Why a Booktrail?
2000s: Maddy and Leanne are in need of a miracle. But their luck changes when they win the lottery.
The Road Trip
What you need to know before your trail
Setting off from Dublin, Maddy and Leanne lease a red convertible, winding through Europe and heading for the sun-drenched French Riviera.
But the pair have their own reasons for their adventure. Maddy has never forgotten her summer romance of twenty years ago with a gorgeous Frenchman and Leanne plans to track down the father who abandoned her as a child.
Amongst glorious sunsets and buckets of bubbly, Leanne and Maddy are searching for answers after years of wondering ‘what if?’. But there might just be some surprises in store along the way…
Locations
Reset- Netherlands/ Belgium
- E: Netherlands - Amsterdam - d'Vijff Vlieghen
- F: Belgium - Brussels
- France - Paris
- G: Porte Maillot
- H: Rue du Buci
- I: Luxembourg gardens
Travel Guide
(c) TheBookTrail
The Great Euroscape
Ireland
Kildaire – Shop like crazy at the outlet centre here
Wales
Cross the ferry from Rossdale to Pembroke and then stay in a hotel that looks that something from a Jane Austen novel
England
Maidenhurst – Arrive just in time for tea like the girls do in the book
Oxford – well there was no time for Oxford
Windsor – Try and find the Posh pooch shop before visiting the Windsor Castle and the Waterloo Chamber
Amsterdam
Amsterdam on a June morning was enchanting. The water in the canals reflected the sunlight in glittering waves, and the arcades of the narrow old houses glowed with vivid colours. Flowers crammed with petunias, geraniums and roses hung from the railings of the humpback bridges, under which floated a procession of quaint barges.”
Have dinner in the ’Vijiff Vlieghen which means the five flies apparently but the women are more worried that it might be the red light district.
Brussels
Brussels will be crammed with those EU people”
But the city turns out to be better than they think:
The Grand Place with its amazing seventeenth century buildings, was impressive, especially the guildhalls with their carvings, beautiful windows, balconies and crenulations”
It’s the law to eat mussels and frites whilst here.
The drive to Paris took them through some beautifully scenic landscapes as the motorway wound its way through the south of Belgium where Horraces wanted to do a detour and visit the battlefields of Flanders…..but Maddy pretends she can’t hear and heads straight to Paris….past Lille, over the Somme and through the forest of Compiegne.
But first:
The Périphérique – The motorway which surrounds the city:
“Hang on to your pants guys, we’re about to hit the Périphérique . Don’t talk until we’re out of this hell.”
They enter by the Porte Maillot….and someone stays in the latin quarter, the others move to the Left bank
Paris
There’s plenty of places in Paris to inspire. Starting off at the famous Sorbonne school where one of the characters studies.
Ludo shows Maddy part of Paris not known to tourists such as the Marais, The Canal St Martin an area popular with locals on Sundays.
“The Soft Parisian air is lade with coffee, fresh bread, petrol fumes and something else.”
Rue du buci – Time to find the perfume shops…
Luxembourg gardens – good for a walk before going back to the hotel
Le Marais – why not try to find the Pmme de Pin?
Chartres
Chartes – where they meet dad for lunch and visit the cathedral which Maddy finds mind-blowing.
Avignon
Orange – renowned for its roman ruins
Gordes – situated on the edge of the plateau of the Vaucluse, Gordes is an village of exceptional beauty they say. They stay in the rather lovely sounding L’Abbaye de Senanque which is in a lavender filled field. Don’t for get the Luberon hills!
Nice
On the way stop is Aix en Provence for a nice lunch and then off to Nice where you should go straight to Promenade des Anglais but bear in mind the slow moving traffic along the sea front where the girls find good as it gives them time to see the views!
Then it’s time to search for some perfume..
Booktrailer Review
Susan @thebooktrailer
Totally fun this read! Light and fluffy and just what I needed when I read it. A tonic for the mind as you get to travel from Ireland via Wales and England to the Netherlands, then Belgium and down through France with some of the most mad cap characters I’ve ever met. There is a reason why they’re off on this journey and not just to do with the lottery but for me the main attraction of the book was to see and experience the journey with them. Some places they barely brush but it’s the fun in the car, the conversations, the idea of meeting nice French men. Oh and the perfumes! They pick some lovely places to stay – all real – that I am definitely going to put on my next holiday to France.
A giggle and a click of a prosecco glass this novel. It made me chuckle and wonder where I would go if I won the lottery. Definitely a road trip of some sorts. But for the price of a book, you get to go on this fun jaunt first.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Road Trip
Destination : Ireland, UK, Amsterdam,Belgium, France Author/Guide: Susanne O’Leary Departure Time: 2000s
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