History of a 'Six Weeks Tour'

Chapter One: Two Birds

Since we met twenty-two years ago Chris and I have done a load of travelling together - initially as a couple then later as a family with Sam and Ben. Come Sunday, we’re off again! Six weeks in Europe! Cue celebratory fanfare.

But this trip is a little different. We’re killing two birds, if you like. First, the holiday will mark our twentieth wedding anniversary. China (plates and cups, not the country) is the traditional present for two decades of wedded bliss. But when I consider how our relationship has changed and grown over time and the depth of our feeling and understanding for each other, dinnerware just didn’t measure up. So we decided to gift ourselves travel instead.

And second, I’ll be carrying out research for my current manuscript, a novel based partly on the lives of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley (nee Godwin) and her partner, the Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley.

Now, for those not familiar with the unorthodox lives of Mary Godwin and Shelley, here’s a little backstory. At sixteen, the brilliant daughter of the feminist philosopher Mary Wollstonecraft (Mary Godwin) ran away from her home in London with her avant-garde and married lover (Percy Bysshe Shelley). He had a crazy plan to create a community of kindred spirits, ‘sharing minds and bodies’, on the shores of Lake Geneva in Switzerland. They travelled through France and into Switzerland, but never made it to their destination. Running out of money, Shelley was forced to sell his gold watch, book passage on a boat heading north along the Rhine River through Germany and into Holland. The pair returned to England, shamefaced and penniless.

Two years later, in 1816, the couple tried it again. This time they were more successful. Making it to Geneva, they hooked up with Lord Byron (another poet), and it was at his villa on a dark and stormy night that Mary conceived the idea for her most renowned novel, Frankenstein. Based on these two trips, Mary also published a travel diary, History of a Six Weeks’ Tour. During their eight years together, Mary and Shelley continued to travel extensively throughout Europe.

I have come to know this pair intimately over the past twelve months and have tracked their development from star-crossed lovers to accomplished writers, loving parents and devoted spouses. But when I now consider the events, past and present, I’m struck by similarities. Two writers, seeking new adventures and fodder for their work, take off to Europe to revel in their togetherness. Sound familiar? Of course, there are also differences. I’m certainly no literary prodigy and Chris doesn’t harbour dreams of forming a free-love commune on the banks of Lake Geneva … I hope. What’s more, Mary and Shelley never had to travel long-haul from Australia with two kids.

So our itinerary over the next six weeks follows in the steps of this writerly couple. London, Rome, Florence, Lake Geneva and Munich are all on the list, locations that influenced and inspired the authors. While I’m seeking my own inspiration before I begin the second draft of my novel, the boys will be detouring to locations of soccer significance. We’ll be chronicling our journey in a blog every couple of days, to keep family and friends filled in on our ‘Six Weeks Tour’.