Some books are set in one place. Musical Awakening is set in a feeling — and that feeling lives in a lot of places.
When I started writing June Snow's story, I wasn't consciously building a travel itinerary. I was writing from memory, from real places I had been, real corners I had sat in, real cities that had changed me. But looking back at the finished novel, I realize I had quietly mapped out an entire world — one that stretches from the high desert of New Mexico to the cobblestone streets of Oxford, from the California coast to the banks of the River Thames, and finally to Florence at golden hour.
If you've read Musical Awakening, this post is for you. And if you haven't — consider this your invitation to a world worth visiting. 🎶
🌵 Albuquerque, New Mexico
June Snow's home. The city that transforms every year into a musical mecca when the Albuquerque Music Festival arrives — tents erected against the scorching New Mexico sun, stages set for bands waiting to show the world what they're about, music fans flocking from across the globe.
Albuquerque is where June first encounters Richmond Adams, where their professional relationship begins, where she finds the perfect abandoned desert motel on the outskirts of town for his album shoot, and where she slowly realizes that this city no longer feels entirely like home.
If you go: Los Poblanos captures the magic Albuquerque energy that lives in the book — and the green chile is not optional.
🌴 Los Angeles, California
LA is where June's music blogging and photography career takes shape. It's the city where she first hears Richmond Adams live for the first time, standing in the crowd thinking it will be just another show. It isn't.
The warm California nights, the dark Los Angeles streets after a show, the drive down the 5 freeway south toward San Diego — LA is the launching pad for everything that follows.
If you go: The Troubadour, The Viper Room, and other small Hollywood venues capture the intimate show energy June photographs throughout the novel.
🌊 San Diego, California
San Diego holds a special place in June's heart — and in mine. She attended the University of San Diego, fell in love with the city on weekends spent discovering brilliant new places to eat and hang out, and it became her favorite town.
The San Diego chapter of Musical Awakening is one of my favorites to have written. Richmond performs an intimate acoustic show on the San Diego Trolley at the Old Town stop — the sun shining through open windows, a soft ocean breeze, the smell of salt in the air. Afterward June takes him to Fig Tree Cafe in Pacific Beach, their patio covered by an enormous fig tree with shimmering lights draped through its branches. Then Seaport Village on the ocean's edge, people-watching in the perfection that is San Diego.
"You cannot beat this San Diego sunshine," Richmond declares.
If you go: Fig Tree Cafe in Pacific Beach is real and exactly as magical as it sounds. The San Diego Trolley Old Town stop is worth riding just to imagine the scene. Seaport Village at golden hour is everything.
🎡 Santa Ana, California — The Constellation Room
A smaller stop on Richmond's California tour but a meaningful one — the show where June photographs him from the crowd, where they steal one last small bit of time together afterward, driving down to the beach and sitting with a borrowed hotel blanket at the edge of the coast.
The Constellation Room is a real venue and one of the most intimate spots on the Southern California music circuit.
🏔️ Sedona, Arizona
A brief but beautiful stop — June meets Richmond in Sedona at the end of his southwest tour before they drive back to Albuquerque together. Five and a half hours on the road where everything finally gets laid out on the table.
If you go: Sedona's red rock landscape makes the emotional weight of that drive feel completely earned.
🎄 Oxford, England
Richmond's hometown. June's birthplace. The city that holds her Nana, the Grand Cafe on the High Street (established 1650, the site of the first coffee house in England), the Botanical Gardens straight out of Alice in Wonderland, Oxford Castle, cobblestone streets, punting on the river, fish and chips wrapped in paper by the shore.
Oxford was designed for falling in love slowly, June writes. And she's right.
Their Christmas reunion happens here — Richmond walking into the exact cafe where June is sitting, her using her front-facing camera as a mirror to confirm it's really him. Their time in Oxford later in the book — green countryside glimpsed from the train window, his parents' house tucked behind a garden surrounded by tall stone walls, weekday mornings making green chile enchiladas in his kitchen — is the heart of the novel's romance.
If you go: The Grand Cafe on the High Street is real and worth every penny of the tea. The Botanical Gardens on Rose Lane are exactly as Alice in Wonderland as described.
🌧️ London, England
June moves to London alone at the start of 2016 — arriving at Heathrow, taking the Express to Paddington Station, checking into a hotel with a view of the London skyline stretched out in front of her, ravens hopping through courtyards, rain on the Thames.
London is where June builds her independent life as a music blogger and concert photographer. The Tower of London. The Tube. Carnaby Street. Battersea. A small cafe tucked off Oxford Street filled with cushy chairs and plants winding the walls. The Park Hyatt London River Thames for brunch with Richmond's parents.
And then Richmond showing her London from his perspective — hidden discoveries, puddle-strewn streets, clutching raincoats toward the Tube, hand in hand under a light blue cloudless sky.
London starts to feel like home. And that is the whole point.
If you go: The Heathrow Express to Paddington is exactly as June describes — a breath of relief after a long flight taking you quickly into the city. Battersea is worth the Tube ride for the neighborhood alone.
🌸 Florence, Italy
The final chapter. June wakes to Florence dawn flooding through sheer curtains, the sweet scent of coffee Richmond made before heading out. A city suspended in time.
Florence is where everything that has been building across years and cities and shows finally, quietly, settles.
If you go: Wander. Get lost. Find a record shop. Order coffee and sit with it longer than you planned. That's the Florence of Musical Awakening.
📖 Read Musical Awakening
If this post has made you want to travel — or to read — Musical Awakening is available now in ebook and paperback on Amazon. Pack it in your carry-on. It was made for exactly that. 🎶
Have you been to any of these places? Drop a comment below — I'd love to know which one called to you most. And if you've read Musical Awakening, which location was your favorite?
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