Overheard on . . . Romancing the Genres

What’s  your favorite vacation?

Although I normally try to use my RTG post to spotlight our upcoming guests, April’s monthly topic was so inspiring I just had to switch it up this month.

Asking about a best vacation is a little like asking about a favorite child I think. You know each one has their own unique and wonderful traits and you love all of them. But…… okay, so maybe one of them connects with you just a little bit more than the others, though you could never explain why.

Well, this is how I feel about my favorite vacation. First I should say that I love, love, love, travelling with my husband. And, though I am always nervous about the work of travelling with my daughter, she continually surprises me by being a blast. So a front runner would definitely be my trip last August to NY and Boston. It had the best of everything: seeing friends, exploring new places, great food, and a chance to reconnect with locals from my books.

However, as much as I loved that trip, the first one that always comes to mind is my trip a couple of years ago to Italy. I’ve written lots about this trip (for more you can link here to my personal blog posts about it.) It was magical and non-replicable.

A friend had invited us to his wedding in Italy, but we had another trip which conflicted. Ultimately there was only one thing to do; I flew to Italy on my own to attend the wedding and then met my family in Mexico for our family vacation.

So, I was travelling by myself, in a foreign country where I didn’t speak the language. And I L-o-v-e-d it! The weather was warm but overcast while I was there, but in my memory the trip was golden and glowing. I visited spots from my second novel, UNTANGLING THE KNOT, and my next novel, MOLTO MAYHEM. I ate the most incredible food. Having just begun blogging, I got to incorporate fun overhears from Italy. And, I had the privilege of attending the most beautiful, incredible wedding I could ever imagine.  The people I met while on that trip continue to be part of my life. And in fact, I plan to fly to Italy this summer with my daughter so I can introduce her to them (and to the joy that is Italy.)

There are times when I am planning trips where I think it can’t possibly be worth the, fill in the blank: money, time, effort, difficulty.

Remembering this trip reminds me of why I should go anyway. You never know which trip will turn out to be that most miraculous of journeys that inspire your life.

I hope your next trip sweeps you away on you own Journey Inspired by Love. Let me know when you take it, especially if it lands you in Italy.

Deanne
www.deannewilsted.com

Lost in London

by Christy Carlyle

My favorite vacation wasn’t quite a vacation at all. It was part of a 1994 class trip—a study trip—during my university education. The group of us who went were supposed to be studying 18^th century London history and literature. I can’t say I learned much about either while I was in London, though I had studied both thoroughly before we left. Once we arrived, however, the city awed and seduced me, and I had trouble focusing on anything other than absorbing as much of it as I could.

A typical colorful row of flats
in Camden Town, London.

With my classmates, I lived in a student housing flat in Camden Town. It’s a funky, colorful northwest borough of London, and it made for a quick Tube ride into central London. Less than half an hour after arriving at Euston Station and then settling into our Camden flat to put our bags down, a group of us jumped on the Tube and headed straight into the heart of the city. We ate jacket potatoes (a.k.a baked potatoes) with exotic (to us) toppings like sweetcorn and tuna in a restaurant that overlooked Leicester Square. I was instantly and completely in love.

There is a palpable energy to London. The city has more personality than any I've ever visited, and it was a character that appealed to me on every level—I loved it history, its busyness, its colors and all its uniquely quintessential aspects, from Big Ben to the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral, to the red double-decker buses that seemed to be everywhere. I loved the smells, the accents, and the variety of Londoners.

Every single day, my classmates and I would venture out to explore London. We’d pick a different area each day. We visited Westminster Abbey, took a boat trip down the Thames, toured around Bloomsbury on a red double-decker bus, shopped in Knightsbridge, ate Turkish food on Baker Street, climbed to the top of dome of St. Paul’s, and the very best day was the one when we got lost.

Big Ben, shining bright on a London evening.

I was out with one of my classmates and we’d done some shopping, including a browse around Harrod’s. Rather than jumping back on the Tube, we decided to wander a bit and soon realized we had no real idea of where we were. We eventually discovered we were in Chelsea, a pretty residential area of London. I don’t remember seeing a single window box that wasn’t graced by flowers. Bold red geraniums seemed to dominate and they made a lovely contrast with the bright blue English Heritage plaques that adorned several buildings, indicating they had once been the home of a famous Briton.

Pere Biart Reading in the Garden
(1890) by Belgian Impressionist
Henry Van de Velde.

Another fortuitous day we ducked into a building not far from Savile Row in Mayfair, trying to escape the heat on a scorching hot summer day. We were surprised to find ourselves in a small art gallery. They were featuring an exhibition celebrating Belgian Impression, and we ended up spending much longer than intended soaking up the beautiful art. This painting by Henry Van de Velde, Pere Biart Reading in the Garden (1890), made an enormous impression on me. A poster from the exhibition featuring this painting is one of my prized mementos from my first visit to London.

Years later, I was lucky enough to live in London for a bit. Living in a place is a different experience than visiting as a tourist. As a young tourist, I had been free to spend my days wandering London from dawn to dusk. As a resident, I worked all day as a cover teacher (what we’d call a substitute) in various schools around London and didn’t venture far from the southern borough where I lived for weekend outings. My love for London deepened as a resident, but nothing can compare to the initial flush of excitement I felt during my first visit. Twenty years later, I still miss London fiercely, and I can’t wait to visit again. For now, I visit in my fiction, using London as a backdrop for my historical romance stories, like my debut novella, Scandalous Wager.