How I Travel: Zerlina Maxwell Just Wants to Go Back to Italy

Political commentator Zerlina Maxwell is one of those people who hasn’t let the pandemic get in the way of life. She released a book, The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide, frequently appears on MSNBC as a political analyst (and recently interviewed her former employer Hillary Clinton on the channel’s AM Joy), and maintains a full-time job as the senior director of progressive programming for Sirius XM, where she also hosts a show five days a week called Signal Boost.

Still, Maxwell swears that the pandemic (and relocating to Virginia to stay with her parents) has forced her to slow down in a meaningful way. Here, she reflects on other trips that have helped her catch her breath—plus, the luggage that allows her to procrastinate and the Italian dream she’s holding onto throughout lockdown.

The destination she could return to over and over:

I went to Jamaica five or six times last year. It’s a 3.5-hour flight from New York, and you could be on the beach within 20 minutes. I just kept feeling like, I have to go back, I have to go back. The culture in Jamaica is extremely rich. You land and you breathe in the air and it grounds me, in a way. While I am not Jamaican and Black—I’m just Black—I do enjoy traveling to Caribbean islands that are majority Black, that have Black leadership. It’s refreshing to be in a place where there’s a Black person on the money. Right? That’s a mindset shift. I went to the Bahamas in college and I remember being like, wow. Imagine growing up with this level of representation. I finished my book in Jamaica. Two of my trips, I was doing a lot of writing. I finished my final edit on the beach, and toasted a mimosa with my sister. I’m a water sign, and that’s why I think the color of the water, that teal color, makes me feel relaxed, alive. It helps quiet my mind a bit.

Why she loves to travel alone:

I don't have to consult with anyone about anything. You are able to relax because you don't have to be plugged into another person or what their needs are. I feel like for folks who have high-intensity jobs, who have to be "on" a lot, traveling alone allows you to really just sit back.

I find there's something empowering about traveling alone, too, because people react to it very weirdly. Dining sometimes, you'll sit down and they're like, "What? You're alone?" "Yes, I'm alone. Yes." This is a thing people do! It's 2020! I've also had funny moments where—this was the Dominican Republic—I was going on an excursion and so we're all waiting on the truck to go. And this woman is like, "Oh, are you all by yourself?" And she kind of looked at me with envy a little bit. And then her other friend was like, "Oh, that's sad, you're by yourself." And I was like, "Oh, absolutely not. It's not sad. I paid for myself to go on a vacation on my own and I'm going to a spa excursion. I'm having the best day!" I encourage more women to do that. Obviously you have to pay attention to your personal security and your surroundings. But I think it allowed me to grow up too. It forces you to be like, "No, I'm here and I'm vulnerable, but I can handle it."

The secret to her packing routine:

One of the things that has helped me tremendously—and I am not being paid, I have no advertising affiliation at all—but Béis luggage. [Shay Mitchell], the actress from Pretty Little Liars, makes luggage, wallets, backpacks, a carry-on. That luggage has changed my life, because I am not somebody who packs in advance. I pack for a week-long trip the morning of the trip. You utilize it as a tool. It facilitates easier travel because everything has a place. It has lots of pockets, and she’s thought of everything. I need things to be simplified for me. There's so many other things to think about, I can't try to remember where I put my passport.

What’s in her carry-on bag:

My carry-on bag has my laptop, iPad, phone, all my requisite chargers. Probably 27 Etsy cosmetic bags that each have their own purpose. One has allergy medication, ZzzQuil, and earrings, then another one has lip gloss, ChapStick, and maybe eye drops. I have overnight clothes, depending on where I'm going. If I'm visiting my family, that carry-on has workout clothes, pajamas. That's probably it because I'm not really going to go anywhere during that weekend that requires anything other than jeans. And I just make sure that I have a couple of different shoe choices in the bottom compartment. The shoe compartment changes your life. Especially when you go on vacation—in the bottom compartment, I put 10 pairs of sandals.

The hotel amenity she loves:

I always stay at Riu resorts when I go to Jamaica and they have an open bar in the room. One of the amenities, in addition to having good food, is having the liquor in the room, especially when you're traveling alone and you're not going to stay out at the bar all night. Being able to sit on my balcony, make my own cocktail, listen to some music—I've done that a million times.

The passport stamp she looks at fondly:

My trip to Italy after the [2016] election was only my second time to Europe in my life. The first time, I was in Spain studying abroad on 9/11. I was like, “Why didn’t I travel to Europe during Obama, when they liked us?” They had a lot of questions. They wanted to engage on, like, “What’s wrong with you?” When I look at that passport, that’s the trip where I had to put myself back together. I ended up meeting Angela Davis on that trip! And the food was so freaking good in Italy. I have dreams, especially now in quarantine. I'm like, if I could get on a plane and go to a place and just stay there for a couple of years, that would be dope. I thought about Florence being maybe the place I'd go. At some point in my life, I want to go in there and take that cooking class. It was just amazing.

How she’s embracing lockdown in Virginia:

Living in New York is so intense at every moment, even when you're not doing anything. I spent seven days a week going from Brooklyn to Midtown. I was going to the same one-block radius every single day of the week. I didn’t have time to take a breath. Sometimes people think I’m saying that metaphorically, but what I’m saying is literally there would be days in New York City where I would be consistently out of breath. When I came here [to Virginia], I was taking those moments to sit outside, go for a walk, go for a run. Now, I’m in this situation where I can be intentional with how I’m experiencing the nature that I do have access to. I’m paying attention to more things. The tension in my neck and back went away right away.