Bitten by The Travel Bug!

 

By: Marcia King-Gamble  

www.lovemarcia.com

One of my first jobs ever was that of an international flight attendant. It was the perfect job for a young single with no ties.  Back then, being a flight attendant was a coveted position, and came with some prestige. You had to be the best of the best in many areas.  The airline that hired me required me to have a second language. Please don’t ask me mine. It now has gone the way of the spinning wheel.    

In any case, my life has been one travel adventure after another. I left the airline business and entered the cruise industry. Some people acquire things, I acquire travel experiences, and while intangible it’s money well spent.

Few people can say they cruised the Nile, saw The Pyramids and visited King Tuts tomb. What about a trip to the Taj Mahal on a brutally hot day? Memories of St. Petersburg,  Russia are now mine to keep.

Years ago, going to places like Hong Kong and Bangkok were long weekend trips. New Zealand is a place still near and dear to my heart and makes the top ten list of my favorite places to return. It’s a place I think I can easily live. Sweden and Denmark are also on my non bucket list. And Italy, well who doesn’t like Rome, Milan, Venice and Capri? Florence is still on my to do list.

My most recent overseas trip took me into London.  First. I visited with a friend, overnighted, and then took the train to South Hampton to board my cruise. This voyage took me to Hamburg, Paris, Rotterdam, and Belgium.  I called it the hop on, hop off, bus.

Vacations and getaways have taken me to Barcelona, Rio, Croatia, and Alaska. But lately, I have been on the See America tour. A contract job has brought me to New Orleans, Nashville, Minneapolis, and Memphis. I’ve flown to Pittsburg, Cincinnati and St. Louis to make sure guests have a smooth boarding experience. Seeing America has been just as intriguing as any of those foreign ports.

So, readers where is your favorite place to vacation? Share! Share! Share!       

 

About Marcia King-Gamble

USA bestselling romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean Island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This former travel industry executive has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. She has contributed to Michael Fiore’s DigitalRomanceInc and served as a moderator on the now defunct eHarmony advice boards. Having witnessed the bad, the ugly, and the not so good in relationships, she still prefers to write about happily ever after. Caring for her animal family keeps her grounded and sane.

Visit Marcia at www.lovemarcia.com or “friend” her on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1MlnrIS

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WHEN YOU’RE WITH THE ONE YOU LOVE

By Linda Lovely

By the time you’re eligible for Medicare, you’ve hopefully treated yourself to dozens of vacations. I know I have, and I can’t recall a bad one. That should make it tough to pick a favorite vacation for this month’s blog theme. Right? Wrong.

     My all-time best vacation is the first one I took with my husband.

     It was April. We flew from snowy Rochester, New York, where we lived at the time, to a Club Med resort in the Caribbean on the island of Martinique. We traded highways edged with piles of dirty snow to roads lined with palm trees, sand, and blue ocean. We shucked winter coats and wore swimsuits to breakfast. We toasted in bright sunshine. Frolicked in warm water.  We tasted fruits we’d never seen before. We dined at eight-person tables with strangers from France and the Bronx, England and Chicago. We laughed with new friends. We learned to sail. We strolled on a nude beach. We drank large quantities of wine. We snorkeled and waterskied. We applauded the nightly entertainment. We danced under a starry sky. We never once opened our wallets or thought about what anything cost—food, wine, and any sport you were game to try were included in the flat price.

     It was enchanting, invigorating, freeing.  

All-female sailing crew for finale regatta. I'm standing center.

     Those memories remain vivid. Of course, new love weighs heavily in this vacation’s favor. I’m sure it made me more open to new experiences, to adventures we could share.  The many firsts also made it special. I’d never been to the Caribbean. Sailing and snorkeling in the ocean were new, exhilarating experiences. And Martinique is the only place I’ve ever happened upon a nude beach.

     One European fellow told me he could always tell who the Americans on a nude beach were. When they engaged in conversation, they always stared into the other person’s eyes in an attempt to censor the automatic tendency for their gaze to roam. He was right.

My husband at helm.

     At Club Med, I remember sitting at a table occupied by four English speakers and four French speakers, and I was the only person silly enough to admit to some knowledge of the other language. So an American gentleman prompted me to inquire of the Frenchman how he would ask a lady to sleep with him.

     His answer? “Ah, but a Frenchman doesn’t need to ask.”

     This wasn’t the only Club Med vacation my husband and I enjoyed, but it will always be the best. New love makes anyplace magical.

     Do you remember your first vacation with a new love?  

Escape with Author Heather Rodney-Diaz to the Beautiful Caribbean Islands

Escape with me … to the beautiful Caribbean Islands

Book lovers everywhere, readers around the globe love to read fiction for several different reasons. One of those reasons is for escapism. Well, at least that’s my main reason for reading! I much prefer to be transported to some enchanting or exotic place just by thumbing through my Kindle or turning the pages of a good book more than anything else. 

HEATHER RODNEY-DIAZ

Hello everyone, my name is Heather Rodney-Diaz and I write spicy, super-sexy and multi-cultural romantic island escapes. My debut release is entitled “Island Pursuits” and published with Crimson Romance. Indeed, it’s a great pleasure to guest blog and celebrate with Romancing the Genres on their second blog-o-versary! 

So you’re probably wondering why I write romantic island escapes, right? Well, it’s because I was born, raised and still live on the beautiful twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in the southern Caribbean. Obviously, my main motivation for writing in this genre. You see, here on these fascinating islands of sun, sand and sea, there's no better place for dreaming up scorching hot heroes or falling in love!

So it’s two islands, but one country. Two sisters but so very different. Trinidad is the bigger, faster-paced one that buzzes with commercial activity. Tobago is the laid back, serene one with the gorgeous beaches. We may be just a dot on the world map but we have definitely left a big imprint. We are called “Trinbagonians or Trinis” for short. There are about 1.3 million of us. Our islands are steeped in British, Spanish and French history. The economy is fuelled by oil and natural gas production of which we are the world’s 7^th largest exporter of natural gas with the U.S. being our main buyer. And oh, the melodious steel drum musical instrument synonymous with the Caribbean was also invented in Trinidad and Tobago as a result of our oil production.

The biggest female hip hop artist in the world right now, Nicki Minaj was born here. R&B songstress Heather Headley also. And for those of you who could remember Billy Ocean, well he’s a “Trini” too. Previous Project Runway winner, Anya Ayoung Chee is also from here. We hold the world cricket record for the most test runs scored by one of the most talented cricketers the world has ever seen, Brian Lara. Trinidad and Tobago was also the smallest nation to ever qualify for the Football World Cup in Germany, 2006. Our very own Keshorn Walcott won the 2012 Olympic Gold Medal in the sport of Javelin. We have also won the Miss Universe Pageant, not once but twice, and the Miss World Pageant once. 

CARNIVAL

 Besides beauty, sports, fashion and music, we have the greatest show on earth. Trinidad and Tobago Carnival is our biggest tourist attraction and one of the most amazing street parties filled with sexy costumed masqueraders, beautiful people, soca music and fun in the sun!

We are Trinis, we have a distinctive walk and talk. We love to fete or party, love to wine (a dance we do that involves an erotic gyration of the hips) and we love to lime or hang out. So when you download  and read my debut romance novel Island Pursuits, you will not only discover an exotic romantic setting. But trust me, you’ll definitely escape. So escape to my beautiful islands in the sun, escape to love and adventure, the scorching heat, Carnival, soca music, feting and wining. Even U.S. President Barack Obama paid us a visit once. See you soon!

(Island Pursuits is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iTunes and most ebook stores.)
 
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