Tag: Holy Steps

Why Visit the Holy Stairs, or Scala Santa?

April 22, 2019

The Bashful Adventurer contemplates a visit to the Holy Steps in Rome.

On My Knees at the Scala Santa

September 24, 2013

A print created between 1748 and 1751 of San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome. The Scala Santa, or Holy Staircase, is in a separate building. From the New York Public Library.

Will the Bashful Adventurer, who is not exactly a church-goer, nevertheless be transformed by a visit to the Scala Santa, or Holy Stairs, in Rome?

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Who Is the Bashful Adventurer?

A telemarketer changed my path. My life was humming along. I was a freelance writer and editor, a single mom, a frequent volunteer, and content. Then I decided to give a random telephone surveyor a break. I agreed to answer a few questions on travel destinations and tourist preferences. When I answered never to “how many times have you been to London?,” the telemarketer’s tone shifted quickly. She was talking to an unworldly woman.

She was right. I’d been to Italy, the Caribbean, Mexico, Canada, and plenty of states. I hadn’t trekked through Europe, though, or gone to Asia or visited the Middle East. I was alone, I was a single mom, I was a freelancer. I stopped letting these be excuses and started getting on planes. I became the Bashful Adventurer.

—Lori Tripoli

Bashful Adventurer Book Club

The Book to Bring to Positano, Italy

February 19, 2024

Looking for a book full of charms, a story with a bit of romance and a dose of magical realism, a novel with a setting most desirable—Positano, Italy—and characters in a healthful range of ages? Then pick up One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle.

Looking for Books Set in Key West? Try Island Life Sentence by Carrie Jo Howe

January 15, 2024

Looking for a book set in Key West, the Bashful Adventurer stumbles upon Island Life Sentence by Carrie Jo Howe. But will the book be as a good as a getaway to the Florida Keys?

A Book about Adventures in Travel at an Uncertain Time

November 4, 2020

The Bashful Adventurer picks up a romance novel written in the late 1930s hoping to see if and how the author addressed the coming war—and ends up getting a lesson on careers in the travel and tourism industry at a time when adventures in travel were far from mainstream

Books about Newport, RI: Murder at the Breakers

October 5, 2020

Disinclined to venture too far from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bashful Adventurer picks up a copy of Murder at the Breakers. But will this Gilded Newport Mystery make her want to visit Newport, RI?

Channeling Peggy Guggenheim and Costalegre, Jalisco, Mexico

September 28, 2020

The Bashful Adventurer, engaged in some rugged armchair travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, picks up a copy of Courtney Maum’s novel, Costalegre. Will the Bashful Adventurer be transported?

A Book about the Adirondacks: Murder in the Adirondacks by Craig Brandon

July 2, 2020

Indulging in some armchair travel of the NY Adirondacks, the Bashful Adventurer picks up a book about the Adirondacks. But will she like what she finds in Murder in the Adirondacks?

A Book Set in Sanibel, FL: Seduced by Randy Wayne White

May 8, 2020

Happy to start a Bashful Adventurer Book Club while traveling in place during the coronavirus pandemic, the Bashful Adventurer turns to a Randy Wayne White thriller set in Sanibel, FL for a bit of healthful escapism during a very fraught time. Join her!

Finding Gavrilo Princip at Terezin

May 9, 2019

Learning about World War II at Terezin concentration camp in Czech Republic, the Bashful Adventurer is surpised to discover that Gavrilo Princip, the assassin who killed Franz Ferdinand, did time there.

Visiting the Mendocino Coast

August 12, 2018

Getting Some Ideas from an Old 1972 Visitor Guide Visiting the Mendocino Coast for the first time, I quickly am reminded how little history of the Western United States I remember from any educational instruction on the topic. The details…

Key West’s Appearance in Jim Harrison’s Warlock

July 23, 2018

Read books set in vacation destinations like Key West

Keep Up with the Bashful Adventurer!

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