Friends news: travel tips Tokyo, NYC, Mexico City
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Hello Reader, from your friend Nick, author of The 2-Hour Cocktail Party. I'm flying to NYC tonight for a quick visit. Then back to Austin for SXSW. My travel gear post will be coming in a week or so. James Clear, author of my favorite book Atomic Habits, said my book is "practical, actionable, and useful." He called The 2-Hour Cocktail Party a "must-read for anyone who wants to host a great event." See his review on Amazon and Audible here. That made me really happy. Like my hard work writing and testing was worthwhile. In this issue: travel guides for 3 of my favorite cities, what to do if you get an upset stomach, February life recap, a case against caffeine (noooo!!), where NYC tweens actually like to shop, and a bunch more. NICK GRAY FRIENDS NEWSLETTER Why you’re getting this: I'm Nick Gray and this is my Friends Newsletter. I send this every month to interesting people I’ve connected with and friends I want to keep in touch with. You can un-subscríbe any time and I won't be mad. I won't even be notified! My Travel GuidesI wrote each of these guides with non-obvious tips that I don't think you'll find anywhere else. You can quickly skim the guides or send them to a friend. These are the actual tips that I share with my friends. Random Links🙅🏻♂️ Why Americans Suddenly Stopped Hanging Out "Too much aloneness is creating a crisis of social fitness” via Katelyn and others. Also the note on pets was fascinating: One of the more curious trends to jump out of the data is that many Americans have traded people for pets in our social time. The average time that Americans spend with their pets has roughly doubled in the past 20 years—both because more people have adopted pets and because they spend more time with them. In 2003, the typical female pet owner spent much more time socializing with humans than playing with her cat or dog. By 2022, this flipped, and the average woman with a pet now spends more time “actively engaged” with her pet than she spends hanging out face-to-face with fellow humans on any given day. 🛍️ Where New York City Tweens Actually Like to Shop "If you believe the internet, tweens had suddenly acquired the taste of grown women who love yoga and staying hydrated and have money to spend. But were they really buying all this adult stuff they found on TikTok?" "It was a daily habit for years, until one morning on the throne I thought: Isn't it *wild* that I rely on a drug to help me perform such a basic biological function?" 🤯 My interesting church experience "I’ve just cried in the arms of a stranger’s wife and prayed for people I’ve never met. This is strange because I don’t cry much. And I can’t remember the last time I prayed...." I wrote this from inside a small high school gym two weeks ago. It went a little viral. Honestly it was one of the most raw, authentic experiences I've had in a while. 📢 Simple Live Audio at Events For conferences where you need wireless microphones and the ability to broadcast or record, this is the best guide I’ve seen. Written by my friend Ryan who is extremely technically savvy, so I wouldn’t say this is “simple,” but if you only get the Bose S1+ Pro and the Shure SM58 mics from this, you’re probably off to a great start and doing better than most. Travel: Upset Stomach and GI DistressI got an upset stomach & GI distress in Mexico City a few weeks ago. Instead of immediately doing a powerful gut-destroying antibiotic like Cipro, I remembered what my doctor told me: drink bottled water, don't eat anything, and take a few charcoal pills for 24 hours. It seemed to fix me. I did 2 of these charcoal pills every 4-6 hours with a huge glass of bottled water. I was also advised by friends to try diosmectite, "a more natural alternative" perhaps like charcoal, sold in Mexico as "Iprekene". Jack Smith also suggested that I try Rifaximin. It is a selective antibiotic that wouldn't blast my entire gut biome like Cipro. I didn't do either of those but saving for the future. This is not medical advice. And stomach stuff can be more serious (and even fatal!) in certain areas. See a doctor. February 2024 Life RecapI did a review of my past month. This article includes:
Read my February 2024 recap to see photos and more. The EndWhat stuff do you want me to write more about? Email me back. I'm always looking for new content ideas. My extremely smart friend Andrew Wilkinson recently started a weekly newsletter. Read it or sign up here. It's good! I never recommend other newsletters but I like his a lot. Thanks for reading and Happy Friday. Thinking of you. 🤠 Nick Gray p.s. Here's the About Me on my website if you forgot who I am. We met [HOWWEMET GOES HERE]. Add me elsewhere@NickGrayNews on all the social media The 2-Hour Cocktail Party: How to Build Big Relationships with Small Gatherings |