Some travel-related quotes

In honor of my upcoming trip to visit my sister and her family in Israel, here are some travel-related quotes from the OUTLANDER books:

1) Lord John and Dottie, about to set sail from England to the Colonies:

He'd told Dottie that the Tartar was only a twenty-eight-gun frigate and that she must therefore be modest in her packing. Even so, he was surprised to see the single trunk—granted, a large one—two portmanteaux, and a bag of needlework that comprised her entire luggage.

“What, not a single flowered mantua?” he teased. “William won’t know you.”

“Bosh,” she replied with her father’s talent for succinct clarity. But she smiled a little—she was very pale, and he hoped it wasn’t incipient seasickness—and he squeezed her hand and went on holding it all the time until the last dark sliver of England sank into the sea.

(From An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 33 ("The Plot Thickens"). Copyright© 2009 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

2) Claire on the Artemis, just before they set sail for the West Indies:

"Cast off!" the Captain bellowed, and the waiting hands sprang into action. The last of the lines tethering us to the piling was slipped free and neatly coiled, and all around us, lines tightened and sails snapped overhead, as the bosun ran up and down the deck, bawling orders in a voice like rusty iron.

"She moves! She stirs! 'She seems to feel / the thrill of life along her keel'!" I declaimed, delighted to feel the deck quiver beneath my feet as the ship came alive, the energy of all the crew poured into its inanimate hulk, transmuted by the power of the wind-catching sails.

(From Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 41 ("We Set Sail"). Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

3) Claire, young Ian, and Jamie, on the boat going up the Cape Fear River:

"Do you think the messenger with your letter will get there before we do?"

"He'll get there before we do if he crawled on his hands and knees," Young Ian said, appearing suddenly beside us. He glanced in mild disgust at the patient deckhand, plunging and lifting his dripping pole. "It will be weeks before we get there, at this rate. I told ye it would have been best to ride, Uncle Jamie."

"Dinna fret yourself, Ian," his uncle assured him, letting go of my neck. He grinned at his nephew. "You'll have a turn at the pole yourself before long--and I expect ye'll have us in Cross Creek before nightfall, aye?"

(From Drums of Autumn by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 8 ("Man of Worth"). Copyright© 1997 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

4) Claire's thoughts on the way to Wentworth Prison in search of Jamie:

Wentworth Prison was thirty-five miles away. A half-hour's ride in a fast car over good roads. Two days' hard slog over half-frozen mud by horseback. Not long. Dougal's words echoed in my ears, and kept me in my saddle long past the point where I might have dropped from fatigue.

(From Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 34 ("Dougal's Story"). Copyright© 1991 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

5) Jamie's arrival at Lallybroch in DRAGONFLY:

Jamie, slumped in a chair, opened one eye and gave his sister a dark blue look.

"I land in Scotland near dead wi' the crossing, ride for four days over the hills to get here, and when I arrive, I canna even come in the house for a drop to wet my parched throat; instead I'm off through the mud, huntin' lost sheep. And once I do get here, ye want to send me out in the dark again to piss on doorposts. Tcha!" He closed the eye again, crossed his hands across his stomach, and sank lower in his chair, a study in stubborn negation.

(From Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 30 ("Lallybroch"). Copyright© 1992 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

6) Claire on the plane back to Scotland, 1968:

Outside, a floor of moonlit cloud cut us off from the earth below. Up here, everything was silent, beautiful and serene, in marked contrast to the turmoil of life below.

I had the odd feeling of being suspended, motionless, cocooned in solitude, even the heavy breathing of the woman next to me only a part of the white noise that makes up silence, one with the tepid rush of the air-conditioning and the shuffle of the stewardesses' shoes along the carpet. At the same time, I knew we were rushing on inexorably through the air, propelled at hundreds of miles per hour to some end--as for it being a safe one, we could only hope.

(From Voyager by Diana Gabaldon, chapter 18 ("Roots"). Copyright© 1994 by Diana Gabaldon. All rights reserved.)

Hope you enjoy these quotes! I may not be blogging much over the next couple of weeks. I'll be back home on June 14th.