Will Travel For Words

3 Unique Travel Tips for Historic Adventure in 2024

 

my cat on my old suitcases
My cat, Leo Linguini, ready to stop me from packing. Guess he thinks I’ll travel with these in 2024 (only to book events).

2024 travel adventure awaits!

Ahhh, the well-worn passport, the dog-eared travel journal, the anticipation buzzing in your bones. Perhaps, like me, your travel bug has bitten, and 2024 promises to be a year of historic exploration.

For history lovers like me, travel isn’t just a journey—it’s a time machine. But in the thrilling (and sometimes overwhelming) world of organizing history-related trips, how do we ensure our journey truly immerses us in the past? How do we put down the phone, the tech gadgets, and travel to the past? Ditch the dog-eared guidebooks and embrace these three unique tools for 2024:

1. Travel and Connect with a Scrapbook

A dear friend has just embarked for Paris, making me long, once again, for my 40 day journey to France—out of which my book Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log was born. I realize now, that this collection of travel essays and photos is essentially a scrapbook from my trip. Writing daily, I learned, can help us remember our trip more clearly.

Sometimes I carry a small sketchbook to capture the essence of each historic site through impressions of the five senses. While you can journal every day, you can also go wild with it. Sketch the vibrant colors of a marketplace, or jot down the evocative smells of spices in a bustling bazaar. Paste in ticket stubs, maps, postcards, and other everyday ephemera from each historic site. This creates a tangible record of your journey, a tactile souvenir that transports you back to each place with a touch and a glance.

2. A Travel Capsule Wardrobe for Every Era

Forget the overstuffed suitcase! Embrace the capsule wardrobe concept, packing versatile pieces that mix and match. But let’s take it one step further, and create outfits appropriate for each historic site. Think flowing maxi dresses that transition from Roman villas to medieval markets, or a sleek blazer that elevates street-style in Berlin and museum visits in London.

This not only reduces luggage weight, but also allows you to immerse yourself in the atmosphere of each place, blending in like a time traveler who just stepped off a train from another era. Check out capsule wardrobe and historical outfit ideas posted on my Travel With Adventure Pinterest page. With these tips you can be seeped in history, not loaded down with baggage from home.

3. Historical Fiction and Book Pairings

Immerse yourself in the past through the power of storytelling. Choose a historical novel set in your chosen destination and read it alongside your trip planning—or even on the train or flight to your destination. Imagine wandering the streets of medieval Prague while reliving the adventures of a young alchemist in “The Golem,” or feeling the thrill of the French Revolution as you trace the footsteps of Victor Hugo’s characters in “Les Misérables.” If you’re heading to America’s east coast or New York, I’ll humbly suggest Carrying Independence so you can step back in 1776 before your flight lands. Literary pairings can deepen your understanding of the places you visit, creating a richer and more emotionally resonant experience.

Remember, the most important thing is to find ways to connect with the past in a meaningful way. These non-tech options for your 2024 adventures can enrich your historical exploration and create cherished keepsakes long after you return home.

For more adventurers, travel tips, and bookish news, I hope you’ll also sign up for my monthly insider newsletter, Chasing Histories. Until then, happy travel planning. Where are you going?

Tuckahoe Plantation Then and Now

Recently, I visited Tuckahoe Plantation—about 30 minutes from my home—for the first time. For Thomas Jefferson, whose birthday we were celebrating at the estate, he first came to Tuckahoe when he was just two. According to Jefferson biographer Dumas Malone, Jefferson recorded his earliest memory of riding in a carriage, propped up on a cushion held by a slave, heading to what would be his home for the next seven years.

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The History of Tuckahoe

Built by William Randolph and Maria Judith Page beginning in 1730, by 1945 it was home to their suddenly orphaned children. In his will, William declared Thomas Jefferson’s parents as guardians, and rather than uprooting the Randolph children, the Jefferson’s moved to Tuckahoe Plantation.

It is not difficult to image little T.J. running the halls of the H-frame home and being educated in a tiny one-room school house on the property. The house has been incredibly well maintained as a National Historic Landmark and that school house still stands beyond the tulip gardens.

Tuckahoe Today

It’s also easy to imagine the estate occupied by a family because it still is. Although the home is open to visitors, it is still privately owned, and rooms are filled with a mixture of then and now. Founding father portraits look upon framed family photos of weddings and graduations. Period antiques are cushioned by the occasional modern rug gracing rooms still inhabited by the current owners.

While these modern family and functional pieces keep the visitor grounded in current day, it is the gardens, outbuildings, and thankful preservation of the home, (it was nearly demolished to put in a highway—gasp) that allowed me to wander through the door and back to the 18th century. It’s a splendid example of the period—from the dark paneling to the paint colors to the perennials. (Check out the glass windows etched with signatures of visitors on their Instagram feed.)

The plantation is open daily from 9–5 with limited tours inside the home. For tour and photography information visit the Tuckahoe Plantation website.

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Guest Blog: Susan Winkler

Today on Compositions, I welcome author and Paris-lover, Susan Winkler. Her new book, Portrait of a Woman in White, is set in WWII Paris. She joins us today to chat about how her love of Paris began with the movie Gigi.

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I fell in love with Paris when I was very young and saw the movie Gigi, at an outdoor drive-in with my parents and grandparents, in my hometown of Portland, Oregon. Portland, with our 3 black and white TV channels was all I knew, so Gigi’s Paris and the belle époque offered another window onto life that yearned to explore.

I was 18 when I first traveled to Paris, to spend a summer, and stayed for the next year and beyond studying literature, art, linguistics, and of course, life. Outside my small academic program, many of my friends were journalists and filmmakers who flocked to Paris from around the world. I wrote for an American newsletter and had a press pass to the Venice and Cannes film festivals. When I came back and began grad school in French literature at Stanford, I missed Paris terribly.

There is something about the abroad experience when you are young, and not traveling with mom and dad, that can feed the imagination forever. I was predisposed to love the city, it’s attention to visual detail, and its incomparable beauty. Plus, I love speaking the language and becoming someone else when I am there.

I was very fortunate, over 20 years ago, to be asked by a publisher to write a guidebook to Paris (The Paris Shopping Companion), allowing me to endlessly explore my favorite city. But no matter how many trips I make, I never get to the bottom of my must-do list. So much to see, eat, do!

In my new novel, PORTRAIT OF A WOMAN IN WHITE, I explore WWII France, lovers, and a Matisse painting looted by Nazis.

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Words from Paris

In support of my dear Parisians, I repost this excerpt from my book Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log. I am so proud of the 1.6 million+ people in Paris (and the other millions across France and the world) who marched in solidarity for a better world. Hand-in-hand, in the largest demonstration in French history, they reminded me of what I felt visiting the Eiffel Tower a few years ago…

The view from the Wall of Peace, looking through the glass partitions that  surround it. The glass is etched with signs of peace in forty-nine languages and eighteen alphabets.
The view from the Wall of Peace, looking through the glass partitions that surround it. The glass is etched with signs of peace in forty-nine languages and eighteen alphabets.

Eiffel Tower } Day 10 ~ April 30

Tourists abound in Paris. And in no other place are they (we) more prolific than around the Eiffel Tower. It’s a national landmark, built in honor of the World’s Fair held here in 1889 commemorating the centenary of the French Revolution. Websites, guidebooks, tours, and the museum near the top of the tower provide all of the facts and details surrounding it, but it is the feeling of the whole area that left a greater impression upon me.

Under the shadow of that sculpture and the trees, upon the green grass, I sat with families of various nationalities, generations, and genders playing and picnicking with their children. Couples napped together holding hands, making me miss Ted. Dogs romped and played. I helped take photos for strangers so they could be together in their photo (one of my favorite things to do on vacation), and a smiling couple helped take one of me. Some people sat quietly alone just taking it all in.

Approximately 7 million visitors come here each year, and it’s impossible to count how many countries could be represented at any given moment. At the foot of the tower is a newer monument built in 2000 called the Wall for Peace, which was inspired by the Wailing Wall. People can insert messages of peace into the chinks in the wall. After they do, many walk the distance to the tower, across the lawn of the Parc du Champs de Mars. If they stop, even for an instant, and simply look around them, they will see something remarkable.

They will see what I saw: Their wish has come true. For all walks of life are there together. Just being. At peace. Together.

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Traveling to Sit Still

When at home, I sit. Sit to write. Sit to read. Sit until my legs go numb. While on holiday, as we are now, I like to move. But since we left Richmond Wednesday, I’ve been sitting. Waiting for planes. In the plane (sleeping was even done while sitting). In a car with friends going for lunch and coming to their place. Then dinner. Then breakfast. True, we took a short walk in between. True, we also sat and had some of the best bread I’ve eaten in two years for lunch, and today the nicest tart with coconut and lavender. (Ted thought it tasted like soap, I thought it tasted like heaven.)

However, one cannot complain about all the sitting required to wander around France. It is a luxury. And for a writer, a necessity. Why? Details. When one rushes through life, the world is a blur. When I sit at home in front of my computer writing, the world is out of focus. So I must stop and gather data for the future.

So today I sat with dear friends sharing stories and wine at one of only four restaurant tables among the little cobblestone streets of Simiane la Rotonde-a charming little village where the cars park above or below the town and you wak in. I sketched.  I saw the streets. I saw a man who wandered the town looking for his lost girlfriend, and three minutes later I saw the girlfriend looking for the boyfriend she believed to be lost. I saw friendly people serving lunch amid geraniums waving hello, as an old wooden door up the curving walk tugs at my curiosity.

By sitting, by sketching, I actively slowed down time, and relished in the details that will add to my memory, add to my ability to see. I will save all of it for another story.

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Will Travel For Words: Down the Rabbit Hole

My April column on Shelf Pleasure,”Will Travel for Words,” is up and live. Come with me as I explore the Center of the Earth, the “Hidden Cities” of the world according to Moses Gates, and we’ll even take a little dive into dreamland… How writing fiction, bravery and exploration will lead us down the rabbit hole.

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