radio debut

I may live in Florida, but yesterday I was basking in the Tuscan sun.

A couple of weeks ago, I got an e-mail from the Rick Steves travel radio show announcing that Rick would be interviewing author Frances Mayes during an upcoming program. You may be familiar with her insanely popular memoirs, Under The Tuscan Sun and Bella Tuscany. The announcement said that listeners could submit a question/comment/thought for the show and, if yours was selected, they would call you to speak live on the air with both of them (the show's recorded and edited for airing later).

So of course I submitted something! I didn't get my hopes up ... after all, Rick is a HUGE celebrity among travelers, and Frances is a HUGE celebrity travel author ... "what are the chances they'll call little 'ol me?..." I imagined they would get TONS of submissions, so my chances were probably nil.

But yesterday during the recording session, my phone rang ... it was Rick's radio producer asking if I'd like to speak to Rick & Frances! OMG !!!! Luckily, they asked me to wait on hold a little bit before going on the air, because I needed to quickly usher Buddy & Aruba into another room (they can always immediately sense excitement and it makes them bark a LOT -- can't have that on the air!).

Thankfully, they settled down ... then I heard Rick introducing me "... and now let's welcome Susan from Delray Beach, Florida ...". I was a bit nervous and just hope that I was at least somewhat articulate and didn't ramble on and on. I'll admit that I was star-struck! I'm a big fan of them both, and it was a thrill to be chatting with them together!

The producer told me that the show will air (on NPR) sometime soon; tentatively, it's scheduled for early May. I'll post a link to it when I find out for sure, and you can hear me chatting with them about the experience that Sal and I had in Cortona, the quaint Tuscan town that is at the heart of Frances' memoirs. The show will also be available as part of Rick's weekly podcasts (available on iTunes).

(so glad it was radio and not TV because I'm due to get my hair done, LOL)

What a total thrill !!! :-)

Ciao,