There’s much head-scratching going on amongst travel bloggers at the moment as they consider their travel inspirations for Easyjet’s Inspiration Initiative. I have been tagged by Heather, from Heather on her Travels, to enter the competition where the prize is an iPad2 and a 5* holiday, courtesy of Easyjet.
Some of you who have been reading this blog for some time may just have an inkling as to what my inspirational moments might be:
Who: My Father
Once my father had persuaded my mother that not all family holidays needed to be variations on a beach theme, we bit the bullet and tackled more cultural breaks in Italy, Denmark and Norway. As an architect my dad had a natural fascination for buildings, ancient and modern, but his enthusiasm for them inevitably meant he would be striding ahead of his family pointing out a fine example of a flying buttress as we dragged our feet and whined for an ice-cream. I still remember his thrilled expression when he saw the Pantheon in Rome for the first time: my mother, brother and I all had a bit of a Eureka moment and shared in his delight. Years later I took my own son to Rome and realised how my father’s passion was infectious.
Mum’s Gone to Rome: Skeletons and Spaghetti
Dad died in February 2011 but I have become inspired to walk again in his footsteps as I read the unfinished but lovingly hand-written memoir he has left me. His trips to Scandinavia during his University years certainly influenced our Easter trip to Copenhagen last year and our holiday this Summer is booked: a fly drive around Sweden. I rather think Dad would be extremely pleased about this.
Mum’s Gone to Copenhagen: Danes just wanna have fun
When: 1987
They say holiday romances don’t last but I can vouch for the fact that sometimes they do. I spotted my future husband, Dougie, across a pool in Tenerife and after the first few attempts at chatting up at the water’s edge, I realised it was more than just a dose of prickly heat which was increasing the temperature. We returned to England a week later, continued to keep in touch and married in 1990. The fact that we met on holiday I believe has a bearing on our continued enjoyment of travelling together now. We did go back to Tenerife in 2009 with our son in tow. The magic was still there.
Mum’s Gone to Tenerife
What: A Room with a View
The book by E.M. Forster was always a firm favourite for a romantic teenager but it was the Merchant Ivory film of 1985 which really left its mark. I suspect much of that was due to the Puccini arias which accompanied the stolen kiss in the Tuscan fields and the stunning views of Florence from the ‘room’. I eventually saw the views for myself when my husband and I took a tiny Fiat round Tuscany and Umbria in 1995. With visits to Florence, Pisa, Orvieto and San Gimignano, our days were filled with the beauty, good food and wine of Italy. We also brought home a little souvenir from our holiday: nine months later our only child was born. Rory has returned to Italy with us, enjoying his city breaks in Rome and Venice and a chilled fortnight on the shores of Lake Garda. In Italy I think he feels very much at home.
Mum’s Gone to Venice: Pizza and Pigeons
Mum’s Gone to Lake Garda: Bardolino Nights
Where: Iceland
My blog came to life following a family adventure holiday in 2007 to the ever-bubbling country of Iceland, where I felt a Geography text book had been opened up in front of me. The trip was far beyond what I had imagined it could be: the glaciers, waterfalls and geysers were quite breathtaking but the highlight was Thingvellir, where the fault line of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge runs through the middle of Iceland, tearing it slowly apart: a mystical place and an inspiration that will last a lifetime. I was compelled to write my first holiday diaries, ‘Mum’s Gone to Iceland’ and the rest, as they say, is history.
Mum’s Gone to Iceland – Day 14 – Golden Circle
My task is to now choose five travel bloggers, resident in the UK, to join in with this competition, details HERE.
Now it’s your turn.
It’s a Small World After All
Vegemitevix
Kids Travel 2
Mums Do Travel
What a fab blog post, it's so interesting to hear your inspiration for your travel bug. I love how you are instilling the same appreciation in travel in your son, I long to do the same with my three. Thanks for tagging me, I'm going to have a think on the plane to Cyprus tomorrow. ;-p x
I thought I might catch you before you go away. Happy travels!
I love that you brought back a 'souvenir' with you from Italy! We did the same after a visit to a slightly less exotic locale – the Outer Banks of North Carolina.
Love hearing some of the background behind your blogging and now am off to read the Iceland post!
If Rory had been a girl he might have been called Florence. Glad you didn't name your son Carolina!
I think the Iceland post I've linked to is from Day 14 – couldn't decided which one to pick but you'll see the others in the sidebar when you read that one.
Lovely to read your inspirations, and can say too that my youngest was brought home from holiday, not quite as exotic in that we were not abroad, but in France anyway.
Great post.
They do say having a holiday helps increase your chances of pregnancy. That's three of us in these comments where that's proved true.
Just proves that aside from the joy of travelling itself, just the whole travel ethos can be good for one's life!
Couldn't have put it better myself.
I love the way this post gives a picture of what's important to you through your descriptions of your trips. Thank you for tagging me, I'll enjoy thinking about this one.
Thanks so much. Hope you enjoy putting your inspirations together; you've got until the end of May so plenty of thinking time.
Love that photo of you and your husband together, almost like a paparazzi one, very atmospheric (and prickly heat-ish!). Also wow – love that your parents opted for cultural holidays – now people opt so much for mai tais and total blob-out…
My mum took that photo of us from the balcony of the apartment (yes, I was taking a break with my parents when we met). She told me she would get all flustered and unnecessary when she saw Dougie's leg brush against mine!
That is also the same mother who indulged my dad's cultural trips on the proviso that we had some cocktail-drinking sun-worshipping too. That's probably why I like lazy beach holidays just as much as cultural city breaks.
I've just read a great book by a blogging friend which has me with hugely itchy feet! I will be posting about it, but grab "Expat Life Slice by Slice" by Apple Gidley. She has been on the expat trail since she was a month old; I've moved from one continent to another, but even if you've stayed in your own back garden, it's a great book and really feeds your travel-lusting soul!
Thanks for the recommendation, Toni. Will look into that.
So where are you going with your itchy feet then?
Lovely post Mrs. I always enjoy reading about all of your travel adventures! Can't wait to hear all about your Sweden trip!! 🙂
Thank you, Emma. It seems ages since I did all the booking and planning for Sweden; I find myself suddenly remembering what we've got in store and then I become quite silly with excitement.
Oh for the days of holiday romance by the pool and a stolen kiss in the Tuscan fields
I blame the sunshine!
Aah, those holiday romances! Hem hem *blushes and gazes into the distance with a soppy grin*
Ooh good memories sparked then!?
I've obviously read all the orignal blog posts, but that was a nice little roundup. Do we need to vote for you or anything to win the comp?
No, there are three judges who decide. But thanks for having a little read! X