I’ve been home for 11 days now, unpacked (although I can't really say everything is put away) and finally caught up enough to give you the trip debrief I promised before I left. Not the highlight reel. The honest version, the one I’d want from a friend who’d actually been. I've been wanting to add more travel content to HNG for years, since that is a big part of my wellness plan. If you enjoy travel too, please let me know what locations you'd like to learn more about.

To be transparent, two of the places we stayed were partnerships, meaning the stay was discounted in exchange for me writing about it. However, that doesn’t buy a good review from me. If something was worth it I’ll tell you and if it wasn’t I’ll tell you that too. That editorial honesty is baked into my partnership agreements so I'm free to write about it aligned with what I truly feel.

Here’s what was worth it.

Sifnos, without question. Milos and Sifnos were both new to us, and Sifnos is the one I’d go back to tomorrow. It has a laid-back, unhurried feel that’s hard to find in the islands now and there were no crowds. If you picture Greece as packed ferries and elbow-to-elbow beaches, Sifnos is the antidote.

​Kalesma was the perfect way to end the trip. We finished on Mykonos, the island we hadn’t seen since our honeymoon in 2018 and Kalesma made it feel like a completely different place. The property is beautiful and quite serene, which is not a word most people associate with Mykonos. After days of ferry delays and packing and unpacking, it was exactly the soft landing we needed before heading home. I was also very happy with my new Bagsmart travel set up.

Here’s what wasn’t worth it.

The pools, at least this time of year. Fall is a wonderful time to go to Greece, warm days, thinner crowds, easier prices...but the pools just don’t get the memo. In shoulder season they’re too cool to really enjoy (at least for me, they were only about 73 degrees) so if a gorgeous pool is the reason you’re choosing a hotel for an autumn trip, I’d weigh it a lot less than the photos want you to. Pick for the view, the location and the calm instead.

If there’s one takeaway, it’s the same thing I say about most things. The photo isn’t the experience and the quieter option is very often the better one.

One more thing before I let you go, since I promised it. That full panel I ran right before we flew out, the numbers are finally back. The short, honest version: things moved in the right direction, but the only thing I changed was my supplements, so I’m not going to hand you a tidy before-and-after and pretend it was a perfect experiment. If you want the real numbers and my honest read on what I will and won’t take credit for, it’s all in the running write-up linked here.

Hit reply and tell me the best travel money you ever spent, or the worst. I collect these for future travel and article ideas and I read every single one!

Have a great weekend,

P.S. If a fall trip is on your list, I wrote up everything I learned about Greece in October: the real weather island by island, the wind nobody warns you about, what's still open, what to wear and my shoulder season packing list.