There’s just no escaping my deep desire to write about travel. I’ve been banging my head back and forth for far too long now. Delving into different types of fiction and trying to find my niche. I’ve tried looking at Thrillers, Comedy, Romantic Comedy, Contemporary Fiction, but always, when I search these books, I feel that something is missing, and I always end up thinking whether I could write in one of these genres and try to slip in a bit of travel.

Photo by Symphony of Love

But it’s starting to come clear now where my real niche is: Travel Literature.

Ever since I got back from my honeymoon in New York, I’ve pushed my travelling dreams aside. I had to. I did a Delta right after, and then we had two kids one after the other. For the last five years it’s been all about the kids; night and day, day and night. And it still is. Now that they are older and easier to manage, my life is sort of coming back to normal again. Life as a Dad is great and I love it more each day, but I just can’t push away my deep longing desire to write about travel. I want to travel with my kids now, and show them the world too.

I watched a film on Saturday night about a family of writers. Without giving away too many spoilers, it basically said that if you are a writer, then you need to write. I guess that’s the same about being a travel writer.

Since publishing my first book, Teaching English in a Foreign Land, I took the fiction route because I thought I wasn’t travelling anymore, but I’ve begun to realise that since then, I’ve been on one hell of a journey; not only of becoming an expat in Spain, but also becoming part Sevillano.

New Inspiration

Last week I was chatting to a Dad that I’d met over the park (I wasn’t chatting him up). His daughter is starting with my daughter this September at school and they are both in the same nursery. He’s from Argentina, and we joked about The Hand of God and the Falklands. Then we got chatting about books, and literature and he asked what type of books I like.

“I have a lot of travel books,” I said.

“Oh, like who.”

“Just the typical: Paul Theroux, Chris Stewart, Bill Bryson.”

“Have you heard of Bruce Chatwin?”

“Nope, I haven’t actually.”

“What about Stephen Clark?”

“Nope.”

“I’ll tell you what, I’ll drop some books off at the nursery and you can have a read.”

“Cheers mate.”

To be fair, I wasn’t expecting him to, but there they were, albeit in a paper Women’s Secret bag (I’m guessing it wasn’t his) three new travel books. When I picked them up, I realised how much I’d missed reading them. I went over to my book shelf and noticed that it was a complete mess; all my travel books were just sprayed all over the place. I used to have them so organised into groups of books that I’ve read, or hadn’t, or different continents, or the order in which I read them. I stared at them for a while, and tried to relive the trips of people I’d read about, but they seemed so far away. Reading travel books used to be such a passion of mine, and I have been pushing it away for far too long.

Then I thought back to that first answer I gave him. I have a lot of travel books, but blimey, it’s been a while since I’ve read one. Far too long.

For ages I’ve been putting off reading travel books. Why? Because I used to get so upset reading them because I knew I couldn’t travel. It was just pure torture; reading about people going on huge adventures across the world, and here I am stuck in Seville, walking round the same parks each weekend, doing about as much travelling as a retired Circus Dwarf.

I know I can’t just jump on a plane and run off anywhere (well, I supposed I could), but that adrenaline in my blood, those itchy feet, are still there bursting to get out and about again. But don’t worry Wifey, I’m not planning on running off anywhere, not without you guys anyway.

I’m planning on getting back into my travel literature again, and this time with experience under my belt and a more passionate story than before.

I have so many travel books to read again, plus all the new ones out there. It’s exciting, knowing that I can be an armchair (or metro reading) travel fan again.

Which brings me on to the main point of this blog.

I’ve been reading a lot recently about blogging, writing to the market, finding your niche to specialise in, and I think I’ve been too focused on Fiction, when really I need to be looking at Travel Literature.

Then I got thinking about my life here, about the places I’ve travelled in Spain, but mainly about the struggle that I’ve had to really become integrated in the Spanish society. It’s been a long, hard battle. Being a guiri in a foreign country is hard, so much harder than you might ever imagine. Of course there are loads of positives, but there are so many challenges to face, and I know that if I hadn’t met my wife I would have left years ago. Not only because I fell in love with her and she wanted to stay here, but because we have both helped each other become the family we are today. We have both travelled in our own way. We’ve lived life. We’ve battled, had rows, and made up, all while surfing life in Seville, bringing up two kids, and also travelling around Spain. Here are some of the places that we’ve travelled:

[image error]Malaga, Granada, Jerez, Vejer de la Frontera, Marbella, in Andalusia. Then in the North from Santander to Barcelona, stopping at Bilbao, San Sebastian, Zaragoza, Pamplona, and on the other side to Oviedo, Gijon, Lugo, Santiago and La Coruna, not to mention trips to Portugal.

It’s not just about me and my wife though, so many people have influenced my journey here in Seville, her family, friends, work colleagues, students, crazy housemates, and even priests and my catechesis teacher. It’s been a rollercoaster of a ride, and I finally feel that it’s time to look back and write about this adventure.

So while I turn to my next project, I’ll not only be writing this for her, and for our kids, but also for many people out there who wonder just how life could be as an expat in Spain, and warn them that it’s no easy stroll along the river.

So, once I finish the sequel to Falling for Flamenco; It Takes Two to Flamenco, I’ll be focusing on my next travel literature series, which will be titled: Once a guiri, always a guiri, and will basically show the battle that it’s taken me to finally feel integrated in the Spanish Society. I’m planning on a trilogy. I have enough to talk about.

So, I hope you’ll join me on this new travel writing adventure.

I’ll also be posting more blogs and articles about life in Seville and Andalusia, and as an Expat. My next blog is titled Top things to do in Seville, and will be available on pdf as well. It’s quite a long project, but it should be out soon.

As I read more travel literature books, mainly focusing on Spain, I’ll be writing reviews on my blog as well, so keep up to date by following me or subscribing to my email list.

Thanks for reading.