Book Inspired Travel Plans

Have you ever read a book and been inspired to travel somewhere?  I have - in 6th grade.  In 6th grade we read "The Witch on Blackbird Pond" by Elizabeth George Speare.  I recently revisited this book to see if it still had the same effect on me.

It did.

Because of this book, I have always wanted to visit Barbados. 

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The book takes place in the year 1685.  It follows a young girl named Kit that recently lost her grandfather and travels from Barbados to Puritan Connecticut to stay with her aunt, whom she has never met.  When she arrives in Connecticut she has a rough adjustment to New England life.

At times throughout the book the author mentions Barbados, the island that Kit is originally from.  It is described as a place with warm turquoise water, beautiful flowers, and colorful clothes.

Here are a few of the Barbados references in the book:

"The bleak line of shore surrounding the gray harbor was a disheartening contrast to the shimmering green and white that fringed the turquoise bay of Barbados which was her home."

"He knows Barbados.  He explained that the sea is always warm and that even respectable people sometimes swim in it."

"Grandfather was sure Shakespeare must have visited Barbados.  I suspect he liked to think of himself as Prospero."

"Do tell--from Barbados?"  marveled the woman.  "Thee seemed different somehow.  Is it like paradise, the way he says?"


Visiting Barbados is on my 30/30 list.  So - when should I go?