Virginia Heath: What to Buy that Difficult Person?

My husband and I have reached THAT point in our lives. The point where you have a house filled with stuff. Stuff we have meticulously chosen to last for ages because our kids are older and we don't have to worry about finger-paints on the furniture any more. We both have wardrobes filled with clothes, a kitchen stocked with every labour-saving appliance known to man and a loft and garage crammed with more stuff we have no place for and should probably get rid of.

Which means buying Christmas and birthday presents for each other is a nightmare, especially as we managed to be born in the two worst months of the year- January and February. Birthdays so close to Christmas that it is practically impossible to buy a gift that is unique, wonderful and produces the eyes-wide awe you want to witness when somebody opens one of your gifts.

A few years ago, we started to gift each other memories instead. Experiences and moments which last far longer than that expensive bottle of perfume or yet another sweater. Some of our 'memories' have been expensive, but not everything has to coast and arm and a leg. So below is some ideas to inspire you to make a memory with that Difficult Person in your life...

Sunset on top of The Shard

Champagne on the top of things:
The world is crammed full of tall buildings and a great many of them offer packages with a glass of something fizzy. We like to book times as the sun is going down. I've seen sunset on top of No. 1 World Trade, the Empire State, the Eiffel Tower and my local skyscraper- the Shard in London. Each one has been amazing.

Sunset in The Hamptons

And on the topic of sunsets:
Just sitting somewhere and watching the sun go down with someone special is awesome and completely FREE!

The whole family and Hadrian at the British Museum

Making Memories at Museums:
Usually either free or very cheap, you can spend a fabulous family day at a museum and learn something in the process.






Special tours:

My kids on the usually fenced-off exercise yard at Alcatraz

I suppose it helps that we are complete history nerds, but we adore a special tour of a place. For historic sites or parks, these tours are usually inexpensive but give your a unique guided insight into  a place. The night tour of Alcatraz, for example, gave us access to areas of the prison which are closed off most of the time, but on special tours where numbers are limited they make concessions. The added bonus of this tour is you also get to watch the mist roll down the hills and cover San Francisco Bay from the deck of the boat out, and the twinkling lights of the cityscape on the way back.

chillin' in Central Perk, Warner Bros Studios LA

For a few measly pounds in London (so long as you book WAY in advance!) you can watch the Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. A ceremony which has been performed every night for about 700 years. You also get shown around the Tower in the dark, which is eerie and spooky and beyond atmospheric. I also highly recommend the Houses of parliament tour and the Kennedy Space Centre Fly with an Astronaut tour (but that one isn't cheap!). The Warner Brothers Studio tour in Los Angeles is far and away the best of the studio tours and if you book it early enough, you can finish it with a live recording of a hit show like The Big Bang Theory.



The gift that keeps on giving:

Last year, Mr H bought me an English Heritage card for my birthday. There are similar schemes all over the world and this one gives me (for a small yearly fee under £90) free access to over 400 historic sites in the UK. Whenever we have a long car journey, instead of stopping off at municipal motorway services, we go and have a cup of tea at a castle or a stately home or Stonehenge!

And in case you are wondering what we did this year for our birthdays and Christmas, we went to Iceland to see the Northern Lights and swim in the Blue Lagoon. The Northern Lights proved to be elusive but it's a trip I will remember forever.

Virginia Heath writes witty, raunchy regency romantic comedies for Harlequin Mills & Boon. Her latest novel, Miss Bradshaw's Bought Betrothal is out now.

Virginia Heath: Lost in Translation?

This week I am heading back to the USA. A country I love and have visited many times. And will continue to. Top of my bucket list is to visit every single one of the 50 states. As a Brit, American culture is so interchangeable with ours that in many ways it is a home from home.

Almost.

There are certain things about the Land of the Free that baffle me and only one which truly makes me mad. The tea.

Proper tea- made with tea leaves. The words on the mug are true!

Tea is our national drink. It is the perfect accompaniment to gossip, happiness, sadness and fatigue. It gives us Brits something to cling to if people insist on discussing uncomfortable topics like feelings. We start and end our day with the stuff. If a typical human is 65% water, then your average Brit would be at least 50% tea. There is nothing worse than a bad cuppa. A brit will tolerate poor service stoically, choke down a plate of bad food in a restaurant without complaint- but serve us a weak, lukewarm brew and expect terse words.

American tea is alien. Everything about it is wrong. If you ask for tea in a restaurant you get given a cup of tepid water with a teabag on the side.

ON THE SIDE!

When it should be immersed in that water.

Brewing.

If you dunk said bag of dust, masquerading as tea, into the water, at best you get a beige drink when every Brit knows tea is a beautiful, steaming, golden brown! Hotels are worse. They expect you to make tea in a c-c-coffee machine. Just typing those words makes my blood boil. And seriously, do not get me started on the practice of providing coffee creamer when you ask for milk… it is a Traves-tea. No wonder everyone in the states drinks coffee.

But fear not, I would ever allow something as petty as a simple hot drink to put me off my American adventures. I am prepared. Proper English teabags and my trusty travel kettle are already packed in my suitcase- once I get stateside, the very first thing I am buying is milk! And I still love the USA...

Happy Thanksgiving!

Virginia Heath writes witty, fast-paced Regency romantic comedies with a modern twist for Harlequin Historical and Mills & Boon.

Her latest novel, The Discerning Gentleman's Guide, out now.

You can find her on Facebook and Twitter or in a tea shop somewhere.

Can You Be Homesick for a Place Where You've Never Lived?

   

I always thought you had to have lived in a place in order to be homesick for it. But, I discovered on my first trip to Scotland in 2002, that I was wrong. As soon as I landed, 2 days late and alone and rushing to catch up with the group in Pitlochry, I knew I'd come home. 


   And, I really thought that my recent illness had caused such strange feelings throughout the trip and on my way back home. But, when I visited Scotland again in 2004, I knew I'd returned home...again. 

   Over these last several weeks, the need to go back has been increasing almost on a daily basis. The premiere of the OUTLANDER series on Starz with its wonderful scenery and history and, ok-shallow-gal-here, hunky Highlanders in kilts with scrumptious Scottish accents has made it nearly unbearable. 



  So, I've been posting photos on my FB page and reliving my most recent visit there in 2009. I'd decided I wanted to go and stay long enough to feel as though I was not simply a tourist. My trip was just over 3 weeks long -- and I went solo! My hubby valiantly (and with a painful expression in his eyes that said please say no) offered to come with me but I knew it would not be pleasant for him....and would ruin my trip. 

With maps, a reservation for a GPS in the rental car, off I went from Glasgow out to Oban, up to Dornie and over to Skye. Ferries took me to Mull and Iona and Lewis and Harris. Then, after a stay in Inverness, I headed north to Orkney. More ferries and then down to Aberdeen and St. Andrews. Finally across to Loch Ness and a stay in Glenmoriston before heading back to the US. 

And I know I need to get back there....soon....absolutely, positively must. 


How about you? Is there a place, near or far, where you've felt that same thing? As though it is where you should be? As though you leave a piece of yourself behind when you go? 

Terri has been busy writing the first books in 2 new series, both debuting in 2015! RISING FIRE:A Novel of the Stone Circles will be a March 2015 release and STOLEN BY THE HIGHLANDER will be out in April 2015. Visit her website or FB page or FB profile for lots more info...and sign up for her newsletter to keep in touch!