Travel Wish List from my Fiction – Winds of Change

Back in October of 2023, I wrote about my Maui Shenanigans and how lucky I was to travel to the location I wrote about in my debut novel, Sea Of Dreams. If you want to check out that post, you can find it by clicking here. I had mentioned then, that I thought it would be fun to visit all of the places in the series, so here is what I came up with for Book 2 in the Power Of Four series.

Winds Of Change took a while to research as I hadn’t been to the locations I decided to write about. At least with Maui, I had a general idea/memory of how the island life made me feel, as well as friends who had been there, to draw from. In the story about the element of Air, Amie Petridis is a pilot and has roots in Greece, which is why she decides to vacation there after meeting Air Marshal, Aleck Eyres.

Side note: I’m embarrassed to admit just how long it took me to decide on names for this series, but their symbolism was significant to me. Take the name Anenome for instance, which is shortened to Amie for purposes of my book. Her name means “windflower” in Greek, and while I’m no Taylor Swift, I sure do like leaving Easter eggs like this in my writing. It’s how I humor myself, lol. Just wanted to share that piece of behind-the-scenes magic…Moving on…

Book 1 ends in California, which is where we start Winds Of Change. We travel to Greece and the Temple of Athena where Amie’s elemental portal is located and, after their adventures in Wisteria, they end up in London, England. The final destination is Sedona, AZ where we start Book 3 and Sera’s story. What was great about writing this series was that I could travel to places I had never been to, something I hope to rectify as I travel more in my “empty-nester” years.

California

I have been to California, although not to most of the areas I wrote about, and not for any length of time. Most times I was just traveling on to another location like my trip back from Maui, or through to Vegas the one time I traveled there by car from San Diego. I took a great deal of time figuring out where Amie and Aleck would live, how far apart it would be by car, and where the nearest airport was to them. I also remember checking times on flights, etc. All that work and what I learned most likely only made it into a few sentences in the book. But for me, it’s all about knowing the stuff before I write it… the research is the most fun for me. All I can say here is… thank the Goddess for Mapquest!

Greece

This is when it really got fun! I would LOVE to go to Greece, and researching the sites where all the shenanigans would take place was a blast! I guessed that the flight would be long, so I gave them a few layovers and had them traveling for just under 23 hours. Didn’t want to make it easy on the lovebirds…they were too exhausted to do anything when they landed, lol. Perfect for a little romantic conflict.

I thought it would be fun to have them rent a car and travel that way, so I was able to describe some of the sites Amie would see out of her car window. I just loved some of the visuals I came across for the area between Athens and Olympia, where the Temple of Hera is located. This picture isn’t exact but is what I had in mind as I wrote the scenes.

Temple of Hera

The Temple of Hera was a natural fit for the location of the portal as Hera was not only known as the Goddess of Marriage but also of the sky and stars. I attach the sky to air in my mind, and when I started digging, came up with this great site for the Elemental portal. What I found interesting is since 1936 the Olympic torch has been lit and carried by hundreds of runners to Athens over 10 days. The torch is turned over to the hosting country after it makes its way to Athens, and the fire at the Temple of Hera stays lit during the entirety of the Olympic game period. It isn’t lost on me that the next book in the series was the element of Fire. Just another egg…

Hera’s symbols were listed as a lion, cuckoo, or hawk, and I had fun rolling them into the scene with the help of Zilla and the necklace Amie accidentally opened the portal with. Imagining her and Aleck here taking selfies while the storm swept in was a great deal of fun. Imagining the situation they would find themselves in once they went through the portal was even better. No spoilers here, you will need to read the book!

London, England

Aleck is friends with Brooke’s brother, James (Jim) who resides in London, near Putney Bridge. This bit of research had me figuring out what type of flat he would live in, whether or not it would be within walking distance of a pub, and how far it would be away from the airport. These things aren’t always relayed but trust me, they are important for the writer to know, or at least they are to me. Even though I write fantasy, I want to make my stories as realistic and approachable as possible, so the details matter, at least in my opinion, especially when the story takes place in places we can get to. So much so, that I got hung up on where the gift shop would be located in the hospital where they all ended up visiting, which does exist by the way. If you want details about that, you guessed it… you will need to read the book. 🙂

London is another location on my bucket list, and I hope to get there in the next few years. The trip would include other locations I’ve touched on in my books, but also ones that I just long to see. Scotland would definitely be included, and if time and money allowed, I would love to see Ireland as well. Perhaps I will put those locations in my next WIP… an idea that sounds better the more I think of it. Gotta love a research trip!

Power Of Four Series

If you like contemporary romance with mystical creatures and a dash of magic, please check out this series. It was great fun to write, and I go to some pretty cool places as you can see from this post. You can find more information by heading to the series page here. This image is a throwback to my original marketing and cover design for the series. It includes a line I always liked from the book, which is precisely how I would imagine the embodiment of air to be. Ethereal and magical.

As always, thank you for reading, and if you would like to learn more about my shenanigans, please consider subscribing to my newsletter here: https://www.subscribepage.com/a1n0u1. I would love to have you join my journey!

In the meantime… Happy Reading! XO