Musing Mediterranean

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A trip to the Mediterranean—who wouldn’t be thrilled? Beth Daigle should be doing back flips as she prepares to escape her humdrum suburban life, but travel anxiety gets the best of her. This is a trip of a lifetime, something to look forward to, yet Beth is dreading it.

The daughter of an Italian mother and Greek father, Beth has always dreamed of visiting Greece and Italy. Her Type A husband, Tony, revels in planning every detail of their two-week vacation. The plan expands to include not only Beth and Tony’s two tween daughters, but Beth’s parents, sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew.

As her family’s excitement mounts, so does Beth’s trepidation. She experiences serious anxiety about the flight itself, plus spending two solid weeks with her extended family.

Despite her worries, Beth manages the eight-hour plane ride to Rome, and the adventure begins.

If you’ve never experienced the beauty of the Mediterranean, or even if you have, Musing Mediterranean will take you there through Beth’s eyes, page by page.

MY REVIEW

Daigle is one of the few people willing to voice out loud that the attacks of Sept. 11 left her with a huge fear of flying. A fear that kept both her and her family from enjoying travel together. This is almost a diary-like story of her thoughts and feelings concerning the woes of those who would just as soon stay home rather than travel.

She does tackle her fears though and takes a wonderful trip with her family. The conversations this entails both with her friends and with her family make for interesting reading. Her descriptions of the places they visit make it almost a travelogue.

I found myself reading very quickly and rarely putting this down.

Read an Excerpt

AMALFI COAST

The moment we were all comfortably seated, we were inundated with food, in the best way possible. We didn’t order one thing; it was all brought to us. Whatever the chef was cooking was what was served, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.


Every plate was also a work of art: each was hand-painted, colorful, and artistic. And before we knew it, music filled the air when the owner’s niece took a microphone and asked all the patrons to join in on a sing-along.


The Italian blond beauty entertained us with her soothing voice, ethnic songs, and gregarious hospitality.


Her rousing renditions of both familiar and unfamiliar songs left us ready to sit back and enjoy the end of our memorable meal. Served family style, it was a meal that included five appetizers, five entrees, homemade wine, pear grappa, and five desserts. It was extravagant, yet unpretentious.


As desserts and limoncello came to the table, so did the owner–chef. Every bite that was served was natural and simply prepared, yet it was the most delicious food I’d ever eaten.



About the Author:

Beth Daigle is a lifelong New Englander residing north of Boston with her husband and daughters. Prior to settling into her role as a writer, Beth was a marketing professional whose favorite part of the job was writing. As a freelancer, Beth has enjoyed contributing to numerous lifestyle and home publications, yet she yearned for something more than a magazine article. Then along came Musing Mediterranean. Beth quickly became immersed in chronicling this travel event and articulating her perceptions of the places she visited, the people she met, the foods she enjoyed and the crazy moments she encountered. The idea that someone who may never travel to Greece, Italy or Turkey could appreciate this experience through Beth’s eyes became a driving force behind the story. Revealing her struggle with travel anxiety helped Beth move forward and embrace, once again, how very wonderful it is to travel the world.



“The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page.” St. Augustine.



Beth is a creative soul who finds joy in art, home design, gardening, reading, writing, a good laugh, and an even better television show.




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