My Italian cooking holiday experience : interview with the author Alice Peterson

In today's post it is our pleasure and honour to interview Alice Peterson, the author of the ebook sensation, Monday to Friday Man, the book that whipped 50 Shades of Grey of Grey off the Number 1 Kindle Spot! Alice spoke with us about her most inspiring moments in Italy, her Flavours cooking holiday and the experience of travelling solo and meeting extraordinary people on holidays for singles. 

Your latest book ‘By My Side’ is a perfect holiday read but what we want to know is what inspires you to go on a holiday? Is Italy a travel inspiration for you?

I think it’s really important always to have something to look forward to. For me, a holiday is all about forgetting work and troubles at home; it’s a chance to get away from the routine, see another part of the world and meet different and new people. Sunshine is always a bonus too! I read History of Art at Bristol, so many years ago, when I was at university I travelled to Venice and Florence. I’m not a great traveller but of all the places I have been, Italy is top of my list. I love the art, the beautiful countryside and the delicious food. 

Why did you choose to go on a cooking holiday with Flavours? Was it the first time going on a cooking holiday? How different is it from an ordinary holiday?

I have always dreamt about going on a cooking holiday, mainly because I love my food and am incredibly greedy, so the Flavours holiday seemed ideal. Many years ago I went, alone, on a pilgrimage to Lourdes. It was such an experience, perhaps never to be repeated, but I shall always remember that week as I met so many extraordinary people. That’s why I decided to do something a bit different again. I love going on holiday with friends, but I also think going alone makes me far more open to meeting others. I felt nervous beforehand, anything new is daunting, but the moment I was greeted by Lorna, the Flavours host, I knew I was going to have a happy week. 

Describe in a few words your cooking holiday: when and where it was, what did you enjoy the most, any funny moments? 

I went to Puglia last October. The real bonus was that a Pilates group joined us too, so each morning started off with some stretching by the pool. I loved the villa. It is possibly one of the most beautiful places I have stayed. Every object told a story. Right outside my bedroom were lemon trees. Each morning I’d pad over to the kitchen and make myself a strong coffee, the house filled with opera music. I also loved our cook, Antonio. He was incredibly patient, especially when Victoria and I had a chocolate fight in the kitchen! We made the most delicious food, which we enjoyed eating for lunch. I also loved the way the wine was opened earlier and earlier in the day. Eating and drinking rose outside in the sunshine, followed by a sleep or a read by the pool, it was heaven for me. The other people who’d signed up for the holiday were all so friendly. By the end of the week we felt like a family and it was sad saying goodbye. 

Are you passionate about authentic Italian cuisine? What is your favourite dish and which of the recipes you learned in the cookery courses do you keep creating in your own kitchen?

I love Italian food. My favourite dish was the aubergine bake, which I have made again since returning home. It’s quite messy to do, but fun. I also love mozzarella and pasta, and have such a sweet tooth so the custard pie, chocolate cake and lemon mousse were a favourite. The Puglia lemons taste amazing, nothing like the lemons you pick up at the supermarket over here! It really was a lovely holiday, one I shall remember for a long time.

Biography – Alice Peterson
I became a writer in a fairly unconventional way. To my friends and family, I was always, ‘Alice, the tennis player’ and, at the age of 18 had been awarded a tennis scholarship to America. I was about to sign a contract when I experienced pain in my right hand. Three months later I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), a chronic autoimmune condition for which there is no cure. I have never picked up a tennis racket since, a sadness that shall always be with me.  
 
I have discovered a new path in life, my writing. My first book, A Will to Win, was published by Macmillan, and subsequently five novels have been published in this country and abroad, including the ebook sensation, Monday to Friday Man, which knocked Fifty Shades of Grey off the number one spot. My latest novel, By My Side,  covers many themes including parenting, grieving, courage, romance and love. It also features one of my favourite characters, the most loyal golden Labrador called Ticket. 
 
Things I love: my family, friends, coffee, writing – and finally last but not least, my handsome little man – my Lucas Terrier, Mr Darcy.
To find out more about Alice and her novels, please visit www.alicepeterson.co.uk <http://www.alicepeterson.co.uk>  

Top Travel tips: Interview with Travel Writer Jeanine Barone

Today we are delighted to interview the travel writer Jeanine Barone about her top travel essentials and tips for singles holidays and solo travellers. Jeanine is a travel and food writer specializing in hidden treasure travel. Her work appears in dozens of magazines, newspapers and websites, including National Geographic Traveler, Conde Nast Traveller (UK), Virtuoso Life, the Dallas Morning News,  Monocle and many others. She has her own company, Land of J, Inc., where, among other things, she's designing a line of clothing and accessories for women who travel so, without further ado this is Jeanine Barone.

-Welcome to Flavours Holidays blog Jeanine, please tell us a bit about you and what inspired you to combine travel with writing.

          My path to becoming a travel writer was quite unusual and circuitous. I started out as a biologist and hoped to be a cardiologist until I didn't get into medical school. Then I taught biology on all grade levels, from elementary school to college, and continued my scientific studies with a double masters in nutrition and exercise physiology. (Yes, I'm quite the life science geek.) But, unlike my peers, I was not interested in doing research or going into clinical practice. Instead, I decided to be a health writer, publishing articles in all the major men's, women's and lifestyle magazines. Yet, travel has long been a passionate interest of mine. Since I was a teen, I explored the U.S. and international destinations on my bicycle -- I pedaled from Seattle to San Diego and led teen bike trips, including one from New York City to Montreal. So I thought it would be more fun and creative to combine my love of travel with my ability to craft great stories. However, I'm always a scientist at heart. And I use my background in nutrition and exercise physiology to advise others how to stay healthy and fit while on the road.

-Share with us your tried and tested travel essentials

         • A large cashmere pashmina makes a great blanket or, when folded or rolled up, a pillow or back/neck support on the plane. And, of course, I use it has a head cover when entering religious sites or I drape it around my shoulders when going out on a cool night.

         • Clothing that does double or triple duty. (This is a way to cut down on what I pack since I never ever check luggage.) For example, a clothing item called the Versalette can be worn 30 different ways, including as a tunic, dress, skirt and a shawl.

         • A pair of flat, Mary Jane-type shoes, such as those manufactured by Keen, which have a good sole for walking around town but also can be worn when you dress up for going out at night. (I only bring two pairs of shoes and this is always one of 'em.)

         • An unobtrusive travel wallet, like one made by Victorinox, that attaches securely to a belt and has lots of Velcro and zipper compartments.

         • Dental  floss, safety pins, a Krazy Glue-type product, and duct tape. These four items can repair almost anything.

         • My unique travel first-aid kit organizer: Doc-in-a-Bag. These five pouches with individual icons allow me to segregate my first-aid supplies – and I have a very extensive list of supplies that I travel with – by symptoms and body system, something that keeps me ultra organized.

-Are you a solo traveller? What do you like the most/find challenging when travelling solo?

        

         Many times I travel alone, at other times with a friend or two, and occasionally with a group when I sign up for a tour. Each method of travel has advantages and disadvantages. But, as far as solo travel is concerned, what I like about it is that I can set my own schedule and itinerary. I don't have to constantly make compromises, whether that means being forced to start the day late or having to visit endless antique shops. It's also easier to interact more extensively with the locals when I travel alone rather than relying on my travel partners for conversation. 

         But I'm not in love with eating by myself at night. My ideal travel situation would probably involve traveling with one friend who is flexible enough that we can each do our own thing during the day if we want and meet up at night for drinks, dinner and after-dinner activities.

         A big challenge of traveling alone is security issues, since I often enjoy hiking, as well as roaming around cities day and night. Usually there is safety in numbers.

-Tell us some personal safety tips for solo travelers

         • Never get a hotel room on the ground floor.

         • Always observe who is in the hallway and near the door of your accommodation before you insert your key.

         • Don't display flashy jewelry or tech equipment, which includes an iPad, iPhone, video cam or digital camera and lenses.

         • Don't carry a purse.

         • If you do carry a purse, never hang it on your chair nor place it on the floor, even if it's between your feet.

         • Speak with women business owners at your destination and find out about security issues.

         • Whether you’re traveling alone or not, make sure that your hotel room door has a dead bolt, including on sliding glass doors to balconies, patios or pools.

-What are the best tips for how you plan a trip

         I do a lot of research, including reading at least three different guidebooks and travel articles in newspapers such as the New York Times, LA Times, The Guardian, Times of London and Washington Post; reading blogs I respect; and posting questions on TripAdvisor and message boards. But the research continues once I arrive: asking owners of small independent shops as well as innkeepers, bartenders and restaurateurs for their suggestions.

-What is your most memorable travel experience

         I find all of my travels, whether domestic or international, pedestrian or exotic, memorable in one way or another. But my river cruise down the Amazon with International Expeditions is among my most memorable. Though I've hired experienced guides all over the world, native Peruvian Johnny, one of our naturalist guides, was the best I've ever encountered. Though I'm noted for peppering guides with a litany of questions, Johnny easily and gladly answered them all and never, as some guides are known to do, became frustrated with my seemingly endless inquiries. He was exceedingly generous with his time, many days spending an extra half hour with me to go over some of my biological and cultural questions. He's one unique guide: funny, warm, supportive, empathetic and even an entertainer and performer, playing in a band each night during happy hour. His strong love of the Amazon, its people and creatures is what he shared with all of us and that will stay with me forever.    

    
      Aside from this oh-so-positive guide experience, this trip offered a discovery-a-minute with surprises galore, both cultural and biological. Who knew that you can eat piranha and that they're tasty? Or that villagers farm rice atop sand bars? Or that families anchor their dug-out canoes beside floating parking lots of sorts so that they could go shopping for much needed supplies? Or that a species of catfish actually walks on muddy shores with its flexible pectoral fins? 

You can contact the author at her website J The Travel Authority
or follow her on Twitter:@jcreaturetravel and Facebook. 

Thank you very much for sharing with us these interesting tips and advice about singles holidays and travel planning and speaking about your favourite off-the beaten-track memories. We would love to have you with us on an authentic Italian cooking holiday or our extraordinary themed, pilates holidays in the most beautiful regions of Italy for another authentic memory to add to your collection.

Surprise Valentine’s Day!

If you’d told Caroline Toplis four years ago that she’d be looking forward to celebrating Valentines’ Day as a newly-wed this week she wouldn’t have believed you. Sadly widowed after nearly 30 years in 2010, looking for romance was not something she was even contemplating when she booked a cooking holiday in October 2010. We caught up with her last week to find out more about the story behind this year’s unexpected Valentines celebrations.

 

Flavours Holidays: So had you ever been on holiday on your own before, Caroline?

Caroline: Never; sadly in May 2010 I lost my husband of nearly 30 years. We’d been together since we were very young so I’d never done any solo travelling in my youth or even had many trips away with girlfriends. Holidays had always been about us as a family. When I lost my husband, my world was turned upside down. I anxious to try and make positive changes and move forward in my life. I hated the feeling that ‘nothing could ever be the same again’ and that my life was frozen. So in addition to learning to be a bit more practical around the house I decided to take another positive step and plan a holiday for myself. I knew I didn’t want to go on holiday on my own on a classic package tour – the thought of sitting lonely on a sun lounger next to a swimming pool horrified me. However, going on a dating week was equally unappealing. I just wanted to get away and not have to impose as a ‘gooseberry’ on my friends who were all busy making holiday plans at the time.

I’d always enjoyed cookery so I thought perhaps a week away learning new recipes might be a good way to ease myself into the concept of going away alone. I did a lot of googling and came up with a Flavours cooking holiday in Italy. Whilst the company clearly welcomed solo travellers, it didn’t look like a classic holidays for singles which appealed to me.

  

Flavours Holidays: So how did you feel when you first set off on holiday?

Caroline: Excited but pretty terrified really. I needn’t have worried however. When I arrived at the airport, the villa host put me at ease immediately. At the villa, Livia introduced me to my fellow travellers. It was a small group, some were there for cookery like me and the others were learning Pilates. However soon we all got to know each other. 

 Flavours Holidays: How did you enjoy your first week away on holidays for singles?

Caroline: The week of my holidays for singles passed incredibly quickly and at the end of it I actually realised I’d had a really nice time – something I hadn’t actually been contemplating with all the anxiety I’d experienced around booking the trip in the first place. I then booked to go away the following summer to Umbria.

Flavours Holidays: So did you meet your husband in Umbria?

Caroline: No, we met on my next trip. I’d spent my first New Year’s Eve without my husband babysitting my grandson. I decided I wanted to do something for me to ring in New Year 2012. So when I spotted that Livia, my delightful villa host from Sicily, was leading a special New Year’s Eve tour I decided to go back for a New Year’s holiday.

Sicily enjoys a wonderfully mild climate, so it was a really pleasant place to be in December, too. Matt was amongst the tour group. There were quite a lot of us, around a dozen in total, but we all gelled really quickly over cookery lessons and sightseeing trips and it was a really happy New Year.

Flavours Holidays: So was this a holiday romance?

Caroline: No, not at all. During the trip we just got on as part of the group. I didn’t even really consider there could be anything more at that point, it was just an enjoyable holiday. When we all returned to the UK, we swapped emails and kept in touch via Facebook. Gradually, Matt and I struck up an email correspondence over the next few weeks. He then invited me to be his date at a dinner dance. To be quite honest, that was the first time I’d considered that there may be the possibility of more than friendship between us and to my surprise I was excited and ready to find out. So I said yes. At the time Matt lived in Leicestershire, which was only an hour or so from my home in Yorkshire so it was easy to keep in touch and get to know each other. We married nearly 18 months after we first met and were delighted to have a number of our original travelling companions at the ceremony.

Flavours Holidays: A love of cookery brought you together, is cookery an important part of your marriage?

Caroline: Most definitely, yes. We often unwind on a Friday night trying out new recipes and rediscovering old favourites. Naturally we both enjoy Italian cuisine. My favourite is fresh crab and prawn ravioli, whereas Matt loves to cook risotto. We still both have a keen interest in becoming better cooks and will be departing on our first Flavours cooking holiday together in May, this time to Puglia.

Flavours Holidays: So how will you be celebrating your first Valentine’s Day together as a married?

Caroline:  We plan to let someone else do the cooking and have dinner at a local restaurant, obviously raising a glass or two of Prosecco.

Happy RE-New Year!! Out with the Old, In with RE-New!!

re - a prefix, occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, used with the meaning "again" or "again and again" to indicate repetition. (dictionary.com)

Re-solve, re-discover, re-vise, re-invigorate, re-infuse, re-lease, re-vive, re-create, re-view, re-start, re-do, re-flect, re-visit, re-invent…

Where do you want to go on 2014?

The "new" year is just beginning! Lose weight, exercise more, spend less, clean out the (fill in the blank), eat healthier, take a class and learn how to (fill in the blank), start (fill in the blank), quit (fill in the blank), and, of course, take that long-awaited and long-anticipated trip to (fill in the blank)… Ah, the ubiquitous New Year's Resolutions! Make 'em, break 'em! Re-make ‘em...again... Sound familiar?

Yeah, me, too! For years I dutifully wrote my
re-solutions down with a determined new found re-solve! Then I realized that most of them sounded oddly familiar...because they were re-peated from the prior year!

Well, I don’t know about you, but travel is and has always been on my list. And, about 7 years ago, I got sick and tired of just “having it on my list” and decided to do something about it! I de-cided that nothing was going to keep me from traveling again…and I do mean nothing! I was determined to go to go back to Italy and I did and that trip not only re-ignited my re-solve and deep seated love of travel, but was the beginning of many other wonderful travels.

Dream! Plan! Go!

So, I ask you: Where have you always dreamed of going? Make a list - start with your top 5 choices. Dream BIG for heaven's sake! Maybe you want to return to a favorite place? Explore a new one? Maybe there’s something or somewhere that has been on your "list" for a very long time...maybe too long? Re-solve now not to be deterred, to put an action plan in place, to not only re-kindle those dreams, but embrace new ones! Then, take action. Look up those destina-tions online, go to their websites and blogs, get brochures, listen to the music, watch movies and travelogues…Immerse yourself and see yourself there enjoying, exploring, and living your dream!

You can probably guess what's on the top of my travel list...okay, Italy Italy Italy…not only be-cause I am Italian but because I absolutely love everything Italiano…the food, the art, the his-tory, the language, the people…for me, it is my heart’s home and I simply can’t get enough of it… 

La dolce vita awaits you!

Although 2013 was a bit of a roller coaster for me, another dream trip to Italy this spring has been on the calendar and in the works for almost a year. Not only did I take a huge leap and am organizing small group tours but I am also stepping out of my comfort zone and will include some solo travel as well. Scary wonderful but just making the decision has opened up so many doors and possibilities I wouldn’t have every dreamed of…and I tell you this because there’s no magic in it - it’s all about desire and, yes, re-solve. And it’s all there for YOU, too!

Re-solve to follow your travel dreams!

And re-member, planning doesn’t need to be a daunting, overwhelming task - there are so many professional tour companies who have done all the legwork and organized fabulous trips for you!

An obvious choice is right here with Flavours Holidays. Want an intimate, small group experi-ence? Not ready for solo travel? Want to explore your culinary or artistic side or just wander the cobblestone streets and soak it all in? Perfect. You can do it all with Flavours! So make that list and share it with me, won't you? Let’s dust off our dreams, pack our bags and GO!!! Next year this time, I want us to be sharing photos and stories about those travel dreams that came true in 2014! You never know who you will inspire…so dream, plan, go! La dolce vita awaits!

Author bio:
Victoria De Maio, Postcards from Travel PiZazz

La dolce vita for me! My name is Victoria De Maio, and I am a passionate lover of all things Italian. As a travel consultant, blogger and writer, I am dedicated to providing no-nonsense, practical travel tips and insights - with a light-hearted twist. I specialize in helping people plan and take that next fabulous vacation.

Please join me at http://PostcardsfromTravelPiZazz.com and watch for Postcards from La Dolce Vita where you can join me on my travels in Italy this spring. You’ll also find me on Italian Notebook, Facebook (Postcards fromTravel PiZazz), Pinterest and Twitter (@LaDolceVita4Me ), about.com and Google+.