One of my favorite parts about writing LIMITLESS was the travel and beautiful destinations that Alex and Jace connected with all around the world.
BARCELONA
Barcelona is one of my favorite cities. My husband and I have been there many times. We even stopped there to have dinner one night on our way to Munich. It has wonderful restaurants. The Gothic Quarter is so fun to explore. If you’ve never had Jamon, you are missing out. On one visit, we were out on a Segway tour (yes, I’m a nerd – but don’t knock it until you try it), my husband was filming me and he hit a pylon and the video of him crashing is priceless. Yes, he was okay. Yes, I show it to anyone who cares to see it. No, I won’t post it here.
Alex and Jace’s time here really was the beginning of their relationship – where they were two individuals getting to know each other without any outside influences.
SYDNEY
Sydney is a gorgeous city that I’ve been fortunate to visit on a few occasions. You are probably familiar with the gorgeous city view of the bridge and the Opera house. My husband’s brother lives in a suburb, and what you might not know is they have an elaborate water taxi system to get you into the city which frowns on car travel. I find Sydney to be a magical, romantic city with wonderful wide, clean pathways and the nicest people on the planet.
In Sydney, Jace gets a bit of a shock when he thinks he’s going to have another amazing visit with Alex but it isn’t to be. It’s his first moment of realizing that she is a truly independent girl.
BELFAST
If it seems like I know a lot about Belfast, well it’s because my husband grew up in Northern Ireland and it has become my second home. Although the hubby is from a smaller town called Armagh, we spend a lot of time in the “big” city as well as in Dublin. I’m not a tourist-attraction girl, but the Titanic exhibit is actually amazing. Belfast has a deep history and is a city I’ve really grown to love over the years.
Before I met my husband, my BFF (my Alex inspiration) and I made plans to move to Ireland. We had visited the country two years in a row, and wanted a fun life experience. The night we made our decision was March 16, the day before St. Paddy’s Day (side note, it is Paddy’s day not Patty’s Day).
We were both single, not interested in meeting anyone and decided to wear jeans and our baggy Irish rugby jerseys to the pub. No makeup. In other words, stay away boys! What I didn’t know at the time was a charming young Irish lad watched us walk into the pub wearing the same jersey. He came up to talk to us and after a few minutes, I excused myself to go get a shamrock painted on my face (because, not interested in boys).
When I returned, he was waiting for me and bought me a Guinness. We got to talking, and I realized that we had everything in the world in common. His Irish accent didn’t hurt! He asked me out, a couple of days later we drove to Mt. Rainier and we have never been apart since. We celebrated our 18th wedding anniversary in July.
My BFF and I never did get our flat, but Alex did and it is a little nod to the adventure that we didn’t take but now lives on in LIMITLESS.
