Some of My Favorite Books to Enhance Travel

And no I don't mean travel guides. My favorites are books that give me more back round about where I am going and what I will be seeing. Some are non fiction but others are historical fiction that make it more readable for some. Here are some of my favorites:

Planning a stop at Versailles while you are in Paris? The Sun King by Nancy Mitford is easy to read and is an excellent biography of Louis XIV and how and why he transformed Versailles from a small hunting lodge into the seat of the French Government. For a more extended history of the palace, try To Dance with Kings by Rosalind Laker. It covers the history of the palace till the French Revolution through the fictional story of a family and how their history is interwoven with Versailles.

Heading to Hawaii or doing an Alaskan cruise? James Michener's books Hawaii & Alaska should be on your reading list. While they are fictional, Michener always did a thorough job of historical research, so the books are very readable and it gives you a view of how these states grew and some of the challenges of the different types of people who populate the state view each other.

God Save the Queen! Heading to the UK? Read up about Her Majesty. Elizabeth, The Queen by Sally Bedell Smith was publish for the Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Ms Smith had access to friends of the Queen and there are some funny antidotes in there. Even better is The Final Curtsey, by Margaret Rhodes, who is 1st cousin to HM. Mrs. Rhodes was also a lady in waiting to her aunt, the late Queen Mother. So lots of good insider information and great informal family pictures of the Queen. Also any of the books written by the late Dowager Duchess of Devonshire about her family estate Chatsworth are a must if you are visiting "stately homes". Her and her late husband really lead the way in saving and changing the views of the great country houses of England. Plus she's Nancy Mitford's youngest sister and like Nancy, she has a very readable style of writing.

Istanbul a port of call on your Eastern Med cruise? Did you know it was previously known as Constantinople, capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, later the Byzantine Empire? They kept the Greco-Roman knowledge alive while the West went through the Dark & Middle Ages. Lars Brownworth's Lost to the West is a great readable history of the Byzantine Empire from the foundation of the city  by Constantine the Great to 1453 when the city was taken over by the Ottoman Turks. Andrew Novo's Queen of Cities is the story of the last siege of Constantinople.

Why do a little reading before your trip? If you are doing a tour your guide will appreciate that you did a little homework before hand and seem really interested in what you are seeing and can ask intelligent questions. Also maybe this wasn't your top vacation pick, instead of doing some low level sulking maybe doing a little swotting up before hand may change your mind that this isn't that bad. Plus if you play nice next time you may get your top vacation pick.

Top 5 Reasons to Sail Cunard's Queen Mary 2

If you haven't guessed by some of my blogs, I am a history buff. So combine that with my interest in the golden age of ocean liners and being a card carrying Anglophile, guess what I was doing Memorial Day morning? Watching all 3 Cunard ships sail up the Mersey into Liverpool for Cunard's 175th anniversary. That is where it all started with the sailing of the original ship, Britainia to Boston back on July 4, 1840. The legacy of Cunard is staggering, some of the greatest ships to transport royalty, celebrities and perhaps your own family to our shores. My great grandfather sailed from the Austrian Adriatic port of Fiume to New York on the RMS Pannonia in 1905 and my father in law sailed from Le Harve France to New York in the RMS Aquatania(thanks ancestry.com) after WWII.

The only direct descendent of these floating palaces is the Queen Mary 2. She is the only true ocean liner in regular service. But you may say wait there are plenty of cruise ships. Yes that is the difference, they are built for cruising, the QM2 is built to cross the Atlantic at speed. While her crossings are 7 days, she could easily do it in less days. While today's modern cruise ships have plenty of  activities to keep you busy outside and in. Cunard activities are more indoor focused since her main route is the North Atlantic. And they are more enriching then what is available on what the main stream cruise lines. So why should you sail on the Queen Mary 2?

1. You think you were born in the wrong era, not so long ago doing a crossing was the only way to get back and worth from Europe to America. No jet lag, just worrying about should you go to afternoon tea and do you have time for a nap before changing for dinner. And yes you will change for dinner, Formal on Cunard is old school formal.  Are you a Downton Abbey fan? You can sail just like Lady Mary would have back in the day.

2. Anglophiles rejoice- Afternoon tea with scones and fingers sandwiches, have a pint at the Golden Lion with your favorite pub lunch, let the Norland trained nannies handle the kids. Plus Cunard is a favorite of the British public, so you'll have ample opportunity to meet "the locals."

3. Enrichment means more than where to shop- Cunard's Insight program is the bombs! Historians, astrologist, QM2 has a planetarium on board, royal experts, foreign policy wonks are just a sampling. Plus pick up some tips on acting from RADA or pick a book from the ship's library that contains around 8,000 volumes.

4. Ballroom Dancing QM2 has one of the largest dance floors at sea. While other lines' offer people from the tv show, you can dance the night away if you want. Sadly dance floors are sadly diminished  on other ships even if you can find one that isn't in the nightclub.

5. You just want to relax- a 7 day crossing allows you to unwind and do as little or as much as you want. All you need to decide if you go Eastbound, great if you want to avoid an overnight flight to Europe or Westbound to unwind on your way home from Europe and be up on deck to see the Statue of Liberty as you enter New York, just like your ancestors may have done many years ago.

For a list of 101 things to do on the Queen Mary 2, contact me and I will get it to you.