The Bittersweet Life Podcast

The Bittersweet Life Podcast Created by a Public Radio veteran, this show is honest, intimate, full of curiosity and questioning. Company for expats, former expats and dreamers.

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧It’s a debate as old as time, and today Katy and Tiffany are tackling it:Which are better: dogs or cats?A...
07/09/2026

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧

It’s a debate as old as time, and today Katy and Tiffany are tackling it:
Which are better: dogs or cats?

And perhaps more importantly, which makes a better pet? Is the loving loyalty of a dog a more important trait in a pet than the independent, low-maintenance lifestyle of a cat? And crucially: which animal is cuter?

Katy had a dog in high school and college, but now she has cats.

Tiffany grew up with cats, and now has a dog.

Does that mean cat people can become dog people and vice versa?
We tackle this and many more extremely serious questions on this week’s new episode and our kick-off of Season 15!!

🎧 Listen to Episode 645 {Dogs vs Cats} by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: apple.co/4iRsF9u

📱PS Be sure to subscribe to the show to never miss an episode!

🎙️Follow us at The Bittersweet Life and Tiffany Parks

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧What can kids teach us about how to live? This is a topic close to the heart of today’s guest, Julian Sha...
10/08/2026

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧

What can kids teach us about how to live? This is a topic close to the heart of today’s guest, Julian Shapiro-Barnum. An actor and comedian, Julian is perhaps most known for his web series Recess Therapy, in which he interviews children playing outside in New York City.

He joins us this week to talk about his new book, How to Grow up without Becoming a Grown-up. He shares what he has learned from his young interviewees, from how to notice the beauty all around you, how to believe you can make a difference in the world, when it’s ok to break the rules, and how to fully tap into your imagination. He advocates for the benefits of living a more childish life, one that embraces joy, freedom, and adventure.

🎧 Listen to Episode 641 {How to Grow up without Becoming a Grown-up} by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: apple.co/4wj1dEC

📱PS Be sure to subscribe to the show to never miss an episode!

🎙️Follow us at The Bittersweet Life and Tiffany Parks

👋 Find Julian here: Julian Shapiro-Barnum and find his show Recess Therapy here: Recess Therapy

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧As hard as it is to succeed and thrive as a professional jazz musician, how much more challenging is it w...
14/07/2026

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧

As hard as it is to succeed and thrive as a professional jazz musician, how much more challenging is it when the journey leads you to a new country—with new laws, new social customs, and a system that creates roadblocks nearly every step of the way?

Today we sit down with jazz saxophonist and music professor Felipe Salles to talk about his journey from an international student at a major conservatory in Boston “fresh off the boat” (as he puts it) from Brazil, to a working musician living in New York on a so-called “Einstein visa” to a music professor and naturalized American citizen living in Western Massachusetts with his Finnish wife and multi-cultural (and tri-lingual) kids.

🎧 Listen to Episode 637 {A Musical Immigration Story} by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: https://tinyurl.com/musicalimmigrationstory

📱PS Be sure to subscribe to the show to never miss an episode!

🎙️Follow us at and

👋 Find Felipe here:

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧What happens when you dream of living by the sea in Italy but you are deeply connected to your home town ...
07/07/2026

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧

What happens when you dream of living by the sea in Italy but you are deeply connected to your home town and community?

If you are like this week’s guest, Laurel Attanasio, you compromise: buy your dream house on the Calabrian coast and live there for just part of the year. Best of both worlds, eh?

But there’s a catch: living in Italy even part-time brings endless bureaucratical issues (perhaps even more than living there full-time). Case in point: you can’t buy a car without car insurance, but you can’t get car insurance unless you’re a resident, and you can’t qualify as a resident if you’re only in Italy for a few months a year.

Other considerations: how do you protect your home when you’re away? How do you know your real estate agent is being honest? What if your partner doesn’t speak the language and you become the de facto translator? Not to mention all those crushing (and unexpected) notary fees!

We also talk about what it’s like leading intimate travel experiences in Italy, since that’s something we have in common. She shares her favorite parts of leading her travel adventures, and we discuss the privilege of sharing the wonder of Italy with curious travelers.

🎧 Listen to Episode 636 {How to Love Abroad Part Time} by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: apple.co/4p9s6ZW

📱PS Be sure to subscribe to the show to never miss an episode!

🎙️Follow us at and

👋 FollowLaurel here:

05/07/2026

My sister Dana has a Glioblastoma, stage 4. A brain cancer of the worst kind. And yet she is the most positive and happy person I know. Her secret is a colony of imaginary koala 🐨 bears. I know it sounds strange, but it works. It could work for you too. Check out The Bittersweet Life podcast: Dana’s Koalas (ep. 635) ♥️🐨

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧Picture it: you dreamed of moving abroad for years, and you’ve finally done it! You are settling into you...
01/06/2026

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧

Picture it: you dreamed of moving abroad for years, and you’ve finally done it! You are settling into your new country, and just starting to get the swing of things, with exciting travel plans with your partner on the horizon.

But what happens when your friends back home start to come visit... too often?
What happens when nearly every weekend you become hostess, tour guide, and chef all rolled into one?

We all love seeing our friends from back home—especially when we live far away—but is there too much of a good thing? Is it bad to want some space and freedom to travel without the constant stress of hosting guests? Or should we just be grateful they want to see us?

This week, we discuss a letter we received from an anonymous listener who recently moved abroad, and is finding herself inundated with overnight guests nearly every other weekend? Is it ok for her to tell them, “you’re welcome to visit once, but after that, please stay in a hotel?” Or is that unbearably rude?

We share our thoughts on this potentially sticky topic on this all-new episode.

Please share your thoughts as well! Send us a written email here, or even better, record your comments on a voice memo, and email that to us instead! If we get enough of a response, we may do a follow-up episode!

🎧 Listen to Episode 631 {When Living Abroad Equals Too Many Visitors} by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: tinyurl.com/3mjayyj2

📱PS Be sure to subscribe to the show to never miss an episode!

🎙️Follow us at and

29/05/2026

The most fulfilling travel cannot be found on any check-list.

This is your official invitation to trash the travel “must-dos” and let the place you’re visiting simply reveal itself to you. You might just find that the best travel experiences come when you ignore the influencers and allow the city itself to lead you.

By the way, if you crave thoughtful, meaningful and “non-influenced” travel, join us on our intimate Rome listener trip in November 2026! Comment ROME for more information!

🎧 Listen to Bittersweet Moment 245 {The Best Travel Moments Are not on a Check-list} by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: apple.co/4dWPZyB

📱PS Be sure to subscribe to the show to never miss an episode!

🎙️Follow us at and

ICYMI last week’s mini-episode is a MUST-LISTEN for anyone planning a trip to Rome in the near future!Your big Rome trip...
20/05/2026

ICYMI last week’s mini-episode is a MUST-LISTEN for anyone planning a trip to Rome in the near future!

Your big Rome trip is coming up and all you can see on social media are terrifying videos of massive crowds filling every street, piazza, and museum. Did you make a mistake planning a trip to Rome in high season?

Not to fear! Most tourists will never find them, but there are pockets of Rome and entire neighborhoods—one more beautiful than the next—that are completely devoid of crowds. Even in the highest of high season.

Tiffany shares these delightfully quiet Roman neighborhoods on this mini-episode, and reveals the fascinating cultural sites that can be visited there. If you want to have Rome all to yourself, this episode is a must-listen!

Thinking of joining us on our intimate Rome listener trip in November 2026? DM us for more information or click the link in our profile!

🎧 Listen to Bittersweet Moment 244 {Escape the Crowds in Rome’s Quiet Neighborhoods} by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: apple.co/4tLTcae

📱PS Be sure to subscribe to the show to never miss an episode!

🎙️Follow us at and

👀 Bonus episode sneak peek!On this week’s bonus episode, we update our Patreon supporters on a bunch of personal stories...
20/05/2026

👀 Bonus episode sneak peek!

On this week’s bonus episode, we update our Patreon supporters on a bunch of personal stories. How is the new Roman puppy working out? What’s happening with Tiffany’s piano-fueled feud with her upstairs neighbor? And does Katy’s book have a release date yet?

This is just a sneak peek of a much longer bonus episode that drops today, available exclusively to our generous Patreon supporters.

Want to hear the whole episode and many many more like it?

Become part of the Bittersweet Life community by supporting just on Patreon! For as little as $5 per month—less than the price of a coffee in some places—you will have access to multiple bonus episodes every single month.

You’ll hear conversations that would never take place on the main show, you’ll be part of our new chat community, you’ll have access to Patreon-only content in addition to bonus episodes, you’ll be invited to join us for live meet-ups, and you’ll get to enjoy ad-free listening!

🎧 Listen to this preview by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: apple.co/4ulN8pT

📱To hear the full episode, join us on Patreon by clicking the link in our bio, or right here: patreon.com/thebittersweetlifepodcast

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧Psychic mediums believe in a lot of things that can’t be seen or touched, but rather only sensed, so it m...
18/05/2026

🎧NEW EPISODE! 🎧

Psychic mediums believe in a lot of things that can’t be seen or touched, but rather only sensed, so it makes sense that they would be on board when it comes to the idea of manifestation.

But Katy is a skeptic at the school of manifestation, so she sits down with direct-voice psychic medium Felix Lee Lerma, for an impromptu debate on the meaning of the term, and if it really does what its proponents claim it does.
Don’t miss this friendly but no-holds-barred debate!

And if Felix’s voice is familiar, that’s because this is not his first time on The Bittersweet Life! Felix joined us way back in 2019, just before the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, to give a live reading on the show to one of our listeners. If you missed that episode, we recently replayed it on one of our Bittersweet Past archive episodes, titled: When in Doubt, Ask a Psychic Medium. Be sure to go back and listen to that episode if you haven’t heard it.

🎧 Listen to Episode 629 {The Great Manifesting Debate} by clicking the link in our profile or simply by searching for wherever you get your podcasts.

👉Or find it here: apple.co/3RKPnoa

📱PS Be sure to subscribe to the show to never miss an episode!

🎙️Follow us at and

👋 Find this week’a guest here:

Indirizzo

Rome

Sito Web

,

Notifiche

Lasciando la tua email puoi essere il primo a sapere quando The Bittersweet Life Podcast pubblica notizie e promozioni. Il tuo indirizzo email non verrà utilizzato per nessun altro scopo e potrai annullare l'iscrizione in qualsiasi momento.

Contatta L'azienda

Invia un messaggio a The Bittersweet Life Podcast:

Scelte rapide

In evidenza

Condividi

Digitare