visit those little towns. And those little winding, like if you walk around those little winding streets that are just so beautiful, like I just can't even, the words don't even, like they escape me because the feeling that you get when you walk through those little towns of these people. That the one thing I notice, no one's on their phone. No one. Even the tourists who are, yeah, they take their photos with their phones, but they are not on their phones. I sat and just people watched. I haven't done that. I can't even remember the last time I did that. Probably before mobile phones. But I just can't believe how peaceful it is. As soon as I got off that plane in Palermo where I'm rush, rush, rush, rush, rush, because I ran from one gate to the other in Istanbul and blah, blah, blah. It's slow. It forces you to be slow, unless you're on a freeway and then they hoon past you. But everywhere else, it's slow. It really is slow and it does something to your soul and your mental health that it just slows you down and you feel good. You feel good. You feel happy. And it's okay. It's okay. But yeah, that's probably my biggest takeaway from meeting the locals there is that It's okay, you know. It's okay. And you know what? When you order something from the bar, they just go, sit down, sit down. Like, you don't have to pay now. Just go sit down. We'll look after you. I love that feel, which you forget now, right? You just don't get – and you know, if someone doesn't come and take your order for 30 minutes, it doesn't matter. It's okay. It's just – unless you're in a rush, but nobody is. So it's – I guess when you're on holidays, you aren't either way. Anyway. What one thing you wish you had known before going? Was there a challenge or a travel? Yes, driving. Oh, my goodness. Honestly, there was a time where, okay, so the first couple of days was I drove in Palermo. My friend and I were just, oh, I was dreading it every day when I woke up. Pit of my stomach getting out of those little streets. Oh, I think because my car was so big and then when she left and then I was on my own, I was okay. I was okay for most of it. The freeways were fine. You get used to the, you know, the tickets. So if you are going through a toll, you pick up the ticket. There's nobody at the booths. You can get scammed. So do not accept a ticket from anyone. Just take it from the toll booth and then you pay at the other end. You do not pay before you go. So just remember that because there is a bit of a scam. I also, when I kept driving, when I went to Taimina, so I was staying in a little hotel or it was more like a petione, like a bed and breakfast down in Naxos Beach, so just down the hill. And the lady said, okay, because there's not many places that had parking, so I was really, I had to be careful. And so she said, yeah, yeah, we have private parking. You double park in front of the place, you ring the bell and we'll open it. Well, it was so busy. When I say it was so busy, I tried to double park and I got screamed at and yelled at. I tried to go around and then I just got frustrated. So I ended up going up to the winding street of Taimina, which usually takes about 15 minutes, I think, to get up. It took me an hour. It was so busy. I got up to the top, drove into the car park, and then I'll go back a little bit later. I went on the Godfather Tour. It was like 7, 6.45, so I got a message to say, you know what, at 8 o'clock, I'm gone. So if you're not here by 8 o'clock, pretty much, you can't. So I was saying to my husband, oh my God, should I just sleep in the car? I was so scared to have to try and run, trying to get back there. I was so scared. I just thought, you know, I could go in the car park. I could sleep the night in the car. And he's like, don't be ridiculous. But I honestly thought I was going to do it. Anyway, long story short, I did get down there at 6.45 or 7.45, 15 minutes to spare. And it was dusk, so I was a little bit nervous, but it was actually not so bad. Easier on the way down because there wasn't that many people. There wasn't as many buses. That's the scary part, those big buses. And by the time I got down there, I actually could double park because there was no one around. So it's just the morning. It was so busy. So those are the, I mean, driving in Sicily, the challenge on your own. It's okay when you've got someone in the car because they can go, because there was no, there was no camera. I'm so used to having a camera or at least a beep, beep, beep to say that you're going to. Of course, none of that was there. None. So I was kind of a bit nervous about that. I'm not going to lie. If I had a smaller car, make sure you have a small car and make sure that if you're on your own, that you at least have some sort of camera or something because that was my biggest challenge in places. And also not parking in the old cities a lot of the time because you need a permit. So you have to find a car park. outside of it. So I'd highly recommend when you're booking in places, you ask them whether or not they have a car park. Because a lot of the time, it says that there's car park, there's parking, but there's not. There's parking nearby. So just make sure of that before you go. And lastly, if you could give one tip or a bit of advice about the destination, what would it be? I would suggest really going to those little towns, like I said before. They were so beautiful. And you know what? Also, Just going with the flow. Do not be stressed. Don't be stressed if your weight doesn't come up and get your order for like 45 minutes. Don't worry about it. It's fine. If you don't have to be somewhere, it doesn't matter. Also, do not order a cappuccino in the afternoon. It's irresponsible. But generally speaking, there for mornings, have an espresso, stand up at the and have one with the locals. It's just a different feeling. I honestly highly recommend going to quite a few of the little beaches. There's some beautiful, beautiful beaches in the water. So nice. And don't go in June, July or August. It's too hot. It's too busy. I would highly recommend going in May and September because it's still warm enough. People are still at the beach. If you want to go to the beach, I don't think I will be going. I'm going back in September, but I don't think I'll go in summer. It's just, I think it's too hot and too busy. And also, Italians all travel in August, so there's a lot of public holidays and stuff in August. So you don't want to be stuck, which I have been before, where everything is closed. Anyway, that is me. That's the end of my very first episode. So thank you. If you've lasted this long and listened to me, go on about Sicily and how much I love it. Well, thank you. Thank you for supporting me. Thank you for listening to my first episode because I have so many great guests that are coming on in the next few weeks. Join us again next week on Truly Expat Travel Podcast where we have another exciting destination in a world that's too big to be left unexplored. Ciao for now.