Road trip in English gardens, conference-signing my new book in Paris & a short family story

Hello everyone !

What’s up these last days? First of all, I wrote about a trip I did last August through the English gardens. It seemed the perfect time to make you want to see this beautiful countryside (this road trip was done in a 1960 Alfa Roméo – my secret toy!). As always, you will find my favorite addresses at the end of each travel story. I wanted to include a short text about my Scottish great grandmother Mary Ellen Macdonald Kellie who had a fanstatical garden, but I eventually prefered to keep this story for another time because she was a woman who deserves a whole blog post.

I finished this road trip reflecting on the Blenheim Palace cricket field. Seeing all the players, I thought they must be goog students, with a bright future ahead of them (they played cricket at Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born, right?), and it reminded me of my first years in France, when my future was uncertain. I told myself one must enjoy each moment of harmony that life offers at best because these don’t last. Then, I sat in the grass to watch them. I enjoyed the sun and this moment, thinking that like them I was lucky.

After that, I wrote about the conference I gave at the Cercle Intéralliée in Paris. Exactely the kind of evening I adore: people of all styles, all ages, a friendly and happy atmosphere where everyone mingles and nothing is set in stone. According to the feedback I got, everyone had a lovely time. The conference was entitled « From Patagonia to Alaska, itinerary of a travel writer ». I spoke about my travels, my experience with National Geographic, the years when I went on humanitarian missions. I read extracts of my new book and the previous one too, « Adventurers ». I shared stories, experiences of all sorts, serious or funny (such as the one about fly fishing in Montana -well, yes…). I had no notes because I wished for a moment to escape and experience real freedom, and I think (in fact, I know) that people appreciated that. I have already done signatures at that Travellers Club in London, at La Baule in France with the writer Stéphane Hoffmann who does amazing conferences, in New York at the Hotel Algonquin and, each time, it was amazing for me. The photos at the end of the post (and mostly the smiles) show how this night was. Thank you SO much to everyone who took part. When I signed my book at the end of that evening, I couldn’t not think about my family which inspire my writing.

That’s all for today. Hasta luego…