Description
‘We hear the patrol boat before we see it. A motoric throb resonates from deep within the sea mist. White swirls wrap the dark-pitted peaks of Morocco as they float upwards, mysterious and intangible in the distance…’
Teaching around the world for over forty years, Julie Watson retells her travel memories in vivid flashbacks of times, places and personal encounters.
The argument in an Italian ice cream queue, a bumpy becak ride in Indonesia, African migrants washing up on a Spanish beach, venomous scorpions dancing in the Mexican sun.
Travel Mementos is a collection of true stories from locations around the world. Spanning continents and cultures, the evocative retelling of these personal memories will transport, surprise and delight you in an immersive reading experience.
Reviews
A Real Treat
“A real treat for the many of us who are compelled to be armchair travellers for the moment. Julie Watson has a talent for capturing evocative details that tell their story and the greater truths of life in seemingly small encounters…”
How to travel in lockdown
“At a time when travel is off the cards and would-be backpackers are frustrated in their desire to experience foreign tastes, sounds and sights, this little collection of snapshots from a dozen countries could just hit the spot…”
Wherever she takes you, you find yourself right there!
“Travel Mementos takes you with the author to destinations that are described with such a vivid eye for detail that she makes you feel you can see, smell, touch and hear everything as if you were right there yourself, perceiving what she describes with a clarity and immediacy on a par with and often much, much better than many more famous contemporary travel writers. For me she writes with the fluency of a Colin Thubron and the eye for what matters of a Freya Stark. In short, with this book Julie Watson has given us an absolute little treat of travel writing.”
Tantalising travel bites
“Reading this book in a time lockdowns and restrictions due to the COVID pandemic makes it especially pleasurable. It reminds us of happy times when we could wander the world freely, meeting and interacting with strangers and doing “normal” things like eating in restaurants and going to cultural performances with live audiences. It brings us into contact with wondrous and fascinating landscapes, creatures and plants in that special and intimate way that only good travel writing does.”
Short glimpses of unexpected cultures
“Julie Watson’s Travel Memoirs are sometimes poignant, sometimes wryly unusual, because she has tried to give a taste of the unexpected and often baffling aspects of different cultures. The pieces are very short, and as soon as you finish one, you want to read the next one. Julie is calling up the uniqueness of different cultures, not only of a Mexican town’s scorpion trade, but of Irish routine peat digging – the familiar made strange in a kind of epiphany.”
A Travel Book with a Difference!
“Love this book – so evocative, perhaps especially so now that we are ‘grounded’. I love the writer’s detailed and personal observations, full of interest and empathy, and covering such a diversity of locations and experiences. It’s a book to dip in and out of, savouring the sights, smells and tastes of some more unusual travel encounters across the globe. Thoroughly recommended!”
Charming warm-hearted stories!
“These stories transport you to places exotic as well as some that may be intimately known to the reader. The author has the wonderful knack of imbuing her writing with the very essences of the places she visits – all of the sights and sounds bring these stories to life, and the author’s humour, warmth and charm are woven throughout like an exotic Moroccan tapestry. The perfect book to read during these locked-down times – travel with the author to places far and abroad!”
Julie paints evocative pictures using words
“One moment I’m in Japan with Julie eating noodles; the next I’m on a beach in Spain looking through binoculars. Each of those pages is packed with imagery transporting me to different places. And I am finding out so much……We see what she sees, we feel what she feels; we think what she is thinking; we are doing what she is doing. We are even speaking the language with her. We are there with her. Lovely writing. Julie really is an artist with words.”
Making Waves
A selection of PR and news about Travel Mementos, and articles by Julie Watson.
Isle of Wight Observer Story – Teacher turns author inspired by flashbacks
Isle of Wight County Press – Cowes author publishes her travel memories
Writers & Artists – Promotion After Publication
Fred’s Blog – In Search of Lost Travel Time
Writers & Artists – Starting Out Late: Tips for Senior Writers
