But what could happen? I mean, aside from the airline losing my luggage like usual and me falling off Croagh Patrick? They don’t have snakes, and I’ve already wiped out half the world’s honey bee population, so…what could happen?
Yep, I’m off on holiday. Two weeks of fun and…Ireland. Two weeks.
TAX DEDUCTIBLE.
Me and the sibs are taking one of those guided tour thingies. Ah, but with a difference. This one is put on by our old musical mentors, The Men of Worth, and it’s going to be wine, women and song every night. Well, song, anyway. And walking and Guinness — and lots of rain, apparently.
Which is good by me.
So, while I rush around taking my No Jet Lag and stuffing last minute items into my suitcase, I’ll leave you with the following questions:
1) Have you ever decided to vist a place based on a fiction novel? (It was the Cliffs of Night by Beatrice Brandon, for me)
2) What’s the furthest you’ve been from home?
3) Have you used your travels in your writing?
Oh…bonus question: Have you ever been arrested in a foreign country? How was the food?
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Have a GREAT time, Diana. We’ll miss you. Sniff. Sniff.
1) Not based on fiction, no. But I did visit one of the Laura Ingalls homes a few years ago (I was a die-hard fan) and it was really cool to see Pa’s fiddle and Mary’s sewing machine. The actual ones.
2) Furthest from home…I’m thinking that would be Hawaii.
3) Yes. Forecast of Evil takes place on Mackinac Island. Was there twice during the summer and found it intriguing. So I did a little research and set my book there during the winter months.
Bonus question: I’ve only been out of the country once. In the Bahamas. Never left the boat.
by Laura
on July 9th, 2007 at 9:07 am
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Thanks, Laura. Hey, maybe we should organize some kind of GG tour? Just imagine? Murder, mayhem and fab fashion accessories in a foreign country! Preferably one NONE of us has visited–just to add to the general hilarity.
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I’m all for Australia. Beaches. Cute men. GREAT accents…
Good Girls, are you in?
by Laura
on July 9th, 2007 at 9:15 am
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Ooh, I’m jealous. Have a blast.
1.) Well, it was totally cool to be in London and imagine Dickens and Austen and such. But that wasn’t the primary reason for going there.
2.) Furthest? South of France and Barcelona. It totally rocked.
3.) I worked Paris and the South of France into one of my books–but that particular MS is still sitting on the shelf.
No, I’ve never been arrested (or even questioned, by the way), but I did deal with the police in Barcelona when some guys on the subway ripped open my backpack. The food? Marvelous.
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Whoa, Judy! You’ve been to some great places! I’ve always wanted to see Barcelona.
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Laura, I’m SO in.
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1) Have you ever decided to vist a place based on a fiction novel?
No–but I do like to think about the literary past of places I’m visiting while I’m there. Austen in Bath, Shakespeare in Stratford, Thackery and Trollope in London.
2) What’s the furthest you’ve been from home?
Turkey: Marmaris and Ephesus. Stunning, stunning, stunning.
3) Have you used your travels in your writing?
Yes–my novels are set in England, Greece, Paris…all places I’ve been. Helps with description.
Oh…bonus question: Have you ever been arrested in a foreign country? How was the food?
Not yet; give me time.
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Two weeks vacation? Oh, God, that sounds like heaven. And in Ireland. I am so envious.
1) Have you ever decided to vist a place based on a fiction novel? No, but I moved to New York because of all the books and movies, I’m sure of it.
2) What’s the furthest you’ve been from home? - A mountain in Bolivia.
3) Have you used your travels in your writing? - Oh yeah.
Bonus question? - Yes. In Panama. I spent one night in the Modello and was sprung (via small bribes) before I got a meal. But I doubt if the cuisine would rise to more than two stars.
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Oh, I am so jealous! I’d love to spend two weeks in Ireland!
1. Not that I’ve actually done it, but Mary Stewart books make me want to visit Greece.
2. I’ve only been to boring border towns in Mexico. I used to say “sleazy border towns” but that’s… come to think of it, they were pretty sleazy. So I guess it was an honest description. 
3. Hmm. I’ve used places where I’ve lived in my writing. But I’ve never sent any of my characters to sleazy Mexican border towns. Or anywhere else I’ve traveled that I can recall.
Bonus: Nope. But the food at the one restaurant we ate in in Nuevo Laredo was EXCELLENT. Even if the town itself left something to be desired.
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I still haven’t been outside of London whilst in England, but I’m desperate to tramp all over the isle thanks to scores of Brit authors.
Furthest is living in Germany, I guess, though Italy was far more inspiring.
Funny you should ask, Diana (I’ll buy you a drink next con) but my just-finished manuscript, The Butcher of Butchart, is set in and around Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island. We visited in 2004 and I thought it was a perfect setting for murder - such a contrast to the neatly and carefully maintained flower beds.
Never been arrested abroad though I probably should have been… 
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Have a wonderful time, Diana, and count me in on ANY GG trip. Hey, if I’ll go to Madison, WI to see you all that pretty much says I’ll go anywhere, right?
1) Have you ever decided to visit a place based on a fiction novel?
I had to see Hyde Park and the British Museum when I was in London. Blame it on Regency books and Elizabeth Peters. Still to be seen: I must visit Corfu after reading THIS ROUGH MAGIC.
2) What’s the furthest you’ve been from home?
Since “home base” keep changing for me, it’s hard to calculate. I guess Hawaii going west and Germany going east.
3) Have you used your travels in your writing?
Are you kidding? I’ve used my “travels” (i.e. my moves across the country in the good old US of A) as the basis for the series. Haven’t worked in the foreign destinations, but I’m working on it.
Oh…bonus question: Have you ever been arrested in a foreign country? How was the food?
No, but it would make such a good “truth” for Sincerity, wouldn’t it?
by Sara
on July 9th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
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Have fun in Ireland Diana.
I saw the post re: Australia and I have to confirm (being married to one) there are some very cute men with great accents (and the beaches aren’t half bad…)
After reading Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights and the Tenant of Wildfell Hall I simply had to visit Haworth - home of the Brontes. Apart from being a tourist trap with cafes with names like Ye Old Rochester Tea Shop and Heathcliff’s fish and chips, it was fabulous! The furthest I guess I;ve been from my “home” (i.e. Australia) was Iceland. Now that was an experience!
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Add me to the list of envious people! Have fun and take lots of pictures.
I haven’t been anywhere specifically because of a novel, but I did visit San Rafael State Park in Arizona before it was officially open to the public because that’s where a number of great Westerns were filmed. My favorite John Wayne film, McClintock!, is set at the ranch house and it was so much fun seeing everything and taking 6 rolls of pictures (yes, it was before digital got so big).
That is also as far away from home - it’s right at the Mexican border just outside Nogales.
With just having started to write, I haven’t really had much chance to work it into a story, but I certainly hope to change that someday. I have traveled to Iowa (loved what I saw), and West Virginia and Virginia (have some great shots of trains amid fall colors - Roanoke on a foggy autumn morning is really pretty), and a nature center in the Adirondacks at Long Lake, and many places in the lovely state of Indiana, so one never knows… 
I have also been to Canada, and while I was never arrested there, the food was okay!
by Kate Hathway
on July 9th, 2007 at 1:36 pm
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Tash, I do envy you your world traveler status. How come we never get to hear your travel horror stories? Please tell me everything doesn’t always go right for you! I’m starting to feel paranoid.
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Ooh, David! What great grist for the mill — which is probably exactly what they would have served you for supper in that Panamanian hoosegow.
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Hey, Tori, if you can lay your hands on THE CLIFFS OF NIGHT by Brandon — you’ll love it. Very much the Mary Stewart vibe. One of my all time favorite romantic suspense novels.
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You do get around, Reggie. I like that in a Good Girl.
And another project completed — girl, you are cranking!
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Hey, Sara, what a great idea moving Ellie and the gang to some wild foreign destination. I love that!
Wow, Mary Stewart really had an influence on a lot of us in our formative years, didn’t she. Our writing AND our interest in other countries.
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Clare, I love the Heathcliff Fish and Chips. What a wonderful bit to work into a novel. And of course I envy you your visit to Haworth.
I use to know a few useful phrases in Icelandic — although, really, that’s a contradiction in terms.
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Hey Kate, I remember McClintock! Funny, when I think of the west, it’s hard to separate John Wayne from those images. Too many John Ford flicks, I guess.
I’m taking a journal on my trip–partly for writing notes, but partly for sentimental value.
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1) Have you ever decided to vist a place based on a fiction novel? (It was the Cliffs of Night by Beatrice Brandon, for me)
Yes, I went to Cody & Powell, Wyoming and to Spokane, WA which are all settings for my novel.
2) What’s the furthest you’ve been from home?
Where I’m at right now. China. I travel here quite a bit for business.
3) Have you used your travels in your writing?
Yes. While traveling in China during SARS, I came up with the basic idea for my Biological Thriller. A naturally occuring virus thats mistaken for an act of terrorism.
Oh…bonus question: Have you ever been arrested in a foreign country? How was the food?
Never been arrested. I have some great stories about the food in China. Especially the bugs they eat.
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OH, interesting title too. I used the phrase What happens in (insert your location here) stays in (….). The first time I used it was What happens in China stays in China. Also called the 8,000 mile rule. Or whatever distance you choose. It was kind of a tag line I used for one of my characters.
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Ah, yes. It’s an all-purpose tag. Knd of like…What happens in the Good Girls Club House, STAYS in the Good Girls Club House.8)
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Wow, Will. China. What an amazing place to visit that must be — with or without the gourmet bugs. What was the most surprising thing about China the first time you went there?
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EVERYTHING
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