Picture of me by Jane Riley
In April 2012, my family and I set off on an adventure like none we had ever done before. For six months – over thirty-one legs and thirty-four beds – we travelled across the US and Europe, ending up in the UK where my husband’s family live. It was a trip that not only bonded us as a family and as a couple but opened up the world to our daughters, and inadvertently spurred on my writing journey.
It all started when my husband sold his business. With him having an enforced ‘earn-out’ period, me having work flexibility as a freelance writer and editor, and the girls still young (Hannah, thirteen and Amy, eleven), it seemed the perfect time to make real a dream we’d had. We had no qualms about taking them out of their respective schools and, thankfully, neither did their principals – although some schoolwork still had to be done along the way. We believed the experiences they’d have would be as educational and enriching as any traditional schooling. And it was – for us as much as for them. I took it upon myself to be the ‘keeper of all knowledge’ via a travelling iPad, teaching new words in the language of the country we were in, encouraging the girls to write about their experiences and, even, having family ‘sketch-offs’. Despite much eye-rolling, no-one really complained. What’s more, we discovered my husband wasn’t bad at drawing!
From the beginning, I knew I would keep a journal as I not only love writing but wanted to document it all, including the unexpected things that happened along the way. How wonderful I did, for now, eight years later, I’ve been reminiscing with my daughters – now twenty-one and nineteen – and having a laugh at some of the moments photos couldn’t capture.
Take day one’s entry … ‘Los Angeles: the city of angels, concrete freeways, celebrities and smog. The mid-morning sky is a hazy blue and the rush-hour traffic on Freeway 1 heading north to Santa Monica is clearing. We sit in silence unable to believe we’re really here. Our orange and turquoise two double-bed room at The Shore Hotel is more than cosy; we’ve barely room for our suitcases. But our first two nights prove to be a comedy of errors. We think the fridge is the safe and the glass floor-to-ceiling partition between our two beds and the bathroom has no curtain. For two days, we shower and toilet in a glass cage and every time someone goes in, they shout ‘No one look!’. I’m blaming jetlag on why we didn’t realise there was an electric blind hidden in the ceiling. What better way to start a six-month journey with teenagers than by breaking down barriers?’
Our month in the U.S included visiting friends and stays in San Francisco, Denver (where the picture was taken – in the Garden of Gods, Colorado Springs), New Orleans, Alabama, Orlando and New York, where, once again, the accommodation offered a story.
On day 24, I wrote: ‘We’re on the move again – to New York – where, this time, we’ve rented our own apartment and have separate bedrooms. Except the girls’ beds are in the living room next to a life-size taxidermy lioness! Maybe we shouldn’t be surprised as we’re in an artist’s flat in an industrial street in Chelsea full of modern art galleries. We put a sheet over the lion so the girls will sleep and try to persuade Amy that the unusual surrealist art installation opposite the toilet isn’t creepy. We’ll be here for four days and she needs to pee.’
After the States, we flew to Europe and travelled around Greece, Italy, Switzerland and France, before settling in the UK for the final three months. It wasn’t just a travel trip; it was a modern-day Grand Tour that enabled us to, not only, explore new worlds and cultures but truly live in the moment and take the time to reassess the ‘old’ world we would be returning to. For me, I decided to invest more time in my creative writing practice and as soon as we got back, enrolled in the Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ course. I wonder, had I not done that whether I would be where I am today with a wonderful mentor, my ex-tutor Kathryn Heyman, a UK agent and a two-book international publishing deal and the launch of my debut novel, The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock.
The Likely Resolutions of Oliver Clock by Jane Riley (Lake Union) is out now
