ON THE HOLIDAY TRAIL...

This is my last post before I pack for holiday.  The thought of going away for a whole week is a great feeling.  In fact I have to admit I do love holidays.  OK I know what you're all thinking.  I quit my job last year, I'm a self-employed writer so I'm my own boss. That means I'm no longer tied into a nine to five. If I don't feel like working on a particular day I don't have to and I can organise a lunch meet or a day shopping with friends any time I want. In a nutshell I'm director of my own destiny.  So that must mean my life is almost like a permanent holiday right? Well, yes in a way I guess that is true. However, with this new life comes a level of responsibility.  I do have a time plan but it's not as fixed as when I was working for someone else.  I do still have to work though.   Therefore what I term 'proper' holidays are still very special to me.  It's the ability to get away from all that the normal stuff and go somewhere completely different to chill out, relax and take in some new experiences.

Since I've been a published writer I've drawn on some of my travel destinations for settings. I've found it's much easier to write about somewhere you have actually visited as you can call up the sights and scenes you've experienced and make everything feel much more authentic. Dartmouth, where we're headed this coming Friday was featured in The Other Side of Morning but I've also used Italy in three of  my five books. The Ligurian Coast featured in Love Lies and Promises. Venice in Between Today and Yesterday and for The Other Side of Morning  Lake Garda.

We holidayed in Garda last September, returning to the Regina Adelaide where we'd had a wonderful vacation in 2001.  Because we loved the lake and all the towns there so much we had decided it was time for a return trip. Booking into the same hotel again there was a moment when we wondered whether we might be making a mistake.  Our twelve year absence meant both the hotel and resort were now a bit of an unknown quantity.  There was the worry that so much might have changed and not for the better.  What crazy people we were worrying!  We found Garda exactly the same; friendly people, beautiful flowers everywhere and that laid back continental atmosphere each evening in its bars with their live music. Trips to Riva, Sirmione and Salo didn't disappoint either. And as for the hotel, well there was the same warm welcome and excellent service. And there was an added bonus  because not only did we have a fantastic holiday, I also sorted out a seemingly impossible problem I had been having with my current WIP.


Hotel Regina Adelaide


I had been struggling start the final chapter of The Other Side of Morning but the more attempts I made the more it refused to come right.  At the very beginning of the chapter I had to bring Marco and two of the key characters together.  I had a few ideas about where they would meet but every time I attempted to write something, I wasn't happy with it and I ended up deleting everything I had written.  Had I been using paper I'm sure the office floor would have been overflowing with my failed attempts! With the holiday imminent and rapidly running out of patience, I decided to shelve the whole thing, contenting myself with the fact that I would be a lot fresher to do battle with it when I got back.




That Inspirational Place

Our first morning in Garda saw us walking to neighbouring Bardolino.  After a wander around and some shopping we stopped for a glass of wine outside one of the hotels. It was a beautiful morning and the four of us sat under a large canvas sun shade watching people passing by and the ferries coming and going.  All of a sudden it hit me that this could be the place to begin that last chapter with Marco sitting here drinking wine just like us. The scene  started to come together in my head and I managed to hold it there until we returned to the hotel. I quickly scribbled down my thoughts and on my return home began to write - and everything fell into place perfectly!




Toledo with the Alcazar on the city skyline

During the 1990s we spent a lot of time in Spain.  Our friends owned an apartment just outside Marbella and we had some really good holidays there. Some years we would use it as a base and travel inland for stopovers in places like Granada, Seville and Herez.  The apartment was sold in 1998 which coincided with a milestone birthday for all four of us.  To celebrate we decided on a Spanish road trip.  We booked a flight to Madrid, hired an MPV and arranged three two-night stopovers in Toledo, Caceres and Cordoba.  This would take up one week of a planned fortnight and then we would drive down to the coast where, for the final week, we had rented

Mesquita, Cordoba

a friend's house.  It was an amazing holiday.  Toledo with its narrow

Caceres and its storks

streets, swords and suits of armour - a place where El Cid was reputed to have captained the garrison.  Then on to medieval Caceres with its storks and their nests and finally Cordoba and the fabulous Mesquita and Palace of the Christian Kings.   All three places held something special for us, whether it was joining in with the fiesta which was going on in Toledo when we arrived, watching the eerie flight of the storks at night as they circled over Caceres or embracing Flamenco in Cordoba. This was the real Spain and absolute magic!


We last holidayed on the Costa Del Sol in 2003.  A joint wedding anniversary trip with friends.  We rented a villa just west of Calahonda, minutes from the beach.  We had a great time, toasted our skin, ate and drank far too much and made our usual pilgrimage up into the hills above Marbella to Benahavis - the place for great Spanish food and hospitality. There was a boutique hotel there - the Amanhavis -  each of its nine rooms themed to celebrate either a period of the country's history or a famous Spaniard.  The Galileo room had a large telescope and a glass ceiling so you could lie in bed and look at the stars! Checking on line today the hotel is still there and receiving good reviews - an average of 8.5 out of 10. So if anyone wants an off the beaten track stay at a hotel with a difference then that's the place to go.



Cabopino

It's always a little sad when a holiday comes to an end; you've had a good time but now it's time to leave and return to the real world. That Sunday morning we vacated the villa early and on our way to the airport stopped off in Cabopino.  If any of you remember the ill-fated British soap Eldorado, Cabopino was used for the marina scenes in the series.  We had coffee there and then wandered out onto the breakwater where several elderly Spanish men were fishing.  I remember looking back in land and all I could see were cranes and building work going on. I remembered 1991 when we first made this coast a holiday destination. It made me realise not only how fast the urbanisation had spread over those twelve years, but given the extent of the current activity, how much more there was to come.  It was then I decided this would probably be our last trip here.  I simply did not want to return to this kind of holiday environment.  For me it was far better to hold onto those memories of what a good place it had once been - before the building tsunami had taken hold.  Yes, we all agreed as we climbed back into the hire car, it was definitely time to seek out new holiday destinations.


 Since then we've been all over Europe, Greece and Italy being the favourites. We did actually return to Spain in 2010 to a place called Tamariu just up the coast from Barcelona.  It's a small quiet coastal village, favoured by Spanish holidaymakers - in fact while we were there we hardly heard a British accent. It was early July and we arrived during the time the last matches were being played in the World Cup; evenings when the bars were full with enthusiastic locals watching on wide screen televisions.  We were eating out in a beach restaurant

Tamariu

the night Spain won.  The atmosphere was electric and the partying went on well into the early hours.

So now I'm  back in the present quietly sorting out what to pack and crossing fingers for some decent weather. Nothing, of course, is guaranteed in the UK.  We might hit a heat wave or we could well spend the week trudging around in wet weather gear, who knows? Whether it rains or shines though I'll be back with you all in a fortnight.


Jo