A blog about adventures in tango, travel and storytelling
NEWS: If this were a milonga has been longlisted for the SWF First 5 Page Prize! Last week, I found out that my current project, If this were a milonga has been longlisted for the Stockholm Writer’s Festival’s First 5 Pages Prize! Given that there were 800 entries, I’m thrilled that mine was among the 14 longlisted entries in the romance category. You can view the full longlist...
If you read my newsletter, or follow me on Twitter, you might remember me mentioning Kate Swindlehurst’s “The Tango Effect: Parkinson’s and the healing power of dance”, when it was still crowdfunding on Unbound. I received my copy back in March, just before lockdown started and it’s been a while now that I have wanted to share my thoughts about it. The book is part personal memoir, as the author...
There’s something magical for me about getting on a train for a long journey. You get to see how the landscape gradually changes around you, you can walk around and the sound of a train on the tracks is one I have always found comforting. I feel like flying is sometimes too fast and airports are hectic in a way that train stations aren’t for me. Long journeys have a...
It was the TranzAlpine that brought me to Greymouth. Well, not literally. I was planning to take the TranzAlpine from Greymouth to Christchurch. But given that the train only runs once a day and my risk-averse nature, I decided to stay a night in Greymouth in case the bus was delayed. The bus wasn’t delayed....
After Wanaka it got cold. Those who know me know that I don’t like snow nor being cold, so it’s unusual for me to choose a destination where it’s pretty much a certainty that it’s going to be chilly, even in early spring. But I’ve heard that you can’t come to New Zealand without seeing at least one glacier....
In October, I shared this blog post from two years ago on Facebook and announced my intention to participate in NaNoWriMo for the third time. Subscribers will also have read about it in the newsletter I sent out in October. If you’re wondering what I’m talking about, you can find out more here or read about my previous NaNoWriMo experience here. Like the previous time I did NaNoWriMo, I did...
There are two people buried in the monastery of Alcobaça and it was them who first brought me to Portugal. I was fifteen and had just won a writing competition organised by the Portuguese Ministry of Education. My entry was a re-telling of the story of Ines and Pedro, written in diary format from the point of view of Pedro. I called it “The Dead Queen”. Don Pedro and Ines...
The bus stopped just in front of the lake. I was still too sleepy to appreciate the view. It hadn’t been a long ride – just under two hours – but it had been an early start. Tea was definitely required before I could start trying to locate my accommodation....
Queenstown to Milford Sound via the glowworm caves of Te Anau …...
When I was planning my trip to New Zealand last year, I was told the only way to see it was by car. Not having driven since I passed my driving test many years ago, I didn’t feel that a solo trip to New Zealand was the best time to start. After doing some research, I concluded that it was feasible to visit many of the places I wanted to...