Charlie Brown's Travel Vlog

BON VOYAGE!

As I write, I’m already making a mental list of all the things I need to pack for my upcoming travel. I’m headed to Scotland and then Italy. (I still can’t believe it’s actually happening.)

Traveling to Europe always makes me think of Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown where poor Charlie goes to stay in a chateau in France, but somehow ends up sleeping in a barn. Among my many follow up questions to that premise, I applaud his ability to travel light, and it occurs to me that might be the genesis of my obsession with packing light.

I’m a big fan of packing as little as possible and doing laundry on the road. But this is the first trip I’ve taken in a long time where I’m staying almost exclusively at hotels. And as much as I love the frugality of only having a carry-on, I honestly don’t own enough clothes that I really love to make it worthwhile to pack anything larger.

BOOK NEWS

WHEN SPARKS IGNITE is now available in paperback! Which is very exciting indeed, as it’s possible now to own the entire series of four books in paperback! (And I’m patiently waiting for someone to rebind them in a beautiful artistic style…)

In other news, if you are a Bookstagrammer or know a Bookstagram account that might love my books, my publisher (Reuts Publications) is looking for Bookstagrammers to partner with in a fantastic PR opportunity for the Embers in Wait series! Send them my way, or follow this link to apply!

TO CHECK BAGS OR NOT TO CHECK BAGS…

The biggest quandry about travel is often what to pack—and how much room to leave for the return trip. True story: I once bought a bag in Vermont so that I could carry on a large carved wooden bowl. It now bestows the honor of being the singular vessel in our home that holds bananas, takeout menus, and four varieties of sunblock.

This trip is a little tricky as I’m traveling to two very different climates over the course of multiple weeks, most likely without access to laundry facilities. I’ve done weird packing trips before (see 2017 when we flew from Kauai to Anchorage) and long trips in tight spaces (see 2022 when I packed for 14 days in Iceland and Italy in December—using only a carry-on). But this trip is confounding me.

The first part is a genuine vacation with my partner to the Scottish Highlands. We’ll be hill-walking, pub-sitting, and (vegan) haggis-partaking. The next part is a writing retreat in Umbria. (Have more dreamy words ever been uttered?) Which seems like it would call for cozy clothes and light layers, which is my usual plan for a writing retreat. But it’s Italy in May. Which I’m told isn’t particularly “cozy.”

The bigger question mark for my trip is what writing tools am I bringing with me? I’ll have my computer, a small notebook or two, my kindle, and my favorite pens. I will also probably bring one or two craft books—though perhaps this is a good opportunity to load them onto my kindle? I’m trying very hard to keep it light, if for no other reason so that I can save room for potential (bookish) souvenirs.

Beyond that (and this is the tough part) I’ll be finalizing revisions on my current project while I’m in Italy. And for this step, I typically print out a full version, scribble on pages, and then move revisions into the electronic version. But am I really going to haul 300 pages from Portland to Scotland to Italy? If I check a bag containing this 300 page document, how many books could I bring back in its place? These are the hard questions every bookish traveler must ask…

I suppose you’ll have to tune in next month to find out…

BACKLIST BOOK CLUB

I’ve already read City of Ghosts by Victoria Schwab twice, and as I fly to Edinburgh next week, you can bet it’s what I’m packing for a cozy airplane read. This is the first in a series that follows Cassidy Blake, who in turn follows her parents and their ghosthunting reality television show to the most haunted cities in the world. The catch? Thanks to a near-death experience, Cassidy is the only one among them who can actually see ghosts.

Last summer I listened to the audiobook with my children who were eight and ten at the time, and they fell head over heels for the series. What’s not to love? Cassidy Blake and her best friend (who is a ghost) get to travel the world together, slipping in and out of the veil between life and the afterlife. And just for funsies, each book takes place in a different city with a different haunted history. It’s just so much fun!

By the time you read my next newsletter, I’ll have traveled a world away and back. (Hopefully I won’t bring back any unwanted souvenirs as Cassidy Blake is prone to do…) So, arrivederci! And until then…