Thanks for inviting me to guest blog, Shelley. I’m thrilled to be on your lovely blog today.
I am a traveller, having been around the world, too many places to name. This time I’ve spent in London is the longest I’ve been without visiting new places, it’s nine and a half years since I boarded a plane to anyplace other than Ireland and Spain. But I have made a little family and home for myself, so I think you could say I was otherwise occupied.
The itchy feet have started though. For me, there is nothing more exceptional than boarding a flight to some unknown place. A mixture of nerves and excitement blend inside you and start pumping adrenaline the closer to your destination you get. I landed in so many cities, not knowing the language and fifty percent of the time, not even having a guide-book (a choice, rather than an oversight). It was extreme travelling LOL. I miss it. I miss the joy of waking up every day and not having a notion of what was going to happen, who I was going to meet, what I was going to see. So what’s a girl to do? Simple, write about the countries I’ve been to and let my imagination travel instead.
Pippa, my heroine in Romancing the Seas, is a girl after my own heart. She leaves London after a failed love affair with her boss and becomes head chef of a cruise ship touring around New Zealand. Her boss, the delectable Jonathon Eagleton is also aboard, doing some customer entertainment and the two have to share a suite together. Cue fireworks J. Again like me, she loves hiking or tramping as they call it in New Zealand. The two go hand in hand, don’t they? Travel to a new country, hike through it and then move on. It’s a great way to see a place. Pippa and Jonathon bump (!) into each other on a tramp, just as a storm is closing in:
Pippa tried to think straight, but it was hard with desire nipping at her. Why had he kissed her? More to the point, why apologise? He must regret it already. Whereas she had loved it. She had never been kissed so … so … masterfully before. And God, look what it had woken within her. How was she going to beat her attraction now? She should join Attractions Anonymous. Hi, my name is Pippa Renshaw and I am inexorably attracted to a man who doesn’t feel the same way.
He stared at her, an unreadable look on his face.
“It was unforgivable, actually, you’re right.” She forced herself to talk to him, anything to try to stop her awareness of him, of his full lips and his quirky smile and his hot body … dammit. “I don’t know what you thought you were doing. I mean, you are the CEO and all that. You should know better!” Lack of oxygen brought her rant to a halt just in time for an ominous rumble. The dark clouds rolled and multiplied by the second, and clashed into each other, cymbals in the sky.
“Come on.” Jonathon reached out to her as though to grab her by the arm but stopped just short of touching her. “We need to find shelter — if that storm hits us out here, we’ll be in trouble.” He turned and strode off, and Pippa trotted behind him.
“Are we heading for the trees? We’ll get some shelter there, at least.” She was puffing as she spoke, pulling her hood out from under her backpack.
“No, there’s a tramping hut here, tucked out of sight. I stayed there a few years ago. Quickly.”
A fat raindrop hit the ground beside Pippa, and another one to the front of her. The heavens opened, the loud shush of the downpour drowning out all other sound. Her visibility narrowed as sheets of grey water slanted to the ground, and she focused on Jonathon’s orange jacket ahead of her. Winds gusted around her, buffeting her sideways, and the weight of her backpack doubled as the water seeped through it. Rain laid siege to her from all angles, bouncing off the hard ground.
“Here.” Jonathon had to shout to make himself heard, and he reached out to grab her hand. “Stay with me.” He slowed his pace to hers, a solid anchor for her to cling to.
Cait O’Sullivan is a romance author with a love of words and magic, having had the good fortune to grow up in Ireland. The wanderlust in her blood sent her out to travel the world and now, residing in a leafy suburb of London, it is her thoughts and memories that journey far and wide in order to create her stories.
Romancing the Seas is now available for order from Amazon, BookStrand or Crimson Romance
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I used to travel before I married. Now that we have livestock and a business, it’s hard to get away. Loved your excerpt. Your book is sitting in my TBR – can’t wait to read it!
That’s it, isn’t it — the ole getting married thing. A journey in itself, I guess. Thanks for the visit, Sheri 🙂
I’ve never been a traveler–flying scares the crap out of me. Also, I’m not a very spontaneous person, lol. I like to know what’s going to happen every day. I’m a creature of habit and rarely stray from my routine.
Wow, I sound like a total dullard, but “supposedly” I’m not, hehehehehe. Before I had kids I was more spontaneous. We also have a hobby farm which requires me to be here and to follow a routine. Although animals can’t tell time with a watch, they know when it’s feeding time.
Your book sounds amazing. I will live vicariously through your characters.
Thanks Brenda, I think as I’m Irish, I’m obliged to like travelling but it sure isn’t for everyone. A hobby farm sounds like fun, would love to hear about it! Thanks for the comments!
I love to explore, and itch to do some international travel soon, but I’ve got a couple of things working against me. 1) Small clingy child, and 2) plane terror.
One of those things will fix itself – kid’ll get other. Pretty sure the only thing that’ll fix the other is drugs or alcohol. 😐
Hey Holley, at least if you’re in the US you have some pretty amazing places to explore without getting on a plane. I loved my time in the US, lucky people with all those fabulous National Parks! Nowt wrong with alcohol or drugs to enable you to fly, either! Thanks for the visit 🙂
I would love to be able to travel like that. My dream is to some day make it to Europe. Sigh. Some day.
LOL I’ll invite all the Inkies over, put it on company expenses 🙂
Cait, I just bought Romancing the Seas! Can’t wait to read it! Oh, and London is my favorite city in the entire world. My hubster and I are planning a trip back there in the next year or so. Have to get my fill of the sights (and the sites) again.
:))))) thanks Deborah, you’re a honey. Very glad to hear you’re planning a trip over here, can’t wait to meet you and hubby!
Great post Cait! I’m a bit of a homebody myself, although I’ve done a fair bit of travelling in my time. I went round the world with my husband in 2001 which was wonderful, but I was pleased to be back amongst familiar surroundings 🙂 You heroine Pippa is much braver than me! She certainly has a fun time on her cruise (just a weeny bit jealous of her 🙂
Yeah I’d love to go on a cruise one day too 🙂 RtW is such a fun thing to do, isn’t it. Thanks for coming by!
What an adventurous woman you are! I give you a ton of credit!
One day I hope to make it across the pond–if my finances allow. Great post, looking forward to reading Romancing the Seas.
Neecy
You’re coming across in summer aren’t you Neecy my lovely!! Thanks for swinging by 🙂
I love to travel, but my hubby is a home body. So I go by myself. 🙂
Best of both worlds then LOL. Thanks for coming by Lynn 🙂
My husband works for an airline, so we really should travel more. I’d love to visit New Zealand.
Cait, you wild thing, you! I could never just land in a city without a clue as to what I would be doing, not speaking the language. That may sound like heaven to you, but it sounds like a much hotter place to me! Your adventures will make fabulous stories, like “Romancing the Seas!” Thanks for sharing your wanderlust with us, even if some of us are old stick-in-the-muds.