My weekender bag

the story of my most favorite travel bag (and a little community seeding)

It was nearing the end of 2011 and I was living in Barcelona. I had moved to Spain alone that September after earning my undergrad in Israel. I was the only one chosen from my program and the opportunity felt really special. However, I was also a bit unsure—terrified to move to a place where I literally knew not a single other person, and uncertain if delaying my start in the “real world” (for me, that was diving into the fashion world in NYC) was the right move. On the day of my flight I laid with my mum in her bed and told her I didn’t want to go. But she knew there was magic for me to find there and so did my dad, so they drove me to JFK and I boarded a flight alone to a new country I’d never seen before. I moved into a student housing apartment complex in the heart of the city, and by my third day I’d met a bunch of cool people from all over the world. By the time the semester was drawing to a close, I had become friends with a group of Americans who were traveling together to Italy before Christmas. I decided to tag along. As I packed up, my travel buddies warned me of the many restrtictions Ryan Air had for carry on luggage, so I jammed a week’s worth of clothes into a tiny carry on piece I’d traveled from the U.S. with. As we boarded our plane, an attendant pulled me aside. She singled out my wheeled bag and asked me to fit it into the box simulating the space under the seat. “It does not fit” she said, and I sensed a bit of victory in her voice. I was deeply annoyed since the bag itself fit perfectly, and just the wheels hung over the side of the cage. I ended up having to check my bag and pay an exhorbitant fee for it. When we landed in Florence, I was still very bothered. We headed to our first lunch spot which took us through the famed leather market bustling with vendors. We wove through the stalls, moving quickly since everyone was very hungry. But, out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a beautiful weekender duffle in a perfect medium brown finish. My new friends were not as enthusiastic to shop in that moment, so I told them I’d catch up with them. I paused to investigate. I fell in love. It was rich, it felt elevated. It represented the “adult” I was stepping into at 21. And although it felt a tad too luxurious of a purchase for a student, I also knew that I was not going to let Ryan Air get me with another stupid fee on the journey home. So, I spent a good portion of my trip’s budget and then hurried to reunite with my travel group at our lunch destinatoin.

I joined my friends at the table, and we enjoyed plates of incredibly delicious pasta in a room with walls that were painted with a mural blue sky with fluffy clouds. And just as we had finished our pasta, a baker pushed open the swinging doors from the back of the house carrying an industrial baking tray over his shoulder. It was piled high with fresh biscotti, and it smelled like my childhood dreams—the scent of browned sugar and warm butter and warm nuts aerated the room. He noticed our table, oohing and aahing and to our delight, he kneeled by us, allowing us to snag a few cookies off the top of the heap before heading with the rest to stock the display case.

When we arrived at our accommodations that night, I emptied out my suitcase and replaced everything into my new bag. The leather was sturdy, and it smelled amazing. It reminded me of my dad, and Europe, and couches that adults had in their homes. Deep down I knew that this was a bag that I would use for my whole lifetime.

I drove to Connecticut yesterday for a quick overnight and in the back seat sat my Florentine leather bag. It has now been 13 years that I’ve owned this little weekender and it indeed has gone many places with me. For a few years I forgot about her, and she sat in the back of my closet unused. But recently, I’ve been going to her often, filling her with outfits and opportunity and new adventures.

As of late, I have made the conscious decision to reconnect with the things I love and prioritize those things. And one of the things I used to do often was take little road trips, hopping off exits to explore towns, sipping cappuccinos, meeting boutique shop owners, and allowing my gut to lead the way. I journaled about this last week, writing down the places I want to go and people I want to see. I decided that now is the time for momentum.

Another thing I’m feeling called to reconnect with is community.

I’ve been sending and receiving a lot of voice memos and it is one of my favorite modes of communicating. It has been through these notes that I’ve felt really seen and held. “I want you to know that the universe has not forgotten about you”, one of my good friends wrote me in a text a few days ago. And this hit home. I needed to hear it. Deep down, I did think that I had been forgotten. Being isolated physically in a place that is rich with nature yet bereft of community has made me realize how important socialization in fact is to me.

It’s time to plant the seeds of new community. On my overnight to Connecticut I reminisced about the community I had built there—the late nights on the porch with my girl gang, all of us in the wedding industry. We’d share deep excitement and fears, stories of the past and dreams for the future. We’d make beautiful picnics amongst the roses in the park, growing together and building our businesses in this rising tide. It was beautiful. I went on to build another incredible hub of community in DC. I knew no one, just like when I moved to Spain, but now I had gained the confidence to know that I could grow strong roots. I went to networking events, cold messaged people I admired or who had that glitter in their eyes. I made a deep and strong network of family in DC that propelled us all forward and brought me great joy.

I’ve been asking myself, “how I can seed a new, wider network that is strong and deep and tribal?” Connecting the past and the present communities into one big network. If you’ve been following along, you know that I’ve been writing more rawly about my feelings of joy and of heartbreak and growth on here as a way to process, but also as a form of seeding. In the hopes that maybe someone will resonate with something I am navigating because they are going through something similar.

In light of this, I’ve put together a list of ways I believe we can connect beyond the newsletter and I’d love to hear from you. If there is any way we can build something in these ways (or others!) I’m all ears.

• Collaborating on an event, dinner, gathering, etc

• A feature on this newsletter to help spread your message, or feature another business or person you think is worth talking about!

• Proposing a location you adore or are curious about that you’d like me to share on On Holiday

• Hosting an online (or IRL) gatheirng for the On Holiday community in some shape or form (dance party? meditation circle? exploration day in the Hudson Valley or Catskills? lmk!)

• A coffee date

• Photoshoots and videoshoots

• Brand definition and storytelling

• Supporting you in some other exciting way that I haven’t mentioned above

I would love to hear where all of your heads are at. Click through the comment button below and let’s chat in the thread to see where our dreams take us <3.

My love to you all,

Maya

p.s. the robins hatched!

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