Lawyer to Travel Writer
Just when it seemed I was going to spend my whole working life as a lawyer a career break resulted in an opportunity to travel the world as a tour manager. It was an interesting experience particularly as I was used to dealing with books and individual queries rather than groups of people all with different demands.
However, it was a good opportunity to travel and once I had learnt the job leading groups in Europe I spread my wings and began visiting more exotic destinations. During my tours I kept diaries detailing the places we visited and incidents that happened involving members of the group – my legal training did not go to waste.
During a lull in my travels I was invited to spend some time in the Italian Dolomites and it was while I was walking in the mountains that the idea of writing a book about my experiences was born. I collected together all my diaries and set to work. Two years later my first book, Spirit of the Dolomites, was published by Vanguard Press, an imprint of Pegasus Elliot MacKenzie Publishers (www.pegasuspublishers.com) in August 2008.
It was some years before the company sent me to India and it was every bit as vibrant and exciting as I had imagined. I went back there as often as I could and it was on one of these trips that I decided to write a book about India. This book, My India, was also published by Vanguard Press on 31 August 2010.
By then I was already working on a third book and decided to take some time off from the tour managing and I spent 3 months in the Dolomites working on the new book. This third book, My Italy – Festivals and Fiascos, is due to be published early next year.
After delivering the completed manuscript I was back on the road as a tour manager. Easter by Lake Garda was followed by a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia, two weeks by the sea in Sardinia and then a week in Tuscany. The rest of the summer will be spent in Madonna di Campiglio, in the Dolomites.
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