What are your future travel plans?
My husband had initially been talking about going to one of the best beaches in the world for our 20th wedding anniversary. While I can roll with that, I’m not as keen on a beach holiday as I was when I was younger. It could be the hot flashes, but I just like the heat even less (was never a fan) these days.
That means now, he’s talking about going somewhere snowy. Everything’s still up in the air, which is the usual case with him. There’s no sense in setting anything in stone this early (travel-wise, it’s actually not) because nothing’s definite until we reach the point where there’s no longer any chance to change our minds.😂
Anyway, if I were to plan my next trip, I already know where I’d go. That is, I already have a list of options, and I wouldn’t be going with my husband. Or he could still go with me, but we’ll be in the same place, hitting different spots and doing very different things. That’s because he’s not a reader, and I intend to visit bookish places.
Here are some of the top places in my list of bookish destinations.
1. Prince Edward Island for an All Things Anne tour
If you love Anne Shirley and feel that you’re in the race that knows Joseph with her, then this tour should be in your bucket list. You can immerse yourself in the setting of your favorite stories and visit the house where Lucy Maud Montgomery was born.
2. Bath for the Jane Austen Festival
If you’re a Jane Austen fan, then you probably know that she wrote some of her novels in Bath. Each year for the last couple of decades, the author’s life and works have been celebrated in a fun festival. There’s also a small museum that offers afternoon tea services and costumed tours.
3. Emily Dickinson Museum, Amherst, MA
From the moment I read her poetry, I knew that Emily Dickinson was my people. She loved writing, shunned society, and studied plants, so she easily became one of my heroes. For more than 30 years now, I’ve named her as my favorite poet, and I’d love to see the house and world she lived in.
4. Hay-on-Wye, Wales
With over 20 bookshops, this town is a Mecca for book lovers. Since it’s the National Book Town of Wales, it is also the site for the Hay Festival, a celebration event for literature, which has been described as the Woodstock of the mind.
5. Wigtown, Scotland
This is Scotland’s National Book Town, and is the Scot’s answer to Hay-on-Wye. Of course it also has its own book festival. There’s even a bookstore-cum-inn that allows guests to run the shop and maybe even cultivate their own romcom. 😁
Those are the five places I’m prioritizing, but if I may add another one: the bouquinistes along the Seine… I’ve already been, but would always welcome more visits.
There are obviously even more bookish places I want to go to. Stratford-upon-Avon is one, of course. Judy Blume’s bookstore in Key West is another. There are also book-themed restaurants and hotels, as well as beautiful libraries and bookstores. I naturally want to check out as many book festivals as I can. They’ll have to be listed in multiple posts. This prompt opened up a rabbit hole with many doors along the spiral down. 😂
This Small Life 