Ciao from Italy, prediction markets are ruining reality TV, and World Cup visitors are going feral over free refills

I'm eating pasta in Italy and saying 'my husband' like it's my job, betting apps already know who wins The Bachelorette even though it’s not airing, and international soccer fans are having a full spiritual awakening over ranch dressing and Walmart.

Let's get into it.

Foreign soccer fans are going viral for losing their minds over the most American things imaginable.

The World Cup is happening in the U.S. right now and the best content coming out of it has nothing to do with soccer. International fans have been flooding social media with incredibly earnest videos of themselves reacting to things Americans genuinely do not think twice about and it is sending the internet into a delightful spiral. A German influencer named Freddy has been road-tripping through the South documenting Waffle House, Buc-ee's, and college football to millions of views. A British fan posted about 7-Eleven Big Gulps being "easily one of my favourite things I've discovered in America so far." A group of Dutch fans drove to a Houston Dutch Bros. because, of course. Walmart has become an unofficial tourist destination, with one fan describing it as "literally like a museum." Scottish fans woke up an entire Boston neighborhood at 6:30 am by blasting bagpipes and the neighborhood reportedly loved it?? This is the timeline cleanse all our feeds needed.

Prediction markets are spoiling reality TV, and the girlies who produce it are panicking.

What happened to the good ole days where you could simply say “no spoilers!", avoid Reddit like the plague, and then watch your favorite reality TV show in peace? Those civilized days are gone thanks to prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, which have become the world's most well-funded spoiler machines. These apps let you bet real money on real-world outcomes and for some reason reality TV is one of the hottest markets. Aubry Bracco was the frontrunner to win Survivor 50 before most people even knew her name. Six weeks before the premiere, traders had her at 61% odds. By the time the finale aired, she was sitting at 97%. Meanwhile, total trading volume for the show’s latest season outcome hit $32.7 million. But it’s not just Survivor: Kalshi users correctly predicted the Masked Singer winner three months before the finale, and a Bachelorette contestant peaked at 89.5% odds on Polymarket before ABC canceled the season for unrelated reasons. The accuracy of these predictions indicates leaks are coming from production staff which has Jeff Probst in a tizzy. But the studios say the tools to stop it "aren't there yet." So in the meantime, fans will have to treat dodging spoilers on the internet like their own personal game of Survivor.

Silicon Valley is about to unlock billions in new wealth and Miami real estate experts are already betting they’re headed their way.

A new set of nouveau riche is upon us. With OpenAI quietly filing for a confidential IPO alongside expected market debuts from SpaceX and Anthropic, billions of dollars in overnight liquidity are about to be unlocked for executives and middle management alike. Must be nice! But word on the street is many are leaving Silicon Valley for the Southeast. According to real estate developers and city leaders in South Florida, a lot of that newly liquid cash is heading to Miami. "The California area codes have already started showing up,” according to the Fort Lauderdale Downtown Development Authority CEO. SpaceX's stock surged more than 35% since it started trading last week, briefly making it the fourth-largest global company by market cap. The argument from developers is that middle managers at these companies, not just founders, are about to see windfalls of $25 to $100 million and are going to want somewhere warm to put it. Miami's pitch: better weather, no state income tax, and space to dock a yacht. It’s giving “Great Gatsby” if Jay Gatsby was a tech bro.

Ciao from Italy, where my full-time job is eating pasta, drinking wine at lunch, and saying "my husband" out loud at every possible opportunity. And no, I will not be taking questions on how many times I've said it today, but we’re in the double digits and I regret nothing. We started the trip in Switzerland, hence why I am bundled up like a woman who did not pack for the Alps, because I did not pack for the Alps. Italy has since corrected this packing error so I can put the cardigan away but the glass of wine stays. My laptop on the other hand remains closed. Email? Forgotten. Out-of-office response? On with no end date. Catch you when I'm back stateside and have relearned how inboxes work.

Honeymooner, reporting for wandering. I don’t mean to brag but I think I’ve nailed the European summer ensemble: light neutrals, sneakers you can actually walk cobblestones in, and an Aperol spritz within arm's reach at all times. Turns out “effortless Euro chic” and "I will be on my feet for six hours" are not mutually exclusive, you just have to pack the right pieces.

Stop planning your own vacation. I mean it.

Euro Summer is a vibe but it's also a logistics nightmare. And if you've been staring at a blank Google Doc titled "Italy Trip ??" for the last month (been there), I need you to hear this: you don't have to do it yourself.

For my honeymoon, I handed the entire thing to Le Trip, a boutique luxury travel agency founded by Maddy Petkus, and I want to be very clear that after that, I did zero work. All energy was rightfully redirected to the wedding. Obviously.

The result? Switzerland and Italy, perfectly paced, with stays I never would have thought to book and moments I didn't even know to ask for. I would not have flown into Switzerland in a million years and now it’s one of my favorite places I've ever been.

I know what you’re thinking, and I get that a travel advisor may feel indulgent. But even if it’s a little luxury, it's also a time-saver with a much better success rate than your group chat.

If you’re currently overwhelmed by trip planning, send an inquiry just to see. Describe the vibe, the budget, the approximate dates, and let someone who is actually obsessed with itineraries take it from there. That's Le Trip's whole thing: structure and spontaneity, luxury and ease, so you can land somewhere without all the pressure to make it the perfect trip. It will be, because it was someone else’s job to make sure it was.

And for the honeymoon planners specifically, you know I speak from experience when I say start here. You have enough going on. Hand this one off and come home saying "that was the best trip of my life" without spending overtime hours making it happen.

Thanks for reading!