X Is For Xenophile (A to Z Blogging Challenge, 2015)

Today the letter is X.  I only know a few X words: X-ray (medical); xylophone (musical instrument); Xanadu (mythical musical);  xenophobia (fear of foreigners); and xenophile (lover of things from another country), so I guess I’ll write about  xenophiles.

I have a xenophile friend. She is besotted by all things British—let me count the ways:

·         She writes her book series set in the Cotswold.

·         She owns a Corgi—the Queens dog breed of choice (she owns 5).

·         Her Corgi’s name is Darcy.

·         She had a Sheltie named Chelsea.

·         Her second novel is very

·         She designed her home with distinctive British architecture and decorating touches.

·         She loves to read and teach Shakespeare.

·         She swoons when she hears a really sexy male British accent. (Who am I kidding, so do I!)

·         She has a group of friends that speaketh ye olde English. 

And the list goes on.

Her Brit-session began, or at least intensified, after a High School 3-week graduation trip to England with her Grand Mother.   She fell in love with the country and her people. Years later she has written several books set in the Cotswolds’ with forays into London proper and a sea-side village near Bath.

I might tease her about this obsession, but in truth, I envy it.

I love to travel—stateside, I’ve been to almost every state except Alaska and a few of the Mid-Western ones. Abroad, I lived in The Azores, visited England, France, Israel (twice), Australia, New Zealand, and Fiji.  I still have  a few places I want to visit on my Bucket List (Alaska, Switzerland are my top two).  But I can’t pick my favorite place—in fact, when pressed to do so, I flippantly say, “the next place I visit!” And that’s pretty much true.

I love to plan trips, find out interesting things to do, foods to try, learn about whatever is unique to that part of the world, etc. But after I know what’s available, when I actually get there, I have no loyalty to my plans. I like to dart off on rabbit chases. If I miss a festival it’s okay—especially if I met an interesting local. If I see something not on your typical tour guides agenda—all the better!

Maybe I’m a xenophile after all—perhaps I’m a different breed of xenophile—rather than being a specific xenophile (like my friend),  maybe I’m a general xenophile.  Hummm, I like of like that:  General Xenophile.  Kind of like a Title or a Military Rank.

Maybe I can design a medal or a logo…it could be a winged X.

This blog post is my contribution to the A to Z Blogging Challenge 2015, in which bloggers from around the world, representing every skill level and interest, blog every Monday through Saturday during the month of April, using successive letters of the alphabet as the daily inspiration.

We are in the HomeStretch and tomorrow is "Y." Once again, I have no clue what I'll write about...