TRAVEL REFLECTIONS by Sarah Wisseman

I recently returned from an intense, marvelous trip to Iceland and the countries around the Baltic. Result: my body is tired and my brain is scrambled. Not quite sure what time zone I'm in, or what I'm supposed to be doing yet. But, as my husband says, "it's good to have traveled," and it certainly shakes up the routine.

Iceland was amazing: spectacular geology and bizarre landscapes, from a continental divide (where the North American and Eurasian tectonic plates meet) to geysers reminiscent of Yellowstone and the eerie Blue Lagoon. I particularly loved the Lagoon: where strangers meet, coming out of the steam, with white clay masks (good for the skin!) and the hot, geothermal water is the perfect cure for jet lag.

Scandinavia is stunning in all its varied cityscapes, gorgeous fjords, and way of living. I asked lots of questions about health care, and the response from the locals was uniformly positive: we don't mind paying such high taxes when we get cradle-to-grave care and free university attendance.

                                  Bergen, Norway (on a rainy day)

 (my watercolor of Bergen)

The trip's effect on me is something that is still being sorted out, on many levels. I understand now why Scandinavian mysteries are so dark and the settings gray--that's really how it is, even in high summer, with frequent rain and low clouds. No wonder people celebrate the return of the sun near the Arctic Circle!

As for cruise travel, and ocean boat is a great way to visit multiple ports with a companion who has walking issues, but it's too much, too fast. Today, Estonia and tomorrow, St. Petersburg--no, wait, the ship can't leave port because the wind is holding the boat against the pier and not even a big tug can shift it! And when we finally arrived in the great Russian port after a day's delay, the dramatic contrast between the original grand palaces and wide boulevards with leftover Communist apartment blocks was decidedly creepy. So were the multiple passport checks: twice every time you got on or off the boat, and no straying from the tour group allowed unless you'd purchased a very expensive Russian visa. Sayings that stuck in my mind, "You don't want to be stopped in Russia without papers," (still!!) and "Russians dress like cabbages," (meaning layers). And, "there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing."

                                      St. Petersburg apartment blocks

After I sort out my many and mixed impressions, I'll be able to write again. Next up: the third mystery, "The Botticelli Caper," set in Italy, and a research trip with my daughter to Florence! That trip will be "slow" travel: lots of time in one place, with frequent pauses for sitting in cafes and inhaling Italian food:)

Discoveries and a New Book

On Friday morning, as you open Author Expressions blog and scan down to see who is writing and what she has to say, I'll be flying to India, staggering through an airport to change planes and landing in Trivandrum after almost twenty-four hours, still vertical as I wait in line to show my passport, nod when the customs officer glances at the number of stamps, number of visas, and my age. (They always check my age--perhaps they expect me to keel over from exhaustion, which I am sorely tempted to do.)

Thanks to a wonderful group of readers and libraries, I am able to travel to India each year to visit friends, catch up on some local art, and eat a lot of Indian food (three times a day usually). And I call this research. And it is. I sit on a bus and ride around Trivandrum, the capital of Kerala, gazing out the unglazed window and soaking up ideas for locations to use in my next book. Sometimes a figure catches my eye and I know that would be a great character in a story--just the way he looks back over his shoulder, shifts his turban and grasps his cotton bag--but more importantly I know he will contribute some twist to the story.

I keep a journal during every trip, mostly for notes of ideas and shorthand for story ideas. Rereading these after I return recalls the feelings and imaginings I had at the time and I fall more easily into writing the story.

A couple of months ago I had an image of a young woman running down a city street at night in her bare feet and glancing back over her shoulder. I knew who she was, some of what had happened, but not what would happen to her. I have to see that street during this visit, and I have to see it at three a.m., which is a terrible time for women to be out and about in an Indian city. But I have friends, and I figure I can manage it.

Trivandrum was hit with an unusual rainstorm this December--a typhoon/hurricane instead of the light drizzle that usually shows up in November, as the tail end of the monsoon drifts back over the state of Kerala and out to the Arabian Sea. That rain will play a part also--the wildness of the storm, so out of character for this time of year, has something to give.

Piece by piece the story is emerging. Somewhere in here is a child, a little girl, who knows something, and a young boy/man who is always eager to help. Seeing the innocent in danger always makes me nervous, so I'm not sure how this part will play out.

It will take a while--a few months, at least--before I know the whole story, but I know it's waiting for me, on one street or another, in the corners of Trivandrum. And I will ferret it out over the next three weeks while I'm in India. And then I get to write it.

19th Century Travel

In doing research for my latest novel, I came upon a helpful resource, a book on the subject of Florence Nightingale’s travels through Europe. Because my book is set in the same time period, Nightingale’s letters and journals, documenting her travels, were priceless.

Among other modes of travel, which included ships and omnibuses, she frequently traveled in a diligence, the popular name for a French stagecoach. A diligence was drawn by either four or six horses, and had a place in front like a small porch, on which one could stand or sit. Diligences were used mainly between towns or rail stations, and competed with canal boats, until rail travel in Europe became more widespread in the last half of the 19th century.

Joyce Elson Moore

http://www.joycemoorebooks.com/