#129 : DISPATCH FROM THESSALONIKI / GREECE RETREAT WRAP-UP
Stuff the deep-fried zucchini in my mouthhhh.
DUDES. Hi! I’m typing this from downtown Thessaloniki. My retreat with elite Greek creative Zina Wilde and fourteen incredible readers just concluded (as in, people are on airplanes as I type this), and I must say, I was blown away once again by how fucking cool and fun my readers are. I LOVED the people on this trip, and if any of them are reading this, they know I’m not being phony.
We had an Aussie DJ, a tattooed London vixen, a wild twerker from Asheville, North Carolina, two Los Angeles chicks (one my sober buddy, another who built rhode alongside Haley Bieber when it was just a start-up!). We had a New York bartender and a New York writer and a New York graphic designer and a New York film editor born and raised in TriBeCa, who knows my graffiti friends. We had a therapist and a New Zealand humor writer and many more. We had a DOG, for God’s sake. A wee poodle, named Bowie!
The bonding, cackling laughs and great times happened almost right away. Watching so many people fall in friend-love with one another made me feel so good. Of the various things I could be doing with my career, bringing people together in international settings is ideal. I mean, we all giggled in a cave together:
Again: it makes me want to meet so many more of you. I know you all, reading, this, are fucking funny and cool. I’m planning more trips/writing retreats, and I have two ideas for 2026. I’m ready to do smaller, weirder, edgy ones on my own. When you work solo, it’s a ton of work (that distracts from writing), but it also really keep costs down. As a budget traveler myself, I want to try at least one budget retreat and see what happens (people may turn on me). Of course, they can’t and shouldn’t ALL be budget. Europe is expensive, but in my opinion, it’s some of the best money spent in the world. God, especially in the summer!
But back to my third and final Greek retreat, hosted with Zina! Some of my very favorite memories from this past week are...