A Travel Journalist Turned Best-Selling Author Reveals the Trip That Changed Her Life, Her Go-To Airplane Outfit, and her Favorite Travel Credit Card

Before Jo Piazza was a podcaster and the best-selling author of 13 books, she was a travel journalist who crisscrossed the globe on assignment. In recent weeks, she’s been on the road promoting her new novel “The Sicilian Inheritance,” a mystery inspired by the murder of her great-great-grandmother. (Spoiler alert: The book will make you want to hop on the next plane to Sicily.)

Here, Piazza talks about the trip that changed her life, her go-to airplane outfit, and the credit card she uses to rack up points. 

Approximately how often do you travel?

I used to be on the road for about half the year, but we have three kids under six now, so that has slowed me down. We take about two big family trips a year, a lot of weekend trips around the country, and spend about a month each summer in the Catskills. 

My husband, Nick, and I try to take one solo week-long trip without the kids around my birthday in September. He usually surprises me. Last year we went to Lisbon, and it was incredible. The year before we went to Paris. We also try to do a weekend trip alone where we do a mini triathlon. I feel like traveling without kids as a couple is really key to staying connected and continuing to like, and not just love, your spouse.

What was the last place you traveled? When did you go and what was a highlight of the trip? 

I just got back from a reporting trip to Sicily, which also turned into a girl’s trip. I was finishing up my true crime companion podcast to “The Sicilian Inheritance,” and I had to travel there at the last minute to dig into court records. My best friend dropped everything and joined me. Because I was kid-free, we had late-night dinners and actually enjoyed some of the museums and ruins that I had missed on my last visit. 

We stayed at a wonderful hotel called Hotel Villa Athena right in the Valle dei Templi (the Valley of the Temples). Our room overlooked the Temple of Athena, and we even had a private entrance to the park so we could walk right in and enjoy the sunset inside the ruins. We also sat on our patio and just stared at the gorgeous landscape. It was a delight.