The Trip of a Lifetime

By Karen McCullough

A couple of weeks ago I got back from a trip I’ve waited for my entire life. Along with my husband, son, daughter-in-law and baby grand-daughter, I went to Italy. It was a return trip for me, since forty-some years ago I spent a summer in northern Italy, basically as an English tutor. I retained vivid memories of the cities of Milan and Como, and of Lake Como, which I’d been able to visit then. I’ve long regretted the other cities of Italy I didn’t get to, particularly Rome. This trip would rectify that omission.

St. Peter's Square in Rome

We spent the first five days in Rome, traveled to Florence, spent a couple of days there, then went on to Varenna on Lake Como for a few days before flying back to the States. Despite extreme heat and crowds of tourists, the trip met every expectation I could possibly have had.

I have a series of posts about the trip over on my own blog at kmccullough.com/kblog.  You can head over that way if you want to read about the whole thing, day by day.  In this post I just want to talk about a few miscellaneous things noted on the trip.

Travel – Airplane travel sucks. Don’t believe it?  Read my story about the flight to Rome here, but (warning) it may make you reluctant to ever fly again. On the other hand train travel in Italy is amazing. Where it was available, we paid a little extra for first class seats and it was so worth the small additional cost. Travel by train is much nicer and more comfortable than travel by airplane anyway, but paying a few Euros per person more for first class makes it even better. Seats were roomy, well padded, had power outlets, USB ports, tables and footrests. Even on the trains that didn’t offer first class service, the seats were comfortable and the amenities adequate. Plus the high-speed trains get you to your destination in surprisingly little time. I realize that the US is a lot bigger than Italy or even most of Europe, but still, more high speed trains would put some of the pleasure back into traveling around the country.

Gelato – Oh, yes!  But first, you should know that some gelato places are better than others.  Some so-called gelato isn’t much better than the ice cream you can get here in the US. But good gelato—oh my!  It’s richer, creamier, and fresher-tasting than anything I can remember tasting at home. After hiking around the city on a hot day in Rome, nothing tastes better.

Coffee – Years ago when I was there, I developed a love for real Italian coffee, a thick brew served in tiny cups. Most of the Italians I knew then added large quantities of sugar to it. Espresso in the US is the closest thing you can get to it here, but it’s not exactly the same. And in all the hotels and most of the restaurants we frequented, they had machines that would produce Americano and Cappuccino as well as Espresso. Ask for just coffee, and it was a toss-up whether you’d get a half cup of a slightly stiffer brew than Americano or the coffee I remember from my last visit, which compressed all the coffee goodness (and caffeine) of a standard cup od Americano into about  a quarter cup of liquid served in teeny tiny cups.

Wine – We sampled many of the local wines at meals, including a number of Chiantis. (Another leftover from my previous trip: I love Chianti!) After a few days, my husband said, “They clearly aren’t shipping the good stuff to the U.S.” So true. For a reasonable five Euros (a bit under six dollars US), you could get a glass of outstanding wine.

I

Absolutely the best Tiramisu ever!

talian Cooking in General – Oh, man.  I’m not a gourmet or a gourmand. On the “live to eat, eat to live” dichotomy I definitely fall on the eat to live end of the spectrum.  But even I can recognize great cooking when I taste it. I’m still partial to northern Italian cooking, which eschews tomato and pepper-based sauces in favor of more subtle flavors of butter and cream toppings for creative pasta based dishes. Seafood is common. My favorite meals were spaghetti with clams and ravioli stuffed with lakefish.

And the desserts were sheer decadence. We’re all partial to Tiramisu, and just about every place we ate in Italy had it. But there were a lot of varieties, and a lot of different ways to serve it.  We had Tiramisu on plates, in parfait glasses, and, memorably, in a large brandy snifter.

I have no idea when I’ll ever get back, but should I ever the chance, I’m totally up for it. (Except for the unfortunate necessity of having to fly over and back.)

Colorado, Small Swords, HNS and Elizabeth Peters

by Janis Susan May/Janis Patterson

Greetings from the beautiful state of Colorado! Now you’re probably wondering what a dedicated flat-lander Texas girl like me is doing high up in the mountains. Well, right now I’m having fun.

Seriously, the reason we (The Husband and I) came up to Denver was to attend the Historical Novel Society conference. It’s the first time I’ve ever been to one of these conferences, so I didn’t know what to expect, but when I was invited to speak I had to go – especially since the panel was on Egyptology (one of my main interests, as you  know) and Elizabeth Peters (who was not only one of my favorite authors but a treasured friend.)

Actually, I felt sort of a cheat being there as a conferee let alone a speaker, as so few of my books are historical by any stretch of the imagination – a handful of Victorian gothics, a time travel to Ancient Egypt, a few traditional Regencies, a mystery set right after WWI. I mean, these people are the ones who write stories about medieval royalty and Minoan mysteries and how to do historical research and the problems of linguistics. I felt totally overwhelmed.

I was on a panel with Bill Chirf, Libby Hawker and Lindsay Davis – all proven and respected historical novelists. And me. We had sort of informally split the subject up – Bill took Elizabeth Peters’ (also known as Dr. Barbara Mertz and Barbara Michaels) early life and the attitudes of the times; I took her career from the sale of her first book (a non-fiction Egyptology book called TOMBS, TEMPLES AND HIEROGLYPHS) through her career as a best-selling multi-genre novelist and on to her much-regretted passing in 2013. Libby analyzed how her success affected the market for Egyptian fiction, which was fascinating – even a devotee such as I didn’t realize how she had made it soar. Finally, Lindsay talked about the problems of research. We had a pretty good crowd and some very interesting questions afterward, but what really impressed me was how many people came up to me from the end of the workshop to the close of the conference to tell me how much they liked my presentation. Boy, that felt good!

One fun thing we did was take David Blixt’s Rapier, Short Sword and Dagger workshop. He also did a broadsword workshop, but those things are heavy, and this was very much a hands-on workshop. You do not know what fear is until you are in a fairly small meeting room with about 40 amateurs armed with short swords, rapiers and daggers! We advanced, we fell back, we did forward and back passos (that’s what it sounded like) all the while thrusting and parrying. For some strange reason (because it was an historical conference, perhaps?) I had worn a skirt. A long skirt. I had forgotten how difficult and uncomfortable those things were to wear. Also, to ‘fight’ we in sandals had to remove them and fight barefoot. Unfortunately, The Husband and I were in the same sessions – not everyone could participate at once – so he couldn’t take pictures of me dueling barefoot in a long skirt. Maybe that’s a good thing. David, however, was an excellent teacher (and a bear about safety) so the workshop was a joy.

One thing that was not a joy was the booksigning. There were close to 100 authors by my estimation who were in the signing. The entire second floor atrium of the hotel was lined with tables and authors with big smiles and pens at the ready. The keynote speaker was Diana Gabaldon, of OUTLANDER fame. The booksigning had been advertised locally and we were told a good crowd was expected. And a good crowd came. Miss Gabaldon’s table was set aside at the other end of the room from the rest of us, which was not a bad idea as the aisles were narrow. Except – when the crowd came, they lined up to get to Miss Gabaldon’s table, got their book signed and then left. Very few even glanced at the hundred or so other authors. The most books I heard of being sold by an author other than Miss Gabaldon was four. Four! There was a lot of mutterings and gripings among the authors that a woman who has sold at least a bazillion books was syphoning off potential sales from the rest of us. Sour grapes? Probably, but still very true. It did leave a bad taste in a lot of mouths.

However, the conference ended Sunday at noon, and here we are still in Colorado until the end of the week. It’s called being a tourist. The Husband and I decided it was ridiculous to come all the way to Denver from Dallas just for two and a half days, so after the conference was over we moved down to Colorado Springs. Yesterday we spent at the Garden of the Gods. The Husband had never seen it, and I had only been there once years ago – back when I was a girl in high school.

Wow! Is that a fantastic place. Great shards of rock sticking straight out of the earth. Gargoyle figures sculpted by Nature itself. Rocks the size of a hamlet. All incredibly beautiful. We had planned to spend the morning there and then go on to a mine tour in the afternoon, but at 6:30 we were still in the park. Thinking solely of the conference, I had not brought my camera, but The Husband – a photo-holic – had his, and spent most of the day climbing over rocks and up trails taking pictures. I don’t climb well, so I sat a lot and enjoyed the scenery. It was one of the best days I’ve spent.

We’ve spent hours driving around, exploring the little towns both known and obscure. And shopping. Don’t forget shopping. I have some lovely t-shirts to wear when I want to feel a little bit of Colorado.

And plots. I’ve made notes (skeletal, to be sure, but still viable) on no fewer than three new books. As if I needed more plots. I’m already backed up over four books worth. I need more time, not plots!

But not just yet. Tomorrow we are going to make the mine tour, and perhaps a silver shop and take a look at the Royal Gorge and perhaps the dinosaur museum and… Who knows? Carpe diem, especially when in glorious Colorado.

WHERE'S MY VACATION?

As the summer moves along swiftly toward the beginning of a new school year, it seems people everywhere are talking about vacations they've taken – they speak of Disney Land, Virginia Beach, an Alaskan cruise, Colorado, the Cayman Islands, Turkey, even Cuba.

I listen with envy – where's my vacation? I'm a grown woman, for goodness sake, perfectly capable of planning and arranging to take a real vacation. Yet my one trip to Disney World was in July 1976 during the Bicentennial celebration. I don't know that I've ever seen Virginia Beach; if so, I don't remember. I certainly never saw any portion of Alaska. We made a trip from Texas to Yellowstone National Park – almost 25 years ago. We once drove to Branson, Missouri. At the time, I'm thinking we were the youngest people in the city. If we went back today, we might fit in just right, age-wise.

Are we over-due for a real vacation or what? It's not that I don't have plenty of vacation days to take from my law firm job. Where have they gone? Not to the Caymans, that's for sure. I sometimes spend a week with my Mom who lives across the country. Other days are used for writer's conferences or family events – weddings, family reunions, and the like. Of course, I use some days to stay home and write – especially now that I'm faced with a very real book deadline.

To tell you the truth, I'm not longing to leave home and fly to some faraway place on vacation – I mostly wish I were longing to do so. If I could snap my fingers and magically be standing before Niagara Falls or the Grand Canyon I'd do it. Do I want to see foreign countries before I die? I'm not sure – it seems like a lot of trouble to go through and a large unnecessary expense.

Why doesn't the joy of vacation out-weigh the hassle of getting there for me? Is it because I'm a homebody at heart? Or because I'm just as happy sitting home and reading books? Or my thrifty Pennsylvania Dutch upbringing won't allow me to spend the money? Or all of the above? Seriously, I keep saying – in a very vague way – that we need to get out and see the U.S.A.

I really ought to make plans now – because time flies – tempus fugit as my mother-in-law liked to say. She's not with us anymore – her time to travel has passed. Which ought to send me a very real message.

Do you love to travel? Where's your favorite place to go?

Mystery author Kay Finch is currently writing her new Bad Luck Cat Mystery series set in the Texas Hill Country to be published by Berkley beginning in 2015. Her Klutter Killer mystery, Relative Chaos, features a professional organizer who finds a dead body in a hoarder's garage. Kay lives in a Houston, Texas suburb with her husband, two rescue dogs and a cat. Visit her web site at www.kayfinch.com.

Dreaming of Hawaii

by Victoria M. Johnson

I'll admit it. My favorite state is Hawaii. Currently my husband and I are planning another Hawaiian vacation. I'm so excited, and as usual, I need to do something that helps me keep going until the big departure day. Sometimes I get my Hawaii fix by reading a book set in Hawaii. Other times watching a movie made in Hawaii settles my eagerness to drive to the airport 21 days early. I'll pore over our photo albums of previous trips, seeking that tranquility and vitality I feel with every visit. Or I'll play my CDs of Hawaiian music such as those of Iz or Henry Kapono.

But this time nothing is working. I really need the calm and serenity Hawaii brings me, and I need it yesterday. I can't unwind at all and I have more than three weeks until our flight across the Pacific. I am desperate for the lush greenery and black sand beaches, the majestic waterfalls and bright colors of exotic flowers. I can feel the drums beating for the hula dancers and hear the conch shell's echo. 

In my desperation, I turn to Netflix and my personal library.  I could watch TV series like Hawaii Five-O, Baywatch reruns, or Magnum PI reruns.  Or I could reread some literary favorites like, Hawaii by James Michener, Flirting With Forty by Jane Porter, or The Descendants by Kaui Hart Hemmings. But I've read all those books more than once. They just make me yearn for Hawaii more than before, which does not make my situation easier.

So I glance through the options in DVD format: Blue Hawaii and two other entertaining Elvis Presley offerings, 50 First Dates, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall for lighthearted humor, and for completely different movies there is the SyFy Channel original film, Supergator or the biography, Soul Surfer. Don't forget the classic drama, From Here to Eternity.

I reach for Elvis and I already feel my blood pressure decreasing. Is it his rousing voice, his swaying hips, or is it Diamond Head and Waikiki Beach that provoke my spirit?  I can't say. I only know that Blue Hawaii works. I realize I don't need to calm myself for Hawaii; I need to awaken myself. I need to be alert to the beauty and wonder of Hawaii to fully enjoy the intoxicating serenity. And I just need to think of Elvis dancing to "Rock-a-Hula Baby" and know that I'll soon be enjoying my own Hawaiian sunset.

Do you have a favorite Hawaiian destination? I want to hear about it. Do you have a favorite book or movie set in Hawaii? Tell us!

Victoria M. Johnson knew by the time she was ten that she wanted to be a writer.  She loves telling stories and she's happiest when creating new characters and new plots.  She is also the writer and director of four short films and two micro documentaries.  Avalon Books and Montlake Romance published Victoria's fiction debut, The Doctor’s Dilemma, (A 2012 Bookseller’s Best double finalist).  Her other fiction book is a collection of romance short stories titled, The Substitute Bride.  Visit Victoria's website at http://VictoriaMJohnson.com for inspiration and tips and find her Amazon author page at http://amzn.com/e/B0046CG6PQ or connect with her on Pinterest and Twitter.