In Today’s Email - HOOK OPEN

💖 Love, Travel, and That Electric Feeling💖 

They say two people have chemistry, but they don’t realize just how scientifically spot-on that is. 🧪✨ 

It’s the same with travel. It's that jolt when you step off a plane in a new country ✈️🌍.

It's the flutter in your stomach when someone special looks your way 😍.

It's waking up the first morning in a new country, ready to explore.

And on Valentine's Day, it's what makes your heart race when you open that card 💌, get that text 📲, or share that first kiss 💕💋.

I've chased that electric feeling across 50 countries 🗺️. 

Ukraine 🇺🇦 was my 50th, before the war changed everything. In Kyiv, I found a people who loved freedom with an intensity that lit up their eyes 🔥.

At an "America" festival, they served regional hot dogs 🌭 from Chicago to New Orleans, while locals belted out Backstreet Boys 🎤 with more passion than any karaoke bar in K-town, LA.

That raw enthusiasm? Pure dopamine. 🌎⚡

But hitting 50 countries taught me something unexpected. When travel becomes a checklist ✅—a passport scavenger hunt 🛂—you lose something essential.

You're just chasing new, new, new 🔄. A constant dopamine hit that feeds your brain like a slot machine 🎰.

There's actually a disorder (Low Latent Inhibition or, LLI) where people experience everything as perpetually new. Imagine that: never feeling the comfort of familiarity, just endless novelty 🔄🌀. 

Then, one day, it hit me:

🌍 Wide is fun, but deep is meaningful.

Think about love ❤️. The initial spark—that's dopamine ⚡.

But real love? That's what happens when dopamine dances 💃 with oxytocin and serotonin, creating something deeper than just chemical attraction 💞. 

Travel works the same way. The first glimpse of the Eiffel Tower is electric 🇫🇷✨, but having a friend in Paris? That's better than gold. 💛🏙️

This, just after Valentine's Day, I'm thinking about how we structure both love and travel. After years of wandering, I've learned to balance three types of journeys with a memorable, albeit, for lack of a better jingle, jingle:

📍 Someplace old (where memories hold)
🌍 Someplace new (with a world to view)
🤝 Someplace where friendships renew (with faces you once knew)

Love blooms in every corner of the world.

💖 In Bali 🇮🇩, where a German coder 👨‍💻 and an Australian yogi 🧘‍♀️ meet over sunrise meditation 🌅.

In Mexico City 🇲🇽, where a Brazilian artist 🎨 and a French engineer ⚙️ bridge their language gap with salsa moves 💃 and mezcal courage 🥃.

🏍️ In Thailand 🇹🇭, where an American writer ✍️ and a Dutch backpacker 🎒 share a week-long motorbike adventure that felt like a lifetime.

Love stories write themselves in Lisbon's fado bars 🎶, in Medellín's mountain roads ⛰️, in Tokyo’s vinyl bars 🎷, in a tattoo parlor in Barcelona🖋️, where making permanent marks leads to temporary love between Gaudí's curves 🏛️ and midnight tapas 🍢.

In Bali’s…. well, you get my drift.

Each story is unique, yet they all pulse with the same chemical cocktail — that magnificent mix of dopamine, adrenaline, and possibility.

💌 But love isn't just romance. It's connection.

As Valentine’s Day cards exchange hands 💌 and reservations fill books 📖, remember that love isn't just about romance 💕.

It’s about finding people who make foreign places feel like home 🏡.

The Japanese 🇯🇵 and Colombians 🇨🇴 get it partly right—they plaster the Eiffel Tower 🗼 on all the cases, upper, lower, cellular 📱, pillow 🛏️ , making it a universal symbol of romance 💖.

That’s universal.

🌍 Travel teaches us what to treasure.

📍 You won't see every city. You won't meet every soul. But you can choose what matters. And of course, even though it’s the birds and bees time of year, sometimes more meaningful is the years-long friendship 🤝 that starts with a shared taxi in Bangkok 🇹🇭🚖.

✨ The beauty is in the dopamine-fueled beginning—that electric moment of possibility ⚡. But the magic? That's in what happens next. 

When the initial spark meets something deeper. When the novelty of new places 🌍 mixes with the comfort of familiar faces 😊.

When travel becomes less about the destination and more about the connections you make along the way.

💡 Because at the end of the day, whether it's love or travel, it's all just dopamine until it isn't. Until chemistry becomes connection.

Until strangers become friends 🤝. Until new places become second homes 🏡.

🔄 Sometimes, you just have to go with that dopaminergic flow. Chase the spark ⚡.

Follow the flutter 🦋. 

See where it leads. 

Because every great love story—whether it's with a person ❤️ or a place 🌍—starts with that same chemical surge.

But here's the truth I've learned after years of chasing that next hit: the real magic happens when you move beyond the dopamine rush.

Trust me, I know the allure. 

My ADD brain 🧠⚡ has led me on countless adventures—always chasing that next electric moment of discovery.

Yet the most profound joy I've found isn't in that initial spark. 

It's in what comes after. It's in learning every hidden corner of a neighborhood in Sevilla 🇪🇸, not just the tourist spots.

It's in learning about subtle gestures of Japanese social etiquette 🇯🇵, not just snapping photos of cherry blossoms 🌸.

It's in understanding the complex history behind a Vietnamese grandmother’s pho recipe 🍜, not just praising its taste and moving on.

💖 The same goes for love. 

Yes, those chance encounters in foreign cities make for beautiful stories. The Korean designer in the Tokyo jazz bar 🎷. The Brazilian chef in the Lisbon fado house 🎶. The Spanish tattoo artist with legends of Prince🕺🏿.Yes, yes, and yes.

But the truly transformative relationships? They're built in the quiet moments after the dopamine fades. When you choose to stay. When you learn someone's morning routine ☕, their secret fears 🌒, their unexpected joys 😆.

🎯 Don’t follow my scattered path unless you must. 

Instead, learn from my revelations: dopamine is just the invitation to something deeper. It’s nature’s way of pointing us toward what might be meaningful. 

But the meaning itself? 

That comes from commitment. 

From choosing a place, a person, or a passion and diving so deep that the initial thrill transforms into something more profound: understanding.

✨ Dopamine might make us feel alive ⚡, but it's the depth of understanding that makes life worth living. 

It's in knowing 🔍 rather than just experiencing 🌎. It’s in understanding 🤔 rather than just seeing 👀. In connecting 🤝 rather than just meeting 👋.

So chase that spark, yes. Let it guide you to new shores 🌊, new loves 💞, new possibilities 🚀.

But when you find something that resonates—truly resonates—have the wisdom to stop chasing. Some people never find it.

At that point, it’s a good time to go back to my rule of three: something old, something new, something renewed.

Plant your feet. Take root 🌳. Let the excitement of novelty mature into the richness of understanding.

That’s where you’ll find what you’re really looking for.

Not in the fleeting thrill of the new, but in the profound satisfaction of knowing something—or someone—deeply and completely.

And isn’t that the greatest adventure of all? 🌟

The GEAR

📷 Fujifilm Instax Mini – Capturing Fleeting Moments

Travel is all about moments—but some moments deserve more than just a quick phone snap before disappearing into the camera roll abyss.

That’s where the Fujifilm Instax Mini comes in.

It’s a tiny, pocket-sized time machine that gives you an instant, tangible memory, something you can actually hold in your hands.

✔️ Dopamine on demand – You take the photo, and seconds later, you’re holding a physical print. That’s an instant hit of satisfaction. ⚡

✔️ Nostalgia overload – Something about a Polaroid-style print makes moments feel more important. 

✔️ Travel keepsakes – Instead of buying souvenirs, you leave with a stack of memories you can actually flip through.

✔️ Romance factor (Pro Tip*)– Giving someone a photo on the spot feels different than just sending a digital one. Call it old-school charm. 💕

The Fujifilm Instax Mini is the perfect balance of new and old—technology meets nostalgia, dopamine meets memory. 

If travel is about making moments, this camera is about keeping them.

The STREAM

🎥 The Reluctant Traveler (Apple TV+)

EUGENE LEVY is the last guy you’d expect to host a travel show, which is exactly why it works. He’s not fearless, adventurous, or even particularly curious—but his reluctance makes every experience hilarious and relatable.

It’s travel through the eyes of someone who would rather just stay home. 🏡😂

Levy, best known for Schitt’s Creek and American Pie, delivers deadpan gold in every situation.

Whether barely surviving a sauna in Finland 🔥, reluctantly sipping whiskey in Scotland 🥃, or looking horrified at ziplining 🤯, his reactions make the show.

He’s like Karl Pilkington from Ricky Gervais’ An Idiot Abroad, just with better manners.

Crisps anyone? 🥔

The magic of The Reluctant Traveler is watching Levy navigate new experiences, from extreme cold ❄️ to unusual foods 🍲 to overenthusiastic locals 🤝.

His face constantly asks: “You want me to do WHAT?!” 😳😂 Yet despite himself, he slowly warms up to places—and people. 💕🌍

At its core, the show is about love, travel, and dopamine—or in Levy’s case, the lack of it.

Where most travel hosts chase adrenaline, his hesitation makes the payoff even sweeter when he actually enjoys something.

From tracing his family roots in Scotland 🥃 to barely surviving a sauna in Finland 😅🔥, Levy’s mix of awkward dad energy and genuine curiosity makes for a unique travel show.

He doesn’t feel old at nearly 80 🎂, but he knows where to draw the line—no way is he swimming in ice water. 🚫🥶

If you’ve ever booked a trip and immediately thought, “What have I done?”, The Reluctant Traveler is your kind of show. 🏨❄️😂

The READ

The Molecule of More by Daniel Z. Lieberman & Michael E. Long

What if everything you crave—love, travel, success—isn’t about having but about getting?

That’s the argument at the heart of The Molecule of More by Daniel Z. Lieberman & Michael E. Long.

🧠 Dopamine, the brain’s anticipation molecule, is what keeps us chasing—the next adventure, the next romance, the next thrill.

It fuels the electric rush of new love ❤️🔥, but when that fades, relationships face a choice: chase novelty or build something lasting. 

“The loss of passionate romance will always happen eventually, and then comes a choice.” 

Mature love relies on different brain chemicals—oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins—which bring stability and deep connection but at the cost of dopamine’s thrill.

Ever felt more alive in a new country? ✈️🌍 That’s dopamine.

Travel delivers constant novelty, making everything feel heightened. 

Journalist Adam Hochschild likens it to a mind-altering drug 🧪, but the book warns that dopamine can also make us restless.

Like the traveler who plans every detail of a trip to Rome 🇮🇹, only to find himself thinking about the next meal instead of the moment he’s in.

Dopamine never lets us feel satisfied.

Win a race? 🏆 You want another.

Get rich? 💰 Now you want more.

“If you live in the most expensive mansion in the world, dopamine makes you want a castle on the moon. 🌕” 

This endless craving can drive creativity, ambition, and exploration, but it can also lead to burnout, addiction, or dissatisfaction.

Understanding dopamine means hacking your own brain—balancing excitement with presence.

Travel, love, and success feel amazing because of dopamine, but lasting happiness comes when we learn when to chase and when to stay still. ⚖️✨

Dopamine makes us chase love, travel, and adventure—but what really matters is knowing when to keep running and when to stand still. 

Whether you’re falling in love on a train, getting lost in a new city, or savoring the last sip of a great conversation—these moments make the journey worthwhile.

If you want to give me one more dopamine hit, get someone else to sign up for this newsletter. 🧠🌐📚

📩 Forward this email to a fellow traveler, romantic, or dopamine junkie—and let’s keep the adventure going. ✨📢