Tag: blog

From Supercars to Suitcases: 25 Years, an Exciting New Chapter

By Richard Jarocki
Originally published May 21, 2025. Updated September 2026.

From supercars to suitcases, I’m working toward a life that gives my love of cars, food and travel more room to grow. After twenty-five years in automotive, I still love cars. I’m also ready to give more of my working life to the interests that keep pulling me toward another reservation, another flight and another conversation with someone who cares deeply about what they do.

I’m still in the automotive industry. Alongside that career, I’m building RJVIPGP through my own travel, restaurant experiences, photography and writing. The ambition is real, and the transition is still underway.

Eventually, I want to sell my home, work remotely in the travel industry and have the freedom to spend more of my life in different countries. “Luxury nomad” is probably the most honest description of what I have in mind.

Getting there will take an opportunity that makes sense professionally and financially. I’ve spent twenty-five years building a career, and I want that experience to have a meaningful place in what comes next.

When Loving Cars Becomes Working in the Car Business

There is a particular feeling that comes with being around a car you admire. You notice its proportions, its engineering, the way it sounds and the decisions that went into making it. Working with brands such as Ferrari and BMW gave me plenty of reasons to appreciate those details.

But a career in automotive brings an entirely different set of responsibilities.

Much of my career was spent with Nissan, working my way through sales, finance and management. I also had opportunities with Ford, BMW and Ferrari. Over time, more of my attention went toward running the business: managing inventory, financing, deliveries, staffing and customer concerns. My days increasingly revolved around hitting month-end targets, growing gross profit, building value in what we were selling and finding ways to bring more customers into the showroom.

A Ferrari delivery scene from my automotive years, April 2021.

Those responsibilities matter. They are how a business operates and how people earn a living. They also change your relationship with something you once enjoyed simply because it interested you.

A car can gradually become a unit in inventory, a financing decision or a delivery that needs to happen before the end of the month. After enough years, it becomes difficult to look at the industry without thinking about the business behind it.

I’m grateful for what that career has given me. It taught me how to work with people, handle responsibility and keep moving when circumstances become difficult. It also gave me opportunities to travel and experience things that have helped shape the direction I want to take now.

I want to make a change while I still have the curiosity and energy to build something substantial.

Reigniting the Spark

Ferrari and BMW helped remind me why cars interested me in the first place. Their history, design and engineering gave me something to appreciate beyond the day-to-day demands of the job.

I want more room for that enjoyment.

There are still automotive experiences I would love to have: driving a Ferrari F8 around Modena, getting behind the wheel of a McLaren Senna, or taking a BMW M car or Mercedes-AMG to the Nürburgring. Those are ambitions, and part of their appeal is the chance to enjoy remarkable cars in memorable settings.

A journey can give a machine a different meaning. The roads, the surroundings and the memories become part of how you remember driving it.

Formula 1 has already helped me make that connection. Working with Ferrari introduced me to the sport, and following it gave me more reasons to travel. A Grand Prix provided a destination and a date. Once I arrived, my curiosity kept taking me beyond the circuit.

The podium area during my Barcelona Grand Prix trip, June 2026.

Moving from supercars to suitcases still leaves room for the cars that first caught my attention. I want to enjoy them through travel, motorsport and the stories surrounding them, with more freedom to follow the interests that brought me into that world.

What Twenty-Five Years in Automotive Taught Me About People

Working in automotive has taught me how much trust sits behind a major purchase. People want clear answers, someone who listens and confidence that the details will be handled properly.

Different brands bring different expectations, but taking care of people matters across all of them. You have to understand what someone values before you can help them find the right fit.

One client wants every technical detail explained. Another needs help working through practical decisions. Someone else already knows exactly what they want and expects you to respect their time. Recognizing those differences is part of doing the job well. As a salesperson, I also appreciate knowing where I stand. A clear answer—even if it’s a no—is more useful than being left waiting and wondering. Honest communication respects everyone’s time.

It also means following through. A promise creates an obligation. When a problem comes up, you need to communicate, take responsibility and work toward a solution. That is where a relationship can become stronger or fall apart.

I notice those same qualities when I travel. I remember the hotel team that makes things easy, the bartender who recognizes me when I return and the restaurant staff who can explain an ambitious menu while making me comfortable enough to enjoy it.

At The Liquor Store in São Paulo, they remembered me when I returned—or had excellent record-keeping. Either way, I felt welcome. Being recognized somewhere thousands of miles from home means something.

Back at The Liquor Store in São Paulo, November 2025.

That experience is part of what draws me toward hospitality professionally. I enjoy the details, and I care deeply about how the person receiving the service feels.

I would bring decades of experience serving clients, leading teams and being accountable for results. I want an opportunity to put that experience to work in an industry that increasingly holds my attention.

From Supercars to Suitcases: How Travel Changed My Direction

I first went to São Paulo for the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2024. The race gave me a reason to book the trip, but the city gave me reasons to return.

Kazuo was my first meal there. I sat at the counter while Chef Kazuo Harada kept placing courses in front of me, and I kept finding room for them. The freshness and variety immediately made me pay closer attention to what eating in São Paulo could offer.

That meal was an introduction. Each return trip has added something to it.

The dessert presentation at Kazuo in São Paulo.

Evvai has become my favorite restaurant in the world. I still have the illustrated course cards from my visits. The cooking gives me plenty to remember, but so does the personality of the experience: the explanations, the humor and the feeling that an ambitious dinner can also be a very good time.

At D.O.M., unfamiliar ingredients gave me an opportunity to learn something about Brazil through dinner. I ate insects there and at Metzi during the same weekend. A tasting menu can take me toward something I might never have ordered on my own, and I enjoy that willingness to be surprised.

Meeting Eduardo Ortiz before dining at Metzi added another dimension. We talked, shared connections to New York, and I liked his energy. Later, eating at the restaurant, I could recognize something of his personality in the food and the attention to detail.

Those encounters help explain why travel has become so important to me. A reservation can lead to a conversation. A conversation can change how I understand the meal. That meal can give me another reason to return to a city.

Barcelona reinforced that feeling. I went for Formula 1, and the restaurants, cocktail bars, architecture and time spent walking through the city became substantial parts of the trip. Mont Bar became one of the best meals I’ve had.

Ivan at Mont Bar interacted with us throughout the meal, and we’ve stayed in touch on WhatsApp since. We still exchange messages, and I appreciate that the connection continued after the trip. That is another part of what makes travel meaningful to me: getting to know the people behind the experiences and keeping those connections alive after I’m home.

A tasting-menu presentation at Mont Bar, Barcelona, June 2026.

The more I experience, the more I want enough time to explore properly. I want to return to neighborhoods, follow recommendations and spend longer in places that interest me. That desire is a large part of the life I’m working toward.

Read my personal guide to restaurants in São Paulo.

What Luxury Means to Me Now

I enjoy beautiful hotels, exceptional meals and thoughtful service. I’m comfortable admitting that. Those things can add a great deal to a trip when they deliver what you hoped for.

Travel has also made me more particular about what deserves the money.

A beautiful room matters, but so does how the hotel handles a request. An ambitious tasting menu matters, but so does whether I feel comfortable at the table. A place can have an impressive reputation and still leave me feeling that the experience could have been better.

At Botafumeiro in Barcelona, the man looking after us showed me the kind of European hospitality that stays with you. From chilling our wine and cava glasses to keeping a watchful eye on the dining room, he seemed aware of every detail. We never had to look around for service. He made us feel looked after, and I could see that his attention extended across the room. That level of care is part of what makes an experience feel luxurious to me.

The details of service at Botafumeiro, Barcelona, June 2026.

Formula 1 has given me another perspective on that. I have experienced hospitality and grandstands, and I increasingly appreciate the camaraderie in the stands. Sharing the race with other fans, seeing the action and having people around me who understand the excitement adds a great deal to the weekend. My current budget plays a part, too. Right now, I would rather put more of my travel budget toward memorable meals than hospitality tickets. A grandstand seat lets me enjoy the race and the atmosphere while leaving more room for the restaurants I’m excited to experience. That balance suits how I want to travel now.

I want to make room for those differences when I think about travel professionally. The most suitable experience depends on the person taking the trip. Understanding what they care about is where the work should begin.

That is also how I approach my own spending. I want the experience to justify the price, and I want to be honest when it doesn’t.

The Life I’m Working Toward: Becoming a Luxury Nomad

Yes, I want to sell my home and build a life that gives me the freedom to spend more time in different countries.

“Luxury nomad” describes both the freedom I want and the standard of experience I enjoy. I want comfortable places to stay, restaurants I’m excited to try and enough time to get to know a destination beyond a brief visit.

I also want to earn a living that allows me to keep experiencing those things.

The practical part matters just as much as the dream. Taking the step from supercars to suitcases means finding work that can move with me. My goal is remote work in the travel industry. I would still have responsibilities, clients, deadlines and a working day. The freedom would come from having more choice over where I build that life.

São Paulo is one of the places I can imagine spending more time. I already return with restaurants I look forward to, people I’m pleased to see and a growing sense of familiarity. Staying longer would give me room to deepen those connections and discover more of the city.

I would also like the flexibility to explore elsewhere without fitting every experience into a short stretch of vacation. Some places deserve a return visit. Others make me want to stay long enough to develop a routine.

That is the appeal of a more mobile life: being able to spend time somewhere because it interests me, while continuing to do meaningful work.

I’m still working toward that arrangement. Selling a home and changing how I earn a living are substantial decisions. I want the professional foundation to support the lifestyle, so I can enjoy it with confidence.

The Opportunity I’m Ready For

I would welcome the opportunity to work for a high-end travel agency or luxury travel company.

There is a great deal I would need to learn about the industry: booking systems, supplier relationships, destination knowledge and the operational work behind delivering a trip. I’m prepared to put in that work.

At the same time, I would bring substantial experience in sales, finance, client relationships and leadership. Moving into a new industry should give me an opportunity to apply those skills while developing the knowledge specific to travel.

The right role could involve sales leadership, client experience, business development or helping a company strengthen the relationships that bring customers back. I am interested in where my experience would be useful and where I could continue to grow.

The financial reality matters. I have spent twenty-five years building my career and earning capacity. Starting again on an entry-level salary would make the life I’m working toward harder to achieve. The move needs to make sense in its responsibilities, compensation and long-term potential.

My eventual goal is remote work that supports a more mobile lifestyle. Getting there may involve stages, and I’m open to an opportunity that helps me build the right foundation.

What I want is a serious chance to contribute, learn the business and develop a lasting career in travel and hospitality.

Building RJVIPGP Along the Way

RJVIPGP is where I’m documenting my move from supercars to suitcases, one trip and one article at a time.

My own trips give me something concrete to share. I can explain what I ordered, what surprised me, what disappointed me and why I returned. Writing about an experience makes me examine it more closely.

Would I spend the money again? Did the service contribute to the evening? Who would enjoy this place? What would I want to know before booking?

Those questions matter because someone reading my work may be deciding how to spend a limited amount of vacation time and money. I want my experience to help them make that decision with more confidence.

The restaurant reviews, hotel experiences, cocktail bars and Formula 1 trips also show how my interests fit together. A race might bring me to a destination, but the people, food and hospitality often determine how I remember it.

I’m developing that work through writing, photography, video and relationships with people in the industry. Each trip gives me more to learn, and each article gives me an opportunity to communicate it better.

Over time, I would like to develop the experience and professional foundation to plan travel and events for others on a broader scale. Working with an established company could be an important part of that path.

For now, I can keep doing the work in front of me: traveling, paying attention, producing useful content and looking for opportunities to turn that growing experience into a sustainable career.

Read why Formula 1 keeps bringing me back to travel.

From Supercars to Suitcases: The Next Chapter

Twenty-five years is a substantial amount of time to spend in one industry. I’ve built a career I can respect, and I want to give my next chapter the same level of effort.

Travel has become too important to me to leave entirely at the edges of my working life. I enjoy researching a destination, planning the details, experiencing it for myself and putting what I learned into words. I want the opportunity to make that work a larger part of how I earn a living.

The goal is ambitious. A more flexible life still requires discipline, income and responsibilities that can be managed from wherever I am. I’m willing to take that seriously because the life it could support matters to me.

I still love cars. I want to keep following Formula 1, exploring destinations through their food and finding places that make me want to return. I also want to bring my professional experience into work that gives those interests room to grow.

That is what “From Supercars to Suitcases” means to me now. I’m building toward a life in which the career, the travel and the things I care about can fit together.

If you work in luxury travel or hospitality and see a place for that combination of experience and curiosity, I’d welcome a conversation.

And if you’re following along for the restaurants, cocktails, hotels and Formula 1, there is plenty more I want to share.

Follow me on Instagram @Richard.Jarocki for my latest experiences and the next steps along the way.

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May 21, 2025
The Jobs I’d Do for Free: Motorsports, Cars, Travel & Food

The jobs I’d do for free have a lot in common with how I already choose to spend my time. If I could spend a few years doing exactly what I wanted, I’d travel, eat and tell people about it. I’d try different cars along the way, and I’d definitely make time for some races.

I wish I’d figured that out in my late teens or early twenties. I was already planning weekends around restaurants, looking for something new to taste and asking questions about what I was eating. I just never thought about where that interest could take me.

A trip to São Paulo in 2024 finally helped me connect all of it.

I’m a Finance Director in the automotive industry. I have a full-time job, a budget and a limited amount of vacation time. There are more places I want to visit than I can fit into that schedule, and more restaurants than I can reasonably afford to try.

But if you asked me how I’d choose to spend my time, these would be the jobs I’d do for free. Getting paid would be welcome, too. I’d like to make a living doing work I already enjoy this much.

Jump to a section

Motorsports Cars Travel Food & Drink The Bigger Goal

The jobs I’d do for free

After high school, I took my high school girlfriend to one of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants for her 19th birthday. Looking back, the signs were there.

I started going to the New York City Wine & Food Festival in its second year, 2009. I went for the next three years, then returned a few more times after that. I also attended the Manhattan Cocktail Classic for two or three years, roughly between 2011 and 2013.

I wasn’t working in restaurants or behind a bar. I was an outsider who wanted to taste more, ask questions and understand what people were making.

When I wasn’t going into New York for the weekend, Harvest in Closter was my go-to. I still remember their oysters and pearls, which reminded me of The French Laundry’s dish. Years later, that meal is still in my head.

I visited plenty of Zagat-rated and Michelin-recognized restaurants without thinking to document any of it. I wish I had more photographs and notes from those years. Then I bought a farm in 2013, and my attention went elsewhere.

São Paulo brought me back to this in 2024. I enjoyed the research almost as much as the trip: finding restaurants, figuring out where to stay and learning about places I’d never heard of. Once I got there, the food and the people gave me even more reasons to keep exploring.

Now, some of my friends in São Paulo ask me where they should go. They live there, but they know how much research I do before a visit and how much I keep doing between trips.

I’ve also become friends with people in restaurants, hospitality and mixology. Sometimes they tell me about somewhere that has quietly opened, before a ranking or a trend brings it much attention. Just good food, good service and someone saying, “You should try this place.”

I love that. I wish I’d understood sooner how much I’d enjoy sharing what I find.

1. Motorsports reporting

The view toward the Senna S from the stands at Interlagos.

Working at Ferrari got me interested in Formula 1. Traveling for races made it a much bigger part of my life.

I care about what happens on the track. I want to understand why a strategy worked, why a driver struggled and how a team found something everyone else missed. Between Formula 1, WEC and IMSA, there’s always something to follow.

I’d love to get closer to those stories and talk to the people doing the work, including the crew members whose names rarely make the headlines. Their preparation and decisions matter every weekend, and I’d like to understand more of what goes into them.

I also enjoy writing from the perspective I already know: being a fan at the circuit.

My São Paulo Grand Prix travel guide comes from attending Interlagos in 2024 and 2025. It covers what I learned by being there, including choosing a grandstand, dealing with rain and getting back to the hotel with enough time for dinner.

With more freedom to travel, the race calendar would absolutely influence where I went next.

2. Car reviews

A Ferrari from my automotive archive.

Cars are still part of my working life, and I still enjoy them. Ferrari is part of that history, but my interest goes well beyond one badge.

Give me time with an interesting car and I’ll want to understand what makes it worth driving. That could be a vintage Porsche, a McLaren or a sedan that looks ordinary until you get behind the wheel.

The specifications are a starting point. I want to know how it responds, what it sounds like, how comfortable it is and whether I’d look forward to driving it again.

I’d love to try different cars as I traveled and tell people what I thought. Some would be cars I’d dream about owning. Others might surprise me simply by being enjoyable to drive. There would always be another one I’d want to spend time with.

3. Travel writing

Small courses at Mont Bar, my favorite meal in Barcelona.

At Evvai, the food is only part of the experience. The illustrated course cards helped connect each dish to the story behind it.

A few liters of water, a couple of drinks and some time on the rooftop became part of my Barcelona routine.

Barcelona gave me a good example of what I want more of.

I went in June 2026 for the Grand Prix and spent the rest of the trip exploring the city and its restaurants. Mont Bar was my favorite meal there. The food, wine and relaxed service made it an evening I wanted to talk about afterward.

Disfrutar was a very different experience, more theatrical and technical. I enjoyed having both on the same trip.

Sir Victor’s rooftop became a daily stop. After being out in the city, I liked coming back, sitting down and having a drink. I also wanted to understand more about the food and wine, the neighborhoods and the history behind what I was seeing.

Peru belongs in this story, too. Walking through Machu Picchu was as much a reason to travel as a restaurant reservation.

In Lima, my research led me to Maido. I ate there in May 2025 and was home by May 15, before it was named The World’s Best Restaurant 2025 by The World’s 50 Best Restaurants that June. It was pretty cool to see a place I’d just experienced receive that recognition.

I also came home thinking about what I’d missed. I wasn’t persistent enough about getting a reservation at Central. Around Cusco, I was so concerned about altitude sickness that I didn’t give the food research the attention I normally would. MIL is one of the places I wish I’d looked into properly.

Eventually, I want to go back. That’s part of travel for me: enjoying what I did, learning from what I missed and thinking about the next visit.

São Paulo keeps giving me reasons to return. I think about the view from Hotel Unique, the people I’ve met and the dinners I want to plan before I’ve even booked the flight. My São Paulo travel guide grew out of those experiences.

It’s also what I enjoy about Formula 1 luxury travel. I can combine a race with a city I want to explore. I’d love to stay longer because I’m enjoying myself, without counting the days until I have to be back at work.

Sir Victor’s rooftop became a daily stop during my Barcelona trip.

Machu Picchu was as much a reason to travel as a restaurant reservation.

Part of my meal at Maido in Lima in May 2025.

4. Food and restaurant reviews

I don’t need a vacation to go looking for a good meal. I regularly travel more than an hour into New York City to try a restaurant. Sometimes dinner is the entire reason for the trip, and I’m perfectly happy with that.

Put me at a chef’s counter with a tasting menu and a thoughtful wine pairing, and I’ll spend the evening paying attention. But wine isn’t always my first choice. Sometimes I’d rather have creative cocktails, especially when someone behind the bar is doing work as interesting as what’s coming out of the kitchen.

I wish there were more cocktail tasting menus like Carnaval in Lima. I enjoy giving the drinks that same attention: what’s in them, how they’re presented and why those ingredients work together.

With food, I want to understand what the chef is trying to do. I’m also noticing the service, the pace and whether I feel comfortable in the room. Those things affect the evening just as much as an impressive plate.

Evvai is my favorite restaurant in the world, partly because I enjoy being there so much. The cooking gives me plenty to think about, and the illustrated course cards explain the ideas behind the food while adding personality to the meal. It’s ambitious, but it’s also fun. That matters to me.

Those are the details I want to share in my food and drink writing. What did I like? What surprised me? Would I go back? Was the evening worth the trip and the money?

An expensive menu doesn’t get a free pass. A simple meal can be worth recommending without dressing it up as something more.

A cocktail at Overstory in New York City, March 2026.

The presentation is part of the experience at Carnaval in Lima.

Bread and an illustrated course card at Evvai, my favorite restaurant in the world.

What I’d like this work to make possible

I’d love to find out what I could learn if this became my full-time work. How many places could I discover? Who could I meet? What could I introduce people to if I had more time to research, travel and write?

I’m working toward making a career out of some combination of this website, travel consulting, a travel agency or a concierge service. I haven’t figured out exactly what that will look like yet. But I know the work I want to spend more of my life doing.

Once I make that transition and can afford to do it properly, I’d also like to help people travel who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity.

Maybe that becomes a charity. Maybe I quietly organize a couple of trips each year. I picture taking a group of 10 to 14 people who have never had a real vacation: single parents with their teenage kids, or families working hard just to keep up with everyday life.

I’d want to give them the chance to see somewhere new, try food they’ve never tasted and spend time together without worrying about what the trip costs.

I’d love to see their reactions. Maybe one meal or one conversation would introduce a kid to something they’d never considered. They might discover an interest in cooking, travel or writing. Maybe there’s a future chef in that group who just hasn’t had the opportunity to find out yet.

That’s something I’d like this work to make possible.

I can’t go back and figure this out earlier. I can keep moving toward it now. For the moment, that means fitting trips and meals around my job and budget, doing the research and sharing what I find.

I know what I’d choose with more freedom. I’m already doing as much of it as I can.

What job would you do for free?

For more on how I put these trips together, read how I plan every trip. My Barcelona travel guide goes deeper into the restaurants, hotels and neighborhoods from that visit. You can also read my original Peru trip plans to see what I had in mind before visiting Lima, Cusco and Machu Picchu.

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March 29, 2025
When Saying “Yes” Became the Goal: Learning to Loosen the Grip

For a long time, I was proud of how often I could say no. I had work to do, responsibilities to handle and goals I wanted to reach. If something got in the way of those things, saying no felt like the sensible choice.

There is nothing wrong with that. Discipline helped me build a career, and I still need it. But I started questioning what I was making room for if the things I genuinely enjoyed always had to wait.

Another trip. A restaurant I wanted to try. An evening that didn’t have to produce anything beyond a good memory. Eventually, saying yes to some of those things became a goal of its own.

Why saying no made sense

When you spend years working toward something, you get used to protecting your time. There is always another reason to stay focused, another expense to consider and another responsibility that feels more important than whatever you would rather be doing.

I understand that way of thinking because I’ve lived it. I work full time in automotive finance. I have a budget and a limited amount of vacation time. I can’t simply disappear for a few months because I’ve found a list of restaurants I want to visit.

Saying no has its place. It helps me keep commitments and avoid taking on more than I can reasonably handle. I don’t regret being disciplined. I just don’t want discipline to become an automatic answer before I’ve even considered the opportunity.

The difficulty is that being responsible rarely comes with a clear finish line. There will probably always be something else I could be doing for work, another improvement to make or another reason to wait. If I need all of that to be settled before I enjoy myself, I could be waiting for a very long time.

I don’t think the answer is to pretend those responsibilities disappear. I want to look at the actual decision in front of me. Can I make the time? Can I afford it? Does it interfere with something I’ve already committed to? Those questions are useful. Automatically deciding that pleasure can wait doesn’t tell me nearly as much.

The entrance to METZI in São Paulo, photographed during my November 2025 visit.

A New York City walk between the meals and reservations.

Making room for the things I enjoy

São Paulo helped bring my interest in food and travel back into focus in 2024. The research, the restaurants and the people gave me reasons to keep exploring. I came home wanting to do more of it and to share what I found.

That doesn’t mean every worthwhile experience requires an international flight. I regularly travel more than an hour into New York City to try a meal. Sometimes dinner is the whole reason for going. For me, that is enough.

I like sitting at a counter and watching a kitchen work. I like asking about a dish or finding out why a particular wine goes with it. Those evenings give me something I can’t get from reading a menu at home and deciding that I’ll go someday.

I wrote about the work I would love to spend more of my life doing in The Jobs I’d Do for Free. Food, travel, cars and racing already matter to me. Making time for them is part of figuring out where I want to go next.

Looking back, the interest was there well before I started writing. I took my high school girlfriend to one of Daniel Boulud’s restaurants for her nineteenth birthday. I went to food and wine events because I wanted to taste things and learn. I didn’t need a website or a business plan to care about a good meal.

What changed was recognizing how much of my attention already went toward these subjects. I could spend hours researching restaurants before a trip and keep looking into them after I got home. That curiosity deserves some space in my life. I want to follow it far enough to find out what I can do with it.

A seat at the counter gives me another reason to pay attention.

Yes Chef Food Fest in June 2025, another chance to get out and explore food.

I still like having a plan

Learning to say yes hasn’t made me someone who stops planning. If anything, planning helps me do more of the things I want to do.

A race weekend is a good example. I want to enjoy the circuit, but I also want time to get back to the hotel and go out for dinner. That means thinking about transport, traffic and reservation times. My São Paulo Grand Prix travel guide comes from working through those details in person.

The planning is useful because it makes the experience possible. I don’t want the schedule to become more important than enjoying the trip. There needs to be room to adjust when something takes longer than expected or another idea comes along.

There is a practical side to saying yes that gets overlooked. A trip has to fit around the days I can take off. A dinner reservation needs to work with the rest of the evening. Getting those details right gives me a better chance of enjoying the thing I decided to do in the first place.

I’ve also learned that there will be things I miss. In Peru, I came home thinking about restaurants I hadn’t managed to visit, including Central. I wish I’d been more persistent about that reservation. But missing something doesn’t erase what I did experience. It gives me another reason to research a return trip instead of treating one visit as my only opportunity.

Some things still deserve a no

Taking a moment back at W São Paulo.

I’m not trying to say yes to everything. Time and money still matter. So does whether I actually want to do something, rather than feeling that I should because it sounds impressive.

An expensive experience can disappoint. A simple meal can be worth the drive. I want to make those decisions based on what interests me and what I can afford, then be honest about whether it was worthwhile.

I don’t want every experience to need a justification beyond wanting to be there. Some meals will become articles, and some trips will give me ideas for future work. But I still want to enjoy the evening itself, even if the only result is that I had a good time.

The change is that enjoyment now gets a place in the decision. Something doesn’t have to help my career or produce an immediate result to deserve a few hours of my time.

Having a budget means choosing. I can want several things and still decide that only one makes sense right now. That is part of how I travel. There are more restaurants I’d like to try than I can fit into a trip, and more trips I’d like to take than I have vacation days.

I’d rather put thought into those choices than agree to something just because someone else would consider it a good opportunity. A full calendar doesn’t automatically mean I’m spending my time well. I need enough interest in the experience to justify the time, effort and money it takes to get there.

Arriving at Sector G for the 2024 São Paulo Grand Prix weekend.

A stop on my Peru food tour in May 2025.

What I want the work to make possible

I still have ambitions. I’m building this website around subjects I care about, and I would love to turn more of that work into a career. None of that happens without effort or consistency.

Writing about these experiences has given me another way to enjoy them. I pay attention to what I would tell someone who was considering the same restaurant or trip. Was the service comfortable? Did the meal live up to what I hoped for? What would I book again, and what would I approach differently?

I wish I had documented more of the meals and places I visited years ago. I can remember certain details, but I would like to have more photographs and notes to go with them. I can’t recreate those visits now. I can do a better job of recording the experiences I’m having and make something useful from them.

There is no guarantee about where this will lead. I would love to spend a few years traveling, eating, trying interesting cars and catching races along the way. For now, I’m building toward that while working full time. Each article gives me somewhere to put the research, the opinions and the things I learned by showing up.

Another reason I want to keep exploring: Peru’s salt terraces.

That is why saying yes matters to me. It gives the interests I’ve had for years a chance to become a bigger part of my life. I still need to do the work and make sensible decisions. I also need to get out there sometimes, because the next experience isn’t going to happen while I’m only thinking about it.

But I also want to enjoy some of what I’m working toward while I’m working toward it. I don’t want every meal, trip or idea to stay on a list until life becomes perfectly convenient.

For now, that means fitting experiences around the job and budget I actually have. Saying no when I need to, and giving myself a chance to say yes when I can.

Keep Exploring

Sometimes saying yes starts with finding somewhere you want to go. Here are a few places to find inspiration for your next trip or meal:

Follow Richard Jarocki on Instagram for my food, travel and Formula 1 experiences.

Explore New York City for neighborhoods, cultural attractions and ideas for your next visit.

Discover Brazil for destinations and experiences beyond the usual itinerary.

Browse the MICHELIN Guide for restaurants worth looking into before your next trip.

Completely Unnecessary. Absolutely Worth It.

Daily writing prompt
How often do you say “no” to things that would interfere with your goals?
View all responses

March 25, 2025
What Makes a Person Unique?

What makes a person unique? I think it shows up in the details: what they notice, what they choose, what keeps them curious, and how they treat people.

What are they willing to spend time learning? How do they treat people when there’s nothing to gain? What do they return to, even after life pulls them in another direction?

For me, that picture includes personal style, cars, food, travel, music, and a tendency to research a dinner reservation far beyond what most people would consider reasonable. It also includes twenty-five years in the automotive business, changing priorities, and ambitions I’m still working toward.

Plenty of people share those interests. What becomes personal is the combination, along with the experiences and choices behind it. Looking at my own life, these are the ten things that help me understand how that happens.

1. What Makes a Person Unique? Start With Experience

After twenty-five years in automotive leadership, I naturally notice how businesses treat their customers. I pay attention to communication, follow-through, and the difference between someone completing a task and someone taking responsibility for an experience.

That perspective comes with me when I walk into a restaurant or check into a hotel. A beautiful space gets my attention. The people working in it often determine whether I want to return.

My automotive background also introduced me to Formula 1 through my work with Ferrari. An existing interest in cars opened the door to another interest, which eventually gave me more reasons to travel.

Experiences tend to build on one another like that. Something learned in one part of life turns out to matter somewhere completely different. Over time, those connections become part of how you see things, even when you aren’t consciously thinking about where they began.

2. Personal Style Is in the Details

I like nice things. Clothes, watches, cars. I notice the shoes someone is wearing, the bag they’re carrying, even the pen they’re using. Those small details catch my attention.

When I buy clothes, I look at the design and quality. I don’t choose something simply because of the brand name, and I try to avoid covering myself in logos. I want to enjoy the piece itself.

That said, I do like my Psycho Bunny polos. The little bunny gets a pass.

My preference is dark colors with bold accents. I like having something that adds personality without making every part of an outfit compete for attention. A strong accent against a darker background feels closer to my taste.

I consider myself very unique. I don’t try to fit neatly into a norm, but I don’t feel the need to go too far in the other direction either. I like finding my own balance.

Personal style gives me a way to express that. The choices matter because they feel right to me. Someone else can make completely different choices and have a style that’s just as distinctly theirs.

3. The Interests You Keep Making Time For

I regularly drive an hour or more into New York City for dinner. That probably tells you more about my interest in food than any description I could put in a biography.

The interest has been there for a long time. After high school, I took my high school girlfriend to a Daniel Boulud restaurant for her nineteenth birthday. Years before this website, I was already interested in making a meal into an experience worth planning around.

Cars hold my attention differently. Sound, feel, and the experience of driving matter to me. Food, wine, and cocktails create another kind of involvement, with different details to explore. Music has its place, too, from Dave Grohl and the Smashing Pumpkins to classic rock, alternative rock, and hip-hop.

These are the things I lose myself in. They reveal where my attention goes when I have a choice. Someone else’s interests might look completely different, but the time they willingly give them says something just as meaningful.

4. Curiosity Changes the Questions You Ask

Curiosity is probably the clearest connection between my interests. Once something catches my attention, I want to understand it better. A restaurant leads to questions about a chef. A cocktail introduces an unfamiliar ingredient. A race weekend becomes a reason to learn about the city surrounding the circuit.

My 2024 trip to São Paulo brought that habit back into focus. Formula 1 got me there, but researching restaurants, neighborhoods, hotels, and bars became a huge part of the experience.

The research continued afterward. The city gave me reasons to keep asking questions and eventually return.

I also enjoy the practical side of it. Looking at neighborhoods, comparing menus, and figuring out which places belong in the same day can be satisfying in its own right. By the time I book something, I’ve usually already spent a fair amount of time thinking about it. If dinner needs its own research project, I’m probably interested.

That’s one of the things I value about curiosity: it leaves room for an experience to become something I hadn’t anticipated. I can arrive with a plan and still discover that the part I want to explore further is somewhere else entirely.

5. Taste Develops Through Paying Attention

I don’t think taste arrives fully formed. Mine has developed through trying things, comparing experiences, and gradually understanding why certain places stay with me.

Barcelona in June 2026 was a good example. Mont Bar became one of my five best meals, while Disfrutar offered a very different experience. At Mont Bar, warmth and personality were part of what made the evening work so well for me.

Personal taste becomes more useful when you can explain it. Was it the food? The atmosphere? The pacing? The way the staff made the evening feel? Sometimes it’s difficult to separate those elements because the whole experience works together.

That is the perspective I bring to my food and drink writing. I want to understand my own reaction before turning it into a recommendation.

Another meal, trip, or conversation can give me context I didn’t have before.

That willingness to reconsider matters. Once I decide that my taste is finished developing, I give myself fewer reasons to explore. I’d rather keep finding something that surprises me, even if it makes me rethink an opinion I was perfectly comfortable with yesterday.

6. Values Show Up in Ordinary Decisions

Honesty and service matter to me. Those are easy words to put on a website. Their meaning becomes clearer in everyday decisions.

If I recommend somewhere, I want to explain why it deserves someone’s time. If an experience disappoints me, I want to be able to say that clearly and fairly. Praise becomes more useful when a reader can trust that it reflects what actually happened.

The same applies to my working life. People remember whether you listened, explained something properly, and followed through. A confident introduction only gets you so far.

When I think about what makes a person unique, values belong in the answer because they influence behavior across different situations. Interests can introduce us to one another. The way we act helps determine whether a connection lasts. For me, being enthusiastic about an experience comes with a responsibility to describe it honestly.

7. How You Make Other People Feel

Some of the most memorable parts of São Paulo involved the people. The hospitality, the conversations, and the willingness to share knowledge helped turn a city I was visiting into somewhere I wanted to understand more deeply.

That has stayed with me as I’ve continued traveling. A restaurant can put tremendous effort into its food and design. The welcome still matters. So does the sense that someone genuinely wants you to enjoy being there.

I think about this beyond hospitality, too. We all contribute something to the atmosphere around us. Listening, showing interest, or taking time to answer a question can change an interaction.

The people I remember most clearly often made it easier to ask questions and feel comfortable. There is something very personal about the way someone does that. It can stay with you long after the details of the setting begin to fade.

8. Different Chapters Bring Different Priorities

I attended the New York City Wine & Food Festival in 2009 and returned over the following years. Around the early 2010s, I also attended the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, coming to it from outside the industry because I was interested in the experience.

Then I bought a farm in 2013, and my focus shifted. Life had other demands, and the time available for those interests changed.

The curiosity was still part of me. São Paulo helped bring it forward again in a way that eventually led to this website.

Looking back, that progression makes sense. At the time, I was simply living through it. Different responsibilities take up different amounts of space as life changes. An interest can remain meaningful through a quieter period, then return with new energy. I find that reassuring. The person I am today includes those earlier chapters, even when my daily life looks different.

9. Your Perspective Is What You Can Contribute

Two people can visit the same destination and come away wanting to talk about completely different things. One may remember the architecture. Another may remember a meal, a conversation, or how a place made them feel.

My own travels have included Machu Picchu and Maido in Peru, restaurant experiences in Barcelona, and the food and hospitality that keep drawing me back to Brazil. Those places offer very different ways of experiencing a destination.

Writing helps me work out what deserves attention and why. My São Paulo travel guide grew from that process of researching, visiting, remembering, and trying to make the information useful to someone else.

I can contribute the perspective I’ve developed while being clear about its limits. Readers have their own tastes, priorities, and budgets. Giving them enough context to make their own decision feels more useful than assuming everyone should want the same experience I do.

10. Leave Room for the Person You’re Becoming

I’m still a Finance Director. I still plan around a job, a budget, and limited vacation time. Building this website happens within that reality.

I’d like travel and content creation to become my full-time work. There is a gap between wanting that and making it happen, and I’m in the middle of working through it.

That unfinished part belongs in the picture, too. It’s easy to describe yourself using things you’ve already done. Your next decisions reveal something as well: what you’re prepared to learn, where you’re willing to put effort, and which interests you want to take more seriously.

My answer to what makes a person unique will probably keep changing as I do. For now, it comes down to the experiences I carry, the things that keep me curious, the values I try to live by, and the personal choices that make me feel like myself.

There will be more places to explore, meals to plan around, and questions worth following. I like having something ahead of me that I haven’t figured out yet.

Completely Unnecessary. Absolutely Worth It.

March 24, 2025