These personal stories collected from a lifetime of travel will transport the reader from country to country across the world. Spanning many countries and years, each tale is brought back to life in a careful reconstruction of time, place and personal encounter using the fragments of memory that we all take away from treasured travel experiences.
These personal stories collected from a lifetime of travel will transport the reader from country to country across the world in an immersive reading experience. Spanning many countries and many years, each tale is brought back to life in a careful reconstruction of time, place and personal encounter using the fragments of memory that we all take away from our most treasured travel experiences.
From her first independent trip as an unworldly eighteen-year-old to work as a waitress in the French Alps in 1974, through to epic South American adventures, and senior moments in Segovia, Travel Takeaways: Around the World in Forty Tales spans decades - and the globe - as Julie Watson shares personal memories of remarkable travel experiences.
With each tale presenting a short, perfectly-formed snapshot of the author's life in travel, Travel Takeawaysis perfect for dipping into to enjoy a spot of armchair adventuring, somewhat akin to settling down in your favourite armchair to be regaled by fascinating stories from around the world.
Whether recounting jungle adventures while teaching in Brunei, or sharing memories of witnessing the magic of nature in Costa Rica, the author's voice rings with authenticity as she evokes places, people and atmosphere in exhilarating detail. With each tale opening with an arresting image, or stop-you-in-your-track dialogue that transports readers to a place or situation (I should never have listened to him in the first place; Be careful not to roll off the edge; A conspiracy of flies clusters on the quayside), it's impossible not to be hooked.
-- Joanne Owen, Editorial Expert at LoveReading.co.uk and Rough Guide travel writerJulie Watson is a retired university teacher and Fellow Emeritus, who now lives on the Isle of Wight. She is the author of two books. The most recent is Travel Takeaways, a collection of stories from her travels around the world. When not writing she spends her time kayaking on the western Yar, wildlife watching and teaching refugees. She lives with a feline companion called Marmite.
Table of Contents
Introduction 13
First Encounters
In the Italian Thick of It 20
Catching up with Relatives 26
How I Met Your Father 32
Beware of Vipers! 39 T
he Reluctant Climber 46
Seeing Red in the Canary Islands 56
Food for Thought
Mix-Mix to Go 60
A Taste of French Cake 63
Lessons in English for Gastronomic Purposes 70
Gelato-As It Once Was 78 T
able Manners for Eating Noodles 82
Blushing Onions and Therapy by the Sea 85
A Touch of the Scary
Something to Write Home About 90
A Ride into the Shadow Underworld
92 Night Fright 97
A Walk on the Wild Side 103
Crossings
Borderland 110
A Case of Fishy Synchronicity 116
Footloose in the Jungle 124
A Hitchhiker's Guide to the Bay of Biscay 130
Travels in the Company of P38 134
Rights of Passage 139
Searching and Finding
A Long Shot 144
The Dance of the Scorpions 150
Tongue-tied in the Land of Magyars 153
Where Europe Ends 160
Displaced on the Spanish Plain 164
The Lure of a Landscape 167
A Chance Occurrence
The Arrival 174
Mischievous Gods and a Serpentine Tangle 180
The Misadventure of a Goose 186
Lovestruck in Leningrad 192
The Mystery of a Nudge in the Night 198
Marking Time
31 204
The Last Wood Turner 211
On Crocodile Beach 214
Oracle 218
Musical Postcards from India 223
Birdsong 230
Senior Moments in Segovia 233
Maps
Japan and South Korea 236
India 237
Spain and Canary Islands 238
Mexico and Costa Rica 239
Italy 240
England 241
Borneo and East Malaysia 242
Greece, Crete, Turkey, Egypt and Israel 243
France 244
Malaysia 245
Indonesia 246
Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary 247
Sweden, Norway, Finland and Russia 248