This month’s #ShelfLove discussion is all about the real places in books that we would visit. While I would love to say I’d go on a road trip across the US, visiting all the literary spots that American literature has to offer, I realized after being honest with myself that the literary locations I want to travel to are, with one exception, in Europe. Without further ado, here is the literary vacation I would take if time and money weren’t an issue.
First stop: Scotland
![Scotland - Moyan Brenn](https://fortifiedbybooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/scotland-moyan-brenn.jpg?w=300&resize=300%2C187)
If you are someone who knows me well enough to know what my favorite series is, then you would also know that the first place I would visit, and where I want to someday move to, is Scotland. Particularly the Highlands of Scotland, but, thanks to the Boyfriend’s Scottish roots, I would also traipse around the Lowlands. I would probably need a year to see every little spot and visit every library and bookstore.
Next stop: England
![Platform 9 34 - rawen](https://fortifiedbybooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/platform-9-34-rawen.jpg?w=225&resize=225%2C300)
![Bust of J.R.R. Tolkien -summonedbyfells](https://fortifiedbybooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/bust-of-j-r-r-tolkien-summonedbyfells.jpg?w=225&resize=225%2C300)
I wouldn’t spend nearly as much time in England, but it would still take me awhile to see everything because I would visit for two reasons. The first being that I would have to visit every real place mentioned in the Harry Potter series. The second being that I could not go to England without seeing anything and everything related to J.R.R Tolkien. Also, I would want to stay in Podditon. Perhaps half a year would suffice.
Next stop: France
![Cuisery - marnix.catteeuw](https://fortifiedbybooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/cuisery-marnix-catteeuw.jpg?w=300&resize=300%2C225)
I would spend even less time in France, but I added it to my list of literary vacation spots after I read The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George. The idea of slowly making my way down the Seine in a barge full of books and stopping for a long visit in Cuisery while improving my spoken French seems like the perfect way to spend a lazy month or two.
Last stop: New Zealand
![Hobbiton - Tom Hall](https://fortifiedbybooks.files.wordpress.com/2016/05/hobbiton-tom-hall.jpg?w=300&resize=300%2C199)
This is another obvious choice if you know me well enough to know my all-time favorite book. Thanks to that book and The Lord of the Rings books being made into movies, I can now visit the home of my people, Hobbiton, as well as other Middle Earth locations. I would probably only stay here for a week or so before heading back home to Texas.
If you won the lottery or had a seemingly endless trust fund and lots of time to kill, where would you go?