Due to my passion or because of my job I am always travelling. I have destinations that I feel more than others and which I love to tell about in my books, documenting them with photos and filming, but generally I go where instinct takes me. The places I mainly explore are the places that inspired the stories, writers and films I loved most, and where I immediately feel at home. I like to delve deeper and do research, have new experiences, meet different people and talk to them about everything; about themselves, about life, about their traditions or about our countries, while a bus hosts us for those two, three hour journey from one city to another; and in the end, thanks to social media, I manage to stay in touch with some of them. At the bottom of the page, after having told you something more about me, you will find the links to the various destinations. Happy reading and happy travels 😉
There are few things that I establish at the beginning of a journey and often even the city of arrival and the one I will leave from are different. I certainly try to feel and enjoy every moment of my trip letting myself to be surprised, too. Sometimes I book a day trip with a local guide but I often look for independent solutions; planning the dates of my holidays in advance is really impossible (due to my job), therefore leaving with an agency or an escorted tour it’s not always suitable for me. At the age of twenty-four years old I decided to go to New York to study dance with international Masters; you can imagine how that experience changed my life, even if it wasn’t the first important trip undertaken alone, but we’re still talking about the Big Apple, the city that never sleeps… the city that I knew through the images of TV series Fame (you can find my blog about them today, news and their latest concerts here), but also about a film that I love very much, The Warriors. Studying there was one of the most intense emotions of my life, I grew up with American musicals and suddenly my lifelong desire came true.
Then it was the turn of Los Angeles, the capital of cinema and a part of the culture that formed me, the big studios, then San Diego up to the border with Mexico. Even though my first trip abroad alone was to London, when I was twenty; seven nights and eight days, the last one I was so broke that I skipped lunch! When I started travelling, there were no ATMs or even mobile phones – I had five traveler’s checks (checks pre-printed with the amount decided in the bank before leaving which became cash once taken to the exchange counter in the city of arrival) and if you spent something more than expected, the important thing was to never regret it and always feel like you had done the right thing😉😋 I was lucky enough to find a ticket for a central seat for the Phantom of the Opera at an excellent price; what do you do… don’t you buy an evening dress (complete with clutch bag) for the occasion? For many years now, I’ve been going back as best as I can (and I’ve used that dress a lot!)
I love breathing in Victorian London, experiencing the neighborhoods of Whitechapel, Embankment, the Strand, but also Oxford and the Cotswolds, Canterbury, Salisbury, Stonehenge, Greenwhich, Legoland… I love literature (and if you like Tolkien or Alice, Oxford is for you), but I try to enjoy both the cultural and the amusement aspects; therefore Cathedrals, Museums, but also shopping and dinners in pubs; obviously the ones where the author of The Lord of the Rings – The Eagle and Child – or Charles Dickens – Ye Old Cheshire Cheese – used to go or Speedy’s, the bar employed as a set for many scenes from the British series Sherlock . 😁 I know, I know… but you have to eat, right? 😜
It may be my documentary disposition, but I love discovering the places where my favorite writers studied or set their stories. We will walk through the pages of Poe, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Stevenson, Scott; we will walk through the streets of Edinburgh during the Fringe; we will cross the Highlands (so far I have done it four times) and the Lowlands (twice) up to the island of Sky where I stayed for a couple of nights, and the beautiful Oban, where I ate sitting at the port enjoying the sea and the performance of a local singer who gifted us with her music; and I love visiting Castles. And then Ireland, Strasbourg and the Wine Route, Colmar and its connection with Miyazaki and Howl’s Moving Castle; Amsterdam, Greece, Paris, Marseille, the Loire and Provence; Vienna, Prague or the trips to Istanbul and Japan that I took for work together with Piero Angela. And Egypt with the Sphinx and its Pyramids, the Science Museums or the Lavender Museum, the Beer Museum, the Guinness Museum, and ancient distilleries, such as the delightful ones in Pitlochry or Holyrood, the Lochness Monster and much more. Therefore, this section is dedicated to those who, like me, want to see things with a different eye or who are perhaps willing to travel in a slightly less traditional and more independent way; so scroll down and in the meantime… Have a great one and thanks for stopping by 😘😎
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