I am a sandal-loving Florida native with a passion for my Savior, my family, writing, and travel. Some of my best writing has been done on the balcony of a cruise ship!
After working in the travel and hospitality industry for 15+ years I decided it was time to pursue my writing dream. My novels are relational and character driven and I hope they will always engulf the reader in a great story while leaving them stronger in their faith.
A cup of hot coffee with milk stands near the window and a bright colored bouquet of flowers
I know, it’s been ages since I posted a blog and you’re shocked to be hearing from me now. Why don’t you make a cup of coffee or your favorite tea and come sit with me so we can catch up?
I could make up a bunch of excuses about how busy I’ve been (I fel like I’ve been living on fast forward for the past 8 months), but I think the main reason I haven’t written is because I’ve been emotionally drained and writing, even a blog post, comes from a place deep inside my being.
You’re probably sitting there thinking, “So, what changed?”
I wish I knew. It wasn’t anything specific and it didn’t happen overnight. Gradually, over the past couple of months, I have begun to feel a bit lighter in my spirit and the desire to sit at the keyboard has been tickling at my brain.
Since I haven’t had time to peruse any of the creative endeavors I have my eye on (making soap and bath bombs), it has been way too hot to do much in the garden, and I haven’t made many new recipes (although that is changing in the next few of weeks, stay tuned), I thought I would share with you about the trip I took to Ireland.
I’ve wanted to go to the lovely Emerald Isle for so long I don’t remember when the desire first filled my heart. I love history and I read all of Morgan Llywelyn’s historical fiction which I highly recommend. After I read 1916I started reading Irish mythology and all kinds of other books by Irish authors or set on the island. My recent favorite is the Irish Country Doctor series by Patrick Taylor. More on that in a later post.
My best friend and I have talked about traveling together since we met in college. She had kids and general life stuff got in the way so that never happened. Last year the travel bug grabbed onto me and I started checking flights on Kayak every couple of weeks. Around late August I found a round trip flight for $340. I couldn’t believe it! I texted Tricia (whose youngest child graduated from college this past Mother’s Day) to see if she would be interested in going.
She was in, but something held me back from booking it right then. October rolled around and we still hadn’t made a reservation. I stopped to visit her on the way to Edisto Island, and we went online to check the flights again. They had dropped to $312 per person, round trip! We looked at each other, then at her husband, and said, “Should we?”
Craig, being the amazing husband he is told us to go ahead. He’s in the Navy and was going to be deployed at the time the flights were available for. I was still a tiny bit hesitant because the dates were in March and Tricia gets cold easy. That is probably what held me back in the first place. We looked at the tickets again, looked at each other and hit the purchase button.
We now had four and a half months to plan the trip. There were countless things each of us wanted to see and we only had 10 nights. Tricia lives in Georgia and I’m in Florida so we shared links over Facebook and had several video chats as we pinned down our final plans.
All this planning is part of the reason I’ve felt so rushed, but I was also planning a Christmas festival at my church at the same time and trying to launch my latest novel. I should have known I had bitten off more than I could chew, but in the end, most things worked out well.
The more we researched, the more we found we wanted to do, so I expect we will make another trip once my finances have recovered from this whirlwind. I’m glad we were able to take this journey and get a basic overview of the island. I wouldn’t have traded the experience for the world and I look forward to sharing it with you.
Please stop back by next week to learn all about the painful start to the trip. I’m thankful to a wonderful man we met before we even left Florida and a sweet couple who shared the trials with us from Reykjavik to Dublin.
Welcome back! I hope you are looking forward to reading out our Irish adventure. Cozy up with your favorite beverage, because this is a bit of a long post to set the scene.
The Plan
Tricia, my friend from college, would come to my house the day before our flight to eliminate any last minute traffic issues and so we could review everything one last time. She arrived mid-afternoon Saturday and we both decided we needed to review what we had packed to see if there were any items we could eliminate or minimize. The bargain fair we purchased on Iceland Air didn’t include checked baggage and even paid bags had a strict weight limit.
Sunday, our flight was scheduled to depart at 5:55 pm so we had all morning to manage last minute items. We made it to the airport and through security with ease. I was writing in my journal at the airline gate by 3:15 and made sure to note the weather conditions: 85 degrees and sunny in Florida, 35 degrees and snowing in Dublin!
The flight began boarding and we anxiously waited for our turn. One carry-on bag and one personal item were included in the ticket, but they had to be tiny. We had both, and I regret the choice I made for my personal item. So many websites had emphasized the plastic bag ban and the need for bringing your own shopping bags so I had purchased a set of roomy, sturdy bags to bring with us. I decided to use one of these for my personal item, carrying my iPad, my camera, my journal, an oversized scarf that I could use as a blanket, and the itinerary book I had put together to keep track of all our plans, tickets, maps, etc. The bag worked fine until I went to put it under the seat and there was no way to keep the items from spilling out.
What Happened
5:55 came and went but we didn’t move. The plane was getting warmer and we were dressed in layers for landing in Ireland. Tricia was getting antsy and I was trying to remain calm. The gentleman in the aisle seat, Anders started talking to us and was able to help distract us from the delay. We didn’t leave Orlando until close to 11:00 pm, more than 4 hours late. Aside from providing water, the flight crew was terrible about providing information on what the problem was. When they did provide updates, it was always to say we would be ready to leave in 10 minutes only to have that time elapse with no changes. Ten more minutes became a joke the rest of the trip.
We were supposed to land in Reykjavik at 6:10 am local time and get a connection to Dublin at 7:40 am. We didn’t arrive in Reykjavik until after 9:00 am. There was no one at the gate to help with missed connections or even direct us to customer service. We encountered one employee who vaguely pointed and told us to go upstairs.
Sunrise over Iceland out a dirty plane window. We certainly weren’t supposed to see this.
We have now been up for nearly 24 hours, we’re tired, hungry, and feeling anxious. We finally found the service desk and were handed tickets for a flight on British Airways, departing at 1:15 pm to Heathrow followed by another connection to Dublin. We were told we would have to go claim our checked bags and take them to British Airways. We passed through Customs, (first stamp in the passport) found our bags and went to the British Airways desk, where they proceeded to tell us we were going to be charged again. There were a half dozen of us assigned to this flight from Iceland Air and all resisted this charge so British Airways sent us back to Iceland Air to sort it out.
Our gaggle of over-tired travelers rolled all of our bags to the Iceland Air desk and some of the more vocal passengers made it clear that this payment issue needed to be dealt with. To be fair, a representative did walk back with us after only minimal dispute and provided a corporate card to cover the new luggage fees.
Now we had to go back through security to find the food area to use the 2,000 króna vouchers Iceland Air had provided for lunch. Security was my breaking point. The lines were a mess, people were going through the machines and being sent back so the luggage was passing through screening well before people.
Tricia and I got separated and after I got through the scanner, I couldn’t find my bags. I started panicking at the thought of losing my iPad, camera, phone, and money. I admit it wasn’t pretty. I was nearly hyperventilating, trying not to start sobbing, and looking around frantically for my things. I spotted my carry-on bag and shoes, then a few minutes later I saw my shopping bag had been pulled off the conveyor belt and was in a pile behind one of the screeners. I pointed at the bag and a screener brought it to me. I carried it to the end of a table and sank to the floor weeping as I put my shoes on.
About this time Tricia found me and didn’t know what was wrong. I know it freaked her out and I realized I should have warned her about this aspect of me when I’m overtired. I managed to get myself under control, get my shoes tied, and collect my belongings.
You might think 2,000 króna sounds like a lot, but it isn’t. It covered the cost of a sandwich and a drink. A piece of cake cost an additional 800 króna, but we needed chocolate so it was money well spent. We took our food and recognized another couple from our flight so we asked if we could join them. We introduced ourselves and when the lady told us her name and she was from Galway I marveled at the coincidence. I told her we were staying at an AirBnB in Galway with a hostess by the same name and asked if she was the owner. She wasn’t, but she knew the place we were staying by name and told us about some restaurants nearby.
We spent the next couple of hours chatting with them until it was time to make our way to the gate. We passed through Customs again, adding a second Iceland stamp to the passport. The flight to Heathrow was uneventful, thank goodness. When we landed, we struggled to find the location for our next connection until Tricia got online and found out we needed to get to Terminal 5. Through security again where I received a full body pat down that should have been preceded by an expensive dinner! At least we managed to get a UK stamp in our passports.
We made it Terminal 5 only to find a giant flight board changing so fast we couldn’t make heads or tails of it. There was a lady at an information desk underneath the board and I asked if she could help. In a matter of seconds she had found our flight number and gave us the gate information. I’m still in awe that she was able to do it so quickly.
At the gate, we didn’t see anyone else from our flight and began to worry we’d made a mistake. Soon they started making boarding announcements and everything matched our tickets so we sighed in relief. When we got to the front of the line we found we were being bussed from the terminal to the aft of the plane and climb stairs up to the aft gangway because the jetway wasn’t working.
Fortunately, this flight wasn’t full and I had an entire row to myself. Tricia had been assigned a seat somewhere toward the front of the plane. Across the aisle from me were the couple we’d talked with in Reykjavik. We couldn’t help but look at each other and roll our eyes when a child began screaming nearby.
We were within sight of Ireland and the pilot came on the intercom to tell us that the Dublin airport was closing for a short time due to maintenance work and we were going to be about 15 minutes delayed. I looked across the aisle at my new friends and we laughed. I felt bad for them because they still had a 3 hour drive ahead once we landed.
I’m not sure how he did it, but the pilot managed to get us into Dublin before they started the maintenance work. The Customs agent in Dublin was very friendly and actually has family not far from me in Florida. Small world.
As I tell this story with its delays and stress, the memories of the good and even the bad are stoking my longing to return to Ireland.
I am humbled and encouraged when I see the way God works in my life.
My last book, Destiny’s Call, launched without much fanfare and has limped along at an unsatisfying pace. For a variety of reasons I haven’t put forth much effort to market this new venture, so I’m not complaining about the slow progress, but I had been feeling rather discouraged. Then, a few weeks ago, a friend mentioned a new christian bookstore had opened in town. I immediately went to check it out.
It’s a lovely shop, but I was surprised when I first walked in and didn’t see any books. There were unique children’s games, collectible figurines, and a variety of other gifts. Along a back wall there was a large variety of Bibles and then in one corner was a bookshelf with a dozen or so books.
It was the middle of the day and not very busy so the owner, Nadia, started talking to me, telling me they’d only been open about a week and sharing some of the plans she and her husband, Sam have for the store. Nadia has an infectious energy that draws people in. She mentioned she wants to work with local vendors so the shop will have unique items rather than things that can be found in any box store.
I felt so comfortable talking to her that I, without a single hesitation or gulp of fear, asked if she was interested in working with local authors. She emphatically agreed that she was and I took a few minutes to tell her a bit about myself. When she asked if I would mind leaving her a copy of one of my books for her to look at, I was thrilled to tell her I had some in the car and I would run get one for her.
Of course I gave her Undaunted, since it is a local story. Nadia and her husband, are still relatively new to town, and Jessie Cole’s story is a great way to learn about the history of the community.
Within 48 hours, Nadia had emailed me to say she would be very interested in working with me. We quickly set up a plan and my books now appear on her shelves alongside several other local authors.
As soon as I walked out of the store that first day, before we even had an agreement, I felt God at work. Energy filled my heart and the discouragement that had weighted me down for months lightened.
Having made a connection with a couple who have a bold love of God and a desire to serve our community encourages me that a spirit of service and fellowship will fill our streets, our businesses, our churches, and our homes. I feel like God has big plans in store for Nadia and Sam and I am honored that my books may be a part of that journey for them.
If you live in Titusville or you come to see a launch, be sure to stop in and say hello to Nadia (and Sam if he’s there) at New Beginnings Christian Bookstore in the Titusville Mall on US 1.
