Travel fiction – where the ‘right place’ transforms lives

Travel fiction – where the ‘right place’ transforms lives

World Chaos, Transatlantic Relocation – and Painting the Bunker Red

World Chaos, Transatlantic Relocation – and Painting the Bunker Red

I’m gearing up to sell my house in the spring. If all goes according to plan, it will be my last house sale in the USA in preparation for my first house purchase in the UK. With me so far? Plan – move – UK? You have questions, you say? Oh. You mean why are my American...
Celebrating 30 Years with Tanks and Pie

Celebrating 30 Years with Tanks and Pie

July has been a big month in the Gemmell household, two newsworthy events occurring within days of each other. First, after decades of dithering about citizenship, I celebrated my first Fourth of July as a US citizen. I know, right? Hell froze over despite climate...
Relocation Countdown: Transatlantic Hireth and Abandoned Plants

Relocation Countdown: Transatlantic Hireth and Abandoned Plants

I’m fortunate to have citizenship in two countries: The United Kingdom and the United States of America. But it’s not lost on me that ‘United’ appears in both nations’ titles when ‘united’ currently seems a strained concept in either place. Pick your poison: the...
Not Your Grandparents’ Tea Room

Not Your Grandparents’ Tea Room

  To know me is to know I’m somewhat of a cream tea aficionado ‒ and I don’t mean just the ‘life-as-an-expat-makes-me-crave-all-things-English’ kind. No, I’ve loved scones and jam and clotted cream since I was old enough to lick the inside of a jam pot. (Which,...