Category: Travel
Covid-19 Journals
Recently I spent a few hours looking through my dozens of travel journals. As I flipped through the pages, it occurred to me that now, during the Covid-19 pandemic, would be a good time to keep a diary. Unlike many who love to write, I’ve never been a consistent journalist. In fact, the only times…
Climbing the Mango Trees
I am at it again – reading memoirs. Recently I was lucky enough to find the delightful memoir, Climbing the Mango Trees, A Memoir of a Childhood in India, by Madhur Jaffrey.
Memory of a Beijing Market
March 2003. Tom burst into the room as I finished my second cup of tea. “I’ve found the market,” he announced. “It’s just around the corner.” We had arrived in Beijing the afternoon before. After checking into the hotel, eating a Chinese meal in a dining room filled with western tourists, and wandering Tiananmen Square…
Collecting Fabric as a Travel Souvenir
A Facebook friend, a lady who is a master quiltmaker, recently posted a T-shirt with the following slogan emblazoned across the front: “I sew, but my favorite hobby is collecting fabric.”
A Mother’s Memories of her Son’s Boot Camp Graduation
Some years ago, I took an emeritus class at U.C. Irvine in Travel Writing. There I learned that a travel essay needs to be more than a travelogue. In order to interest a reader, travel writing should also have attitude. The writer’s voice is essential as it is through their eyes we view the adventure.…
A Lifelong Traveler Looks Back at her Passports
“I am a lifelong traveler, have visited every continent except Antarctica, and have not been without a valid passport since I was sixteen.” This quote, lifted from my Instagram bio, represents what I believed to be true until I began to write this post. . . . which says something about personal memory and the…
Paris Memoirs of Art and Love
Art and Paris memories flow from A Paris Year, by Janice MacLeod. I found this book just as the Covid-19 pandemic nudged into our consciousness. Days later, I regretfully cancelled a planned “April in Paris/Tulip season in the Netherlands” trip. Instead of walking the streets of Paris myself, I read Janice’s book, a delightful guide…
Illustrations for a Travel Memoir, Wherever the Road Leads.
Wherever the Road Leads has always been planned as an illustrated memoir. After all, with a subtitle that starts “An Artist’s Memoir . . .,” readers will expect to see artwork. Luckily, I didn’t have 1000 drawings to choose from like I did with the photos. However, because of page consideration (Print on Demand…
Photos for a Travel Memoir
Selecting the illustrations for Wherever the Road Leads has sent me down memory lane yet again. I plan for the book to have three kinds of illustrations: • Photos taken by Tom of our travels • Pen-and-ink drawings I did along the way • Route maps with small sketches to show where we went
Travel as Education (after the Pandemic)
For those of us with travel in our DNA, this is a difficult time. We are stranded in our homes with no place to go. Besides this, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many parents have unexpectedly found themselves home alone educating their children. As they struggle with this difficult role, many parents can’t wait for…