Geri Halliwell-Horner on Why She At all times Visits a Bookstore Whereas Touring

Geri Halliwell-Horner could greatest be often known as the Spice Ladies’ Ginger Spice, however her true lady energy trait is her fearless curiosity with which she explores the world—and it is a high quality that turns out to be useful throughout her world travels. 

“I am Miss Curious,” the singer, writer, actress, and mom of two mentioned to Journey + Leisure on a name final month. “I do not care what it’s. I believe every little thing’s fascinating.”

She actually leaned into her intrepid spirit with Rainbow Lady, a present that launched on YouTube in 2020. Within the collection, she went on a “lady energy journey of discovery” and experimented with every little thing from beekeeping to tenting. Some issues she, admittedly, appreciated greater than others.

“I truly suppose tenting is sort of suffocating if you’ve obtained that canvassing over your head,” she mentioned. “I discovered it a bit claustrophobic.”

As an alternative, she prefers a easy various: making camp within the open, like she as soon as did within the Arabian Desert outdoors of Dubai. “I sat on the high of this hill of sand and seemed up on the night time sky, and it was flooded with diamonds,” she mentioned. “The celebs appeared so near me. It was probably the most enchanting factor.”

Halliwell-Horner by no means shies away from an journey, and she or he’s completely at house with a low-key getaway, like sipping tea by the ocean, in addition to extra intense undertakings, corresponding to mountaineering. A few of her favourite journey recollections embody a hike on Cape City’s Desk Mountain, in addition to an ascent up an Austrian peak the place she bumped into an surprising snowstorm.

“It was a brilliant sunny day, so I went up in my shorts, however by the point I obtained to the highest, there was a snowstorm!” she mentioned. “There was just a little hut, and the person there gave us some good sizzling meals, however we obtained caught within the blizzard.” 

However, as Halliwell-Horner put it, all the difficulty was price it in the long run. “I wrote a very good tune afterward,” she mentioned.

The British icon is greatest identified for her time as a pop star, however she’s a profitable writer as properly. Her younger grownup fantasy novel, “Rosie Frost & the Falcon Queen,” landed on the New York Occasions Greatest Sellers listing in 2023. She says she usually makes use of her journeys as a supply of inspiration.

“I’ve been writing for thus lengthy, so an thought might be for a tune, which is sort of like a espresso espresso shot,” Halliwell-Horner mentioned. “For a e book, it is a feast to make you’re feeling the ability of phrases.”

For instance, she has a fascination with Tresco, an island situated 28 miles off the Cornish coast in southwest England. The island has a novel subtropical microclimate, which helped spark the thought of Bloodstone Island, a Jurassic Park-like place crammed with endangered species. In the meantime, a go to to Mount Fuji fueled the plot of the second e book of her collection, “Rosie Frost: Ice on Fireplace,” accessible on the market as of April 8.

Throughout the writing course of, concepts popped up throughout all factors of her travels, even mid-flight. “For this e book, I wrote down concepts on the evacuation directions behind the seat pocket and a sick bag as a result of I simply didn’t need to neglect it,” she mentioned. “I’m all the time taking notes and writing issues down. I don’t even notice I’m doing it.”

Nonetheless, this is not Halliwell-Horner’s first go-round with being a profitable writer. Whereas selling her first e book collection, Ugenia Lavender, she toured all throughout the U.S. and all the time made positive to make a cease at her favourite sort of retailer in each metropolis: a bookshop.

“It is virtually like I would like an grownup to seize me by the scruff of the neck to tug me away since I begin all the opposite books pondering, ‘Oh, that appears fascinating,’” she mentioned. Halliwell-Horner provides that she virtually all the time has a e book on her, and she or he’s normally in the course of 4 totally different books of assorted genres at any time.

She loves visiting bookstores when she’s house within the U.Okay., too. One in every of her favorites is Daunt Books in Marylebone, which she mentioned is a must-visit for all e book lovers. She particularly loves second-hand bookshops as properly. “Dusty outdated books have a humorous scent about them that I discover fairly comforting,” she mentioned.

To Halliwell-Horner, journey and studying are inherently linked—they’re each transformational in nature. “When you’ve traveled the world, you have all the time obtained a e book on you,” she mentioned. “Typically, our minds grow to be like a muddy pond of stagnant, muddied water, however in the event you truly clear it out, you already know precisely what’s best for you.”

That sort of change fuels the plot of “Ice on Fireplace,” which is about throughout a volcanic eruption—a metaphor for private progress and the ability of issues past our management.

“Typically we’re that exploding volcano that is going to erupt, after which generally it is the peaceable, stunning ocean,” she mentioned. “What I like about journey is that it’s a battle between science and nature, man versus Mom Nature. Who’s in cost? Once I journey, I get my reply proper in entrance of me. The roar of the ocean, the tumbling huge rocks thundering down the aspect of a mountain—that is who’s in cost!”