Random Things Tours: Wish You Were Here - Holiday Memories. An Anthology curated by Alyson Sheldrake

Travel writing is and will always be my silent companion of travel. For many years, until in 2020, my journeys were made of words and photos, as I kept and shared, mostly online, a very cautious track of all my adventures around the world. I love to write about my travels, about the personal discoveries and cultural encounters, about meeting people and their stories. About creating memories. Therefore, I can´t refuse reading a book about travel, especially after being so hungry for new worlds.

Wish You Were Here. Holiday Memories is an exquisite antology of travel writing curated by Alyson Sheldrake. There are so many diverse styles and countries and travel destinations to travel in just 20 installments of English-speaking talented authors. My wanderlust was really getting a boost, and it was exactly what I subconsciously looking for in order to start planning seriously to restarting my travel (writing) career. 

´There must be more to life than this´, says the husband of one of the writers featured in the anthology - Lally Brown, Southampton to Trinidad by Banana Boat. This is the incentive any wanderslut seeker wants to hear, actually. For someone searching for life meaning outside the comfort zone, any comfort zone, the destination is not necessarily relevant. It can be the village around the corner or A Galapagos Fantasy, a ´sensory overload´ as described by Jacqueline Lambert. Or the hippie caves from Matala, as discovered by Shirley Read-Jahn. Sometimes, there is just an Evening in Paris (Lindy Viandier). What does it matter is where this journey takes you to, personally and existentially, the new life adventures brought in.

Each of the 20 stories brings on a particular taste of travel, a special flavour, but also a different writing style. They are sharing the style of mature writers, with a style of their own. Some easily travel back in time, decades ago, to revisit old holiday memories. Some do just keep the travel conversation alive, discovering the uniqueness of the everyday encounters. Although places like Paris or NYC do have their well-deserved featured role in the collection, the destinations off-the-beaten path do matter the most. They must be not necessarily your everyday comprehension of ´holiday´ but nevertheless rest and relaxation are very relative concepts anyway.

Wish You Were Here is the kind of book one wants to read near the fireplace, covered in a comfy blanket, protected from the outdoors cruel cold, in preparation for a meaningful travel adventure. As for me, I may rather be at the beach right now, surrounded by blue waters. That´s how travel memories are built and for 24 months I lost any control over my future holiday memories. The couch should be just a short station of my imaginary travels, and I am thankful that this anthology by Alyson Sheldrake reminded me where my place in this world this. On the road...

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered as part of the book tour, but the opinions are, as usual, my own