Thes Best Women’s Travel Writing: An Ode to B-cups – Mr. Cokah-Light

This one is for the two people who may have read my essay…..

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How I became a travel writer

THE BEACH REPORTER: Beach Books – Redondo Beach Author Delights in Life of Travel, by Annie Lubinsky….

Heather Poole’s life as a flight attendant has led her to many places, and one of them was a nude beach in the Netherlands.

“I met a guy on the airplane who invited me to the ‘naturist’ beach,” Poole said. (She chose to keep her bathing suit on.) The Redondo resident was used to Los Angeles beaches, where plenty of women had undergone plastic surgery. In the Netherlands, though, “all the women were real sizes,” Poole said. “It was the first time I felt normal.”

She wrote about her experience in an essay “An Ode to B-Cups,” which was included in “The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010: True Stories From Around the World.” More essays are forthcoming, as Poole will be publishing her first book in time for the 2011 summer season. Its working title is “Cruising Attitude: My Life at 30,000 Feet.”

“I tried to write a fiction book about a serial-killing flight attendant, but that was when chick lit was popular, and publishers wanted me to make it lighter and more fun,” Poole said. “Then, when I got pregnant with my son, my brain turned to mush, so I started to blog about juggling a professional career and family.”

In tracking the keywords that led readers to her blog, Poole noticed that most were airline- and travel-related. She updated the blog, moving the more personal entries elsewhere and narrowing her focus to travel….

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Travel questions answered

Stephanie Elizondo Griest, author of  of Around the Bloc: My Life in Moscow, Beijing, and Havana, and Mexican Enough: My Life Between the Borderlines, interviewed me on her fun and insightful blog.  Just thought I’d share…

This week’s Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010 contributor spends her days pushing 300-pound carts at 30,000 feet and then blogging all about it: Heather Poole. A flight attendant with 15 years of experience, she’ll be making her memoir debut next summer.

What is “home” for you? Is it a particular place or person or thing?

Home is where my fifteen-pound cat, Gatsby, lives. I’m a flight attendant. I spend part of each month living out of a suitcase. My husband, whom I met on a flight, travels over 100,000 miles a year for business, while my son, a three-and a half-year-old, has been on an airplane at least once a month since he was three months old. All roads lead back to the cat, the only family member with a permanent address.

When did you first hit the road? How did it go?

After I didn’t get a raise working a regular 9-to-5 job for a well-known watch company, I quit. Soon after, I ran across an ad in the newspaper for an airline looking to hire flight attendants. I had never wanted to be a flight attendant, but the pay wasn’t bad and there were lots of days off, so I figured I’d do it for a little while, and as I traveled the world, meeting all kinds of exciting new people, I’d apply to other jobs, ya know, the kind that pay well and people have respect for – something in marketing maybe. Fifteen years later I’m still flying. Life is good.

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Save the date!

Alright guys, time to mark your calendars.  On Tuesday, June 8th, at 7:00 pm, I’ll be in Pasadena at Vromans Bookstore reading an excerpt of my essay, An Ode to B-cups, featured in the  travel anthology The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010.  I’m really looking forward to the event, not just because it will be my first reading EVER (so please be kind), but because I’m truly excited about meeting those of you who can make it out.  (Please make it out!)  

 

Wikipedia writes, ”Vroman’s has hosted many author readings, including celebrities like Goldie Hawn, Margaret Cho, Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter, Courtney Love, Salman Rushdie, Anne Rice, Joan Didion, Nick Hornby, Bret Easton Ellis, Neil Gaiman, David Sedaris, Chuck Palahniuk, and President Bill Clinton.” 

  

(They’re going to have to update that soon to include Heather Poole and Kellen Zale, who will be there with me reading Madonna and Mr. Hu - also featured in The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010 )

 

Vroman’s
695 E. Colorado Blvd
Pasadena, CA

Book Giveaway – The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010

Yeah I know, you’ve heard about it before, the book, and now you’re going to hear about it again. Only this time you have a chance to win it!  I’m giving away TWO copies!  All you have to do is click the READ MORE link below, scroll to the bottom of the post, and leave a comment – any comment!  That’s it…

I have an announcement to make, a very big one. But first I must tell you about a wonderful book, The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2010: True stories from around the world, edited by Stephanie Elizondo Griest. It’s an anthology full of fascinating travel tales by interesting women from all walks of life. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you do, or where you’re going – or not going – there’s something for everyone in this book. And I’m giving copies away to two lucky Gadling readers! (Details at the bottom of this post)

It’s the kind of book that makes you want to travel, or at least go to your local Pakistani restaurant and order the chicken haleem extra spicy, which is exactly what I did right after reading The Heat Seeker, by Alison Stein Wellner. My mother, who also read the book, couldn’t stop laughing over the phone as she recounted the story, Desert Queen, written by Diane Caldwell. I don’t think she’ll be planning a trip to the desert anytime soon. And neither one of us could get over Design a Vagina, written by Johanna Gohmann, which caused my mother to shriek, “I would never!” as if I actually thought she might.

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