I don’t know about you, but one of the things I’ve missed most during the pandemic is traveling. Heck, even just getting into a car and going on a day trip. I’m lucky to live in a beautiful seaside community on Long Island Sound, so last summer wasn’t so bad with lots of swimming and boating. But as the quarantine stretched on and on, I definitely got restless for parts unknown. And the holidays were tough, as my family had spent the previous four Christmases cruising with a group of faraway friends who we now haven’t seen since our 2019 trip (but hopefully that will change this winter).
Maybe that’s why I chose to write a book set on Italy’s gorgeous Amalfi Coast. How Not To Mess With A Millionaire takes place primarily in Positano, with jaunts to Capri and Rome, and while I’ve been to Italy (once, in 2019, to Venice and the Dolomite mountains), I’ve never been to any of the settings in the book. And maybe that’s exactly why I chose them. So that I’d get to travel virtually via the extensive research I had to do to portray those places accurately.
The internet really is a wonderous thing. It’s amazing the things you can learn from a simple Google search. Many of my searches involved things like the weather and the prime seasons for tourists in Italy. There’s a smattering of Italian in the book, and I made liberal use of Google translate to help me with that (and then ran it all by a friend who speaks the language to make sure I got it right). I probably (okay, definitely) spent more time than I needed to gawking at pictures of Italian villas and pristine Mediterranean beaches. Reading about Capri and Pompeii was fun, even though Pompeii didn’t end up making the cut (nowhere near as romantic to get stranded in a city destroyed by a volcano as it is to be stuck on an island with jaw-dropping natural beauty, delicious cuisine, and world-class shopping). Although I like to think that Pompeii is city Zoe and Dante would visit together someday, maybe even with potbellied pig Houdini tagging along. (A pig, you ask? Well, you’ll have to read the book to find out where he comes into play and how he got his name.)
Fortunately for me, my virtual travels aren’t over yet because I’ve got two more books planned in the Mediterranean Millionaire series. Up next is How Not To Marry A Millionaire, set in sunny Spain. It’s Miguel’s story (you’ll meet him in How Not To Mess With A Millionaire as part of the Mediterranean Musketeers, three friends who meet at Oxford University). So far it takes place mostly in Sorrento, but I’m still working on this one, so who knows where my research will take me and where Miguel and heroine Perri might wind up.
After How Not To Marry A Millionaire, I’ll be internet surfing to Greece, one of the top spots on my travel bucket list, for Xander Castellanos and How Not To Misjudge A Millionaire. I’ve done a smattering of research for this one already, mostly because right before the pandemic hit, I played Rosie in a local production of Mamma Mia, which is set in Greece, and I wanted to learn a little more about the country before doing the show. It seems like the perfect place for a post-pandemic getaway: stunning beaches, warm climate, mouth-watering food, friendly people. I can’t wait to learn more when I start in on How Not To Misjudge A Millionaire—and maybe plan a future trip there at the same time.
Are you anxious to hit the road again? Where’s the first place you’ll go (or you’ve gone if you’ve been lucky enough to start traveling again)? Let me know, and I’ll pick one commenter to win a $10.00 Amazon gift card. And if you’re not quite ready to get up and go yet, grab a copy of How Not To Mess With A Millionaire and experience Italy from the comfort of your couch.
I would love to go on a road trip. I’m not even sure where I would go.
Well, not really ready for that kind of thing, but I’m bound to be going back to work there instead of home all the time sooner rather than later… and given they have a/c, wish that might have been today… 🙂
sure, maybe a park
I’m not one to travel a lot but a trip to Mt. Rainier National Park sounds like fun.
Hubby and I had plans to travel this summer, Covid permitting. We wanted to go down to South Carolina again to visit Folly Beach and my brother. We had planned to take our youngest to Wolf Run part to play in the water.
However, any plans to travel have been dashed. He got rear-ended at a stoplight by a delivery truck. It’s been a month and the sheriff department still hasn’t done the accident reports. He didn’t get hurt in the accident so it’s not a priority. But we’ve been without a vehicle for a month.
I would love to go on a road trip but can’t at the present time because family comes first. Have to take care of my Mom who is immobile and my Dad who is in the hospital and immobile. I go to Ireland a lot in my mind for my road trip and even go to Treasure Lake a short ways from the house(1 hour and 1/2 drive).
Would love to win
Huge hugs. We can always travel in our imaginations.
Someday I really want to travel but we haven’t been able to for many reasons even pre-pandemic. I keep saying someday though and it never comes! LOL – thankfully I have always been able to escape in books like yours so thank you to you and all the authors who write stories like these!
Books are a great escape!
Some great ideas here! I have a crazy dream of retrofitting a VW bus or one of those Airstream trailers and going to all the national parks.
I am heading to the West Coast in order to visit family this summer. We are relieved that we will be able to see each other. And we hope to visit France within the next year, health and finances willing.
I’d love to go to Chicago (my favorite city)! Luckily books can take us anywhere we want to go!
I am a bit of a homebody, but I love travelling to different places in books!