I am not sure of any one book that gave me a sense of adventure, but many of the stories of  women travelling to exotic locations such as ‘Under the Tuscan Sun’ by Frances Mayes have, no doubt, given me a fearlessness for the idea of travelling alone as well as an attraction to the Mediterranean. In 2010 I travelled to Spain for a month, solo, and loved every minute of it. Camera in hand, I walked tens of thousands of steps, took thousands of photos; audioguides in situ I wandered the halls of wonderful art galleries and I hopped on and off buses across Barcelona, Sans Sebastian, Bilbao, Madrid, Toledo and Malaga. I loved it …. every single minute of it, and would go back tomorrow if I could!