Tell us about the location you chose for your SUNLOUNGER short story… I chose the sun-kissed island of Santorini because I went there on holiday a couple of years ago. I couldn’t for the life of me understand why I hadn’t been there before. It’s Eden on earth. Go there and see for yourself.
Have your books featured any exotic destinations? In IT HAPPENED IN PARIS Evie, my hilarious heroine, wangles a job as a tour guide by embroidering and falsifying her resume. Motivated by a burning ambition and a lot of white wine Evie visits chic Paris, the freezing Scottish Highlands and the South of France, (with 40 passengers in tow, God help them). In IT HAPPENED IN VENICE, encouraged by a handsome ‘older’ man and the need to control an off- the- richter-scale credit card bill, Evie visits tropical Barbados, fashionable Dublin, Marrakesh, Paris and the crème-de-la-crème Venice. (Did you see Angelina Jolie in The Tourist? OMG I want to drive a speedboat standing up, but I suffer from wicked sea sickness, so that’s an ambition I’ll never fulfill).
If you could live anywhere in the world… I’m going to be really boring and admit that I’m quite content living in London. I like the change of seasons. I’m happy to be incinerated on the underground in summer (too many tourists and no air conditioning). And I don’t mind being frost-bitten on the train station platform in winter. I don’t even react to the words ‘delay’ and ‘cancellation’ anymore, there’s no point, British Rail don’t care. I love the Selfridges Sale and Westfield Shopping Centre. I like Bournemouth beach, and the new coffee shop Valentina’s on Weybridge High Street. So yes, leave me here, and I’ll be fine.
Destination you’ve returned to the most times? La Manga in Spain. It’s an amazing and exclusive Golf Resort. And no, I don’t play golf, I don’t even know how to play pitch and put. When the kids were young we went to La Manga every year, and so we hooked up with a regular crowd, got to know all the restaurants and bars, and felt a home from home cord of familiarity. And it’s a short flight. When you have young children the nightmare of all nightmares is being a parent on a long haul flight with a six month old puce faced, howling, screamer!
Ticket, passport, money and… What is your travel essential? I cremated my hair a couple of years ago due to a GHD Straighteners addiction. To wean myself off my GHD’s I bought a set of heated rollers. I’m now addicted to heated rollers, they would definitely be my travel essential.
Favourite cuisine from around the world? I love Kebabs. They don’t have to be from around the world. Any Kebab shop in London will do!
Favourite holiday cocktail? Bellini, margarita, rum punch etc etc. And I’m quite partial to the barman’s special, whatever that special might be.
What was your best/worst holiday romance? Easy – my best and worst holiday romance was with the same handsome, two-timing slut bucket, (Michael you know who you are)! He forgot to mention that he had a wife. But then his wife ‘didn’t understand him,’ so that explained everything.
