A boat on Lake Mälaren last week. This time of year gets me thinking about boat trips on Stockholm's archipelago.
I am not sure exactly where my desire to live abroad and travel came from. My family vacations growing up were usually to Michigan – one state north of Ohio – and were fishing trips with an extended family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. They were a lot of fun, but they certainly were not what you would call taking a grand tour.
Mostly, I blame my desire to travel more extensively on reading Jane Austen, Henry James, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway. Their tales of jaunts in Britain, France and Spain spoiled me, making me want to go to these places as well. The bulk of my travels started after college and I have had the chance to travel to some exciting and interesting places around the globe, especially after moving to Europe. Luckily for me, Robert is a traveler too and travel is where a good portion of our income goes to. Now we just need to work out where to go next.
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Have you read Patricia Hampl’s work, Sandy? At one point in her memoir, Blue Arabesque: A Search for the Sublime, she acknowledges her creative “saints” and their role in her love for travel and writing. I think you might like her work for other reasons, too. Coincidently, she also hails from the midwest, Minnesota.
No I have not Kezia. But thanks for the suggestion. I will have to check it out as it sounds interesting. Ihave such a long list of inspiration, both good and bad. In terms of the bad, I have thought: OK, they got published. You can do better than that!
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