TRAVELLING THROUGH WORDS

Do during What does a travel writer ways to be lockdown? Finds other lands, of course transported to foreign

Travel has always been one of my great passions and a huge inspiration in all of my novels. However, it was after a press trip invite in 2012 by the Irish Mail on Sunday that my true wanderlust was activated and a departure into travel writing began. Like so many at this time, I’m missing the excitement of packing my bag and the thrill of going through the airport to a new destination. With lockdowns and my wings firmly clipped, I’ve taken to podcasting about travel to inspire those of us who miss taking trips and adventures.

As restrictions change over the year and movement restores, hopefully for the better, it will be all the more special when we do get there. Travel isn’t just about chilling on the beach and switching off for two weeks – although I don’t think anyone would refuse an offer of such a break as we suffer the depths of an Irish January.

Nothing broadens the mind greater than travel and it gives a fresh perspective on life. The remarkable thing I’ve found is not the diversity in the human nature, culture and traditions but often it is the similarities that bind us all.

One of the most memorable travel adventures I’ve enjoyed in recent years was with TV presenter Elaine Crowley when we visited South Africa with The Elaine Show (pictured main). Elaine’s love of elephants is something that she talks about a lot and I can honestly say seeing one in the wild was a thrilling experience for both of us.

I’ve learned important lessons through my travels about major issues such as apartheid and few places resonated with me more than the Apartheid Museum in Johannesburg. The parallels between what was going on in Soweto at the same time as the Troubles in Northern Ireland is remarkable as I discovered when visiting the Museum of Free Derry later that same year.

Activists in both countries were inspired by the human rights campaigner Martin Luther King and his protests in Alabama. When I travelled there for Mardi Gras in 2018, I was also enlightened to the injustices on the civil rights trail.

Attending Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama (pictured above) – which, incidentally, is older than the more widely advertised Mardi Gras in New Orleans – also highlighted that there are lovely similarities in the tradition and connections to be enjoyed the world over.

The Germans do a very different style of Mardi Gras to the Deep South as I discovered at Carnival in Cologne some years ago. Steeped in tradition, both carnivals – ‘Carne vale’ meaning without meat – have the same roots in religion and the frolicking and fun enjoyed before the beginning of a time of fasting. Who’d have thought the origins of the word carnival could spell out so much fun in countries all the world over.

There are many experiences to savour and enjoy through travel and even though we can’t travel at the moment it is important to remain positive and remember this pandemic too shall pass. We will travel again but in the meantime we

can sow the seeds of wanderlust by travelling through the pages of a good book.

I’ve always thought that Dan Brown’s Angels and Demons reads as an alternative guide book and terrific way to get your bearings around Rome. The website tripfiction.com is a good way to find reviewed books set in destinations all around the world to inspire from your own home.

I’ve come full circle with my travels and am now back in the world of books with a new novel out this week from The Novel Press entitled Journey to the Heartland. It was inspired by a trip I took through Oklahoma with my father in 2014 and an adventure that fascinated me as I learned about the similarities and differences between our two countries.

There is a wonderful story dating back to when the Choctaw Indians sent $170 to the victims of The Great Famine in Ireland in 1847. The fund was a sizeable donation from the Choctaws considering they too had been removed from their lands.

A beautiful commemorative statue, Kindred Spirits, was unveiled in 2017 in Midleton, Co Cork, to celebrate the connection, which was reciprocated during the pandemic when two American tribes received donations from huge numbers of Irish people.

It may still seem out of reach for now but we will travel again. One of the lovely things about travel is the connections between us all and as we head into another year of uncertainty and limited getaways, at least we can travel through words.

Michelle Walsh Jackson’s novel, Journey to the Heartland has been chosen as the Hope Foundation USA book club read for March 2021. This wonderful

Irish charity offers hope to street children in India and an opportunity for Irish school children to travel

and help others. To take part go to https:// hopefoundationusa.com/product/book-club/. Registration begins February 18, 2021. The book is

now available to order online from Kenny’s Bookshop in Galway (kennys.ie), thenovelpress.com and on amazon.ie. The Novel Traveller Podcast will be available on the GoLoud app and at goloudnow.

com with a new episode every Friday.