0
This summer my husband and I tromped through England and Ireland for several weeks. It was a total planes, trains, automobiles - boats, ferries, busses, bikes - kind of trip. Plus we logged in a ton of kilometers walking.
Along the way we saw many sites already fixed in our minds through the books we've read, movies we've watched, and music we've enjoyed. For some locations, seeing them with our own eyes changed our perspectives, deepened our knowledge and respect of UK history, and others just
completely rocked our worlds.
Like just about every single bit of Ireland.
England was great, don't get me wrong. London and Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, Liverpool and our afternoon Beatles tour, the phone booths, double-decker busses, the tea, the accent...but Ireland went far beyond our expectations.
Green, it'll be, we thought. And it was. Rainy. That too.
But we didn't expect to be completely charmed. Bespelled. To fall in love with a place so completely. From the more relaxed pace with small town shops opening at 9:45am. Why not 10am? Who knows, but it forced us to slow down and enjoy our breakfasts and morning coffees.
Then there were the evenings spent in pubs alive with laughter, music, and great food. There were ancient ruins around every bend in the road and stories begging to be told.
I won't lie, it was fantastic to get home to our dogs, our own bed, our lives, but travel really is soul food and for a writer, it's doubly so.
If you're a scribe - get out of your comfort zone - travel the world outside your door and far, far beyond. Your stories and your readers will benefit from your wanderlust.
 |
| The typical London shot. |
Along the way we saw many sites already fixed in our minds through the books we've read, movies we've watched, and music we've enjoyed. For some locations, seeing them with our own eyes changed our perspectives, deepened our knowledge and respect of UK history, and others just
completely rocked our worlds.
Like just about every single bit of Ireland.
England was great, don't get me wrong. London and Big Ben, the Tower Bridge, Liverpool and our afternoon Beatles tour, the phone booths, double-decker busses, the tea, the accent...but Ireland went far beyond our expectations.
Green, it'll be, we thought. And it was. Rainy. That too.
 |
| Small coastal town. Ireland. |
But we didn't expect to be completely charmed. Bespelled. To fall in love with a place so completely. From the more relaxed pace with small town shops opening at 9:45am. Why not 10am? Who knows, but it forced us to slow down and enjoy our breakfasts and morning coffees.
 |
| I grew very fond of a strong "Americano". |
Then there were the evenings spent in pubs alive with laughter, music, and great food. There were ancient ruins around every bend in the road and stories begging to be told.
I won't lie, it was fantastic to get home to our dogs, our own bed, our lives, but travel really is soul food and for a writer, it's doubly so.
If you're a scribe - get out of your comfort zone - travel the world outside your door and far, far beyond. Your stories and your readers will benefit from your wanderlust.
