Wanderlust

I left a foggy, -2 degree London to answer the call of the warm beaches of Algarve, Portugal. The ride to the airport was so foggy and all we had as an indication that we were not alone on the A13 was the rear light staring like angry eyes from the cars ahead.

I had left my kids at home with their dad. I figure they can survive without me for four days...I hope😁. So looking out my cab window, it felt like the fog was guilting me into staying back....but as a mum who has paid her dues I owed myself this!

I have been feeling like my life revolved around work and family in an unhealthy way. Like I was losing myself in it all and not doing anything that was for me, so here I was finally doing this for me. Yaay me!

So back to my story, I got on the flight at 6.25am , and made a mental and a physical list of how I planned to make use of my holiday, reading and writing would be a big part of it.

Armed with Nawal El Saadawi's 'Woman at Point Zero' as one of my reads , I found myself reading it on the short flight and was done with it as I waited in the hotel lobby for my room to be ready...the book was that good!

I decided a promenade around the hotel lobby, down the beach and the hotel vicinity would be a good way to work up an appetite before lunch. Getting back to the hotel and voila! I saw a shelf stacked with books in a small obscure corner of the lobby!

The books looked sad (okay, I am exaggerating, I know) but the books did look untouched, and it made even more drawn. I have to say everytime I see a book shelf I am drawn to it like a magnet, there is no bookshelf I walk past...never!

I wasn't sure what the deal was, if the books were for sale as there was no one there, so I excitedly walked back to the the lovely lady at the front desk to ask if I could borrow one and her eyes lit up as she said 'please, take any book you want'

I walked back with a spring in my steps, excited at the thought of another book, also hoping to find something exceptional. I could almost feel the books compete for my attention as no one but me seemed to care, took my time asking myself if I wanted a fun book, some serious stuff to gear me into doing more writing or just go for what I never, EVER seem to get enough of...Crime fiction! I got a John Grisham read to go with the humorist novel I had come with by Nigerian author, Tricia Nwaubani's 'I Do Not Come To You By Chance' (Humour, Satire rolled in one)

So, here I am excitedly writing about finding a bookshelf in a hotel lobby, as in all my years of travelling and staying in hotels, this is the first time that I have seen a hotel stack books...not for sale but for guests to borrow and read. I will be here in Algarve for 4 days, hopefully all the the sunshine, the peace and serenity of the beach and all my reading will help me retrace my steps to my first love, writing.

This hotel got me singing their praise all over social media. It would be great if more hotels did same.