Odyssey to Myself

Travel to Casablanca and Marrakesh, Tuscany and Venice, Bocas del Toro and Panama City, and Santiago, Chile and back to P.C. Zick's home in the United States.

Odyssey to Myself takes the reader on trips to Morocco, Italy, Panama, Chile, and down Route 66 in the United States. The compilation of essays provides travel guides to the places the author visited and follows the internal odyssey as she discovers her place in the world.

P.C. Zick writes about her experiences traveling outside the confines of her small world in Florida. Observations about life and culture bring to life the ancient alleyways of Fes, the master artists of Italy, the bustling Panama Canal, and the resilience of the Chilean culture.

From P.C. Zick's Odyssey to Myself: "Traveling removes us from our small safe environment and thrusts out into the world. When I travel, I realize what a tiny ripple my life is in the ocean's constant waves. A few months ago, I had to endure a full body MRI that lasted more than two hours. I almost swooned when the nurse told me how long I'd be in that long encompassing tunnel. She recommended I remain awake because if I moved after falling asleep, they'd have to pull me out and begin again. I did not want that to happen. My brain fought against any touch of claustrophobia as they closed me in the tube and sent me inside the machine. I frantically searched through the files in my brain. With a little prayer for help, I went into the tube and decided to travel in my memories back to the most important trips of my life. The first trip I remembered was my visit to Morocco in 2004. I knew it was a watershed year as many things had been happening in my life, and I went on the trip to heal and find direction. I began with my arrival in Casablanca in the early morning hours after flying all night from New York City. It came back so vividly I could even smell and feel the air of my travels during a magical two weeks. Then I started on Italy in 2005, where my daughter and I traveled for a month to celebrate her graduation from college."

The two-hour MRI passed by in a blur of memories and inspired her to write about the travels that brought her world into sharp focus.

As the author faced a decade-long swirl of tragedies, she discovered traveling outside of her home country and her safe personal zones had brought her new insights, and eventually, a new love. Travel removed her from her narrow world into a kaleidoscope of colors, smells, noises, and textures. This book explores some of those experiences as she embarked on an odyssey to find herself during one of the darkest decades of her life.

Buy Odyssey to Myself and be inspired from the stories of one woman's quest to find meaning in a troubled world.