Travel Memoir

They shouldn't have tear gassed best-selling (bald) author Adam Fletcher. It ruined his supposedly normal holiday in Istanbul, made him curious, and began a quest to visit places everyone else is trying to escape from, and tourists don't normally go to. In this hilarious travel memoir, he'll enter a blizzard in China armed with only biscuits; pose as a scientist to sneak into Chernobyl; be chased by Croatian police boats en route to Liberland (the world's newest country); become a reluctant diving board star in a North Korean water park, and much more.

An exciting, hilarious, and thoughtful travel memoir about one man's adventurous two and a half years on the road, backpacking through 40+ countries on a shoestring budget. From the back cover: Until his midlife crisis arrived, Chris Gattanella always played it safe. He spent two decades sinking into a nice cozy life and career in Los Angeles. Now in his forties and newly single, he suddenly feels unfulfilled and bored. Is it because he never ventured out to see the world? Impulsively, Chris burns years of saved vacation time on a six-week “test run” through Europe to see if he enjoys ...

Enjoy a fun, laugh-provoking travel book with a swampy Louisiana gal who romps through the Northern Hemisphere, allowing her destiny to become her guide! Marie France, who planned a two month jaunt through Europe, finds herself on the pulsating Hippie Trail in Kathmandu. As a seeker, she has a two-fold quest; discovering the world and discovering herself. She studies Tibetan Buddhism, Hinduism and Hedonism, with a bit of yoga. Her rollicking adventures cover 16 countries; including crossing the Sahara Desert, playing a lead role in a Spaghetti Western film and modeling on the catwalks of ...

Do you dream of Alaska? How would you get there? A plane? A car? What about a scooter? Stuck in the rut of daily routine and feeling that there must be something else to life, Jason Forster and his brother, Mike, sense the call of the open road and set out to travel 4,000 miles through some of the most spectacular and rugged landscapes on Earth, a journey from the suburbs of Detroit to the wilds of Alaska. Their rides? A couple of tiny, wobbly, overpacked motor scooters—inexpensive and unreliable machines from China, each boasting a 49cc engine and a top speed of 30 mph (on a good day). ...

Walking with Buddha is a moving-meditation set along Japan's stunning Shikoku 88-Temple Trail. The ancient 1,200-kilometer path around the island of Shikoku serves as a reflective backdrop for cultural immersion and introduction into the Buddha-Nature. - Wearing her heart on her sleeve, Lockhart sets off on a walking-pilgrimage to nourish her soul and contemplate her next fifty years. While learning to embrace her own Buddha-nature, she discovers the wisdom, courage, and grace to accept change and re-create a life she truly desires.

Laura was in her early twenties and directionless when she quit her job to backpack in Bolivia. Fate landed her at a wildlife sanctuary on the edge of the Amazon jungle where she was assigned to a beautiful and complex puma named Wayra. Wide-eyed, inexperienced, and comically terrified, Laura made the scrappy, make-do camp her home. And in Wayra, she made a friend for life.

A close encounter with a ghost in Scotland and a gun in Mexico. A request to meet a fortune-teller in Varanasi, who correctly predicts the future. Entering Tibet the hard way and meeting the Dalai Lama the easy way. Living in Japan for 13 years, and experiencing life as an ex-pat, and seeing Japan through the eyes of an ESL teacher. This is a collection of stories and travels over several years and through several countries. Vicariously experience these and other misadventures when you travel to parts of Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, China, and the Middle East. Many ...

A BOOK THAT TAKES YOU ON A JOURNEY On the eve of her 30th birthday, Pauline leaves behind her fast-paced Parisian life and career as a banking executive. With a backpack on her shoulders, she sets off alone from her native Alsace, France, heading toward Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Her goal: to slow down, reconnect with nature, forge meaningful connections, and rediscover herself. In this travel diary, Pauline shares the depths of her inner journey—grappling with fatigue, loneliness, and anxieties about the future, as well as questioning the very meaning of her pilgrimage. Yet, step ...

There are many sensible ways to travel around the world. This is not one of them. This is a book about sailing around the world in the most inefficient, illogical, and thoroughly British way imaginable—by making one catastrophic mistake after another, and then calling it “a plan.” Around the World in 20 Mistakes is a painfully honest and extremely funny step-by-step account of what happens when one stubborn human tries to circumnavigate the planet in spite of bad weather, broken gear, seasickness, suspicious customs officers, and a boat that seemed determined to self-destruct at every...

Tales of a Female Nomad is the story of Rita Golden Gelman, an ordinary woman who is living an extraordinary existence. At the age of 48, on the verge of a divorce, Rita left an elegant life in Los Angeles to follow her dream of connecting with people in cultures all over the world. In 1986, she sold her possessions and became a nomad, living in a Zapotec village in Mexico, sleeping with sea lions on the Galapagos Islands, and residing everywhere from thatched huts to regal palaces.

What happens when a young woman’s spontaneous trip turns into a lifelong adventure in Japan? At just 24, Suzy left behind her familiar life in Israel, chasing the allure of the Far East. What began as a brief escape to Thailand—quickly turned into a bold leap into the unknown. There, she became a hostess in Tokyo, married a local businessman in a traditional Oriental marriage, and bravely adapted to Japanese culture, balancing stark contrasts between Israel and Japan. This autobiography offers more than a tourist’s view of Japan, revealing the real challenges of cultural adaptation, ...

What do you do when everyone around you is embracing parenthood or focused on their careers, and you're not sure either path is right for you? Lisa Jansen decided to find out. At 33, Lisa had everything she ever wanted; A successful career in marketing, amazing friends, and the great outdoors of New Zealand as her playground. She was happy. Until one day, doubts started creeping in, and Lisa found herself at a crossroads. Unsure about whether she wants to embrace a career-focused life or follow in her friends' footsteps and start a family, she began to wonder what else there is. Desperate ...

The circumstances of the death of these men are by now known throughout the world in one of the great missionary adventure stories of modern times. But this is the first account of the whole life of one of them, a life that, though "hid with Christ in God", was in part revealed in some of the most poignant and moving spiritual writings of our time.

When the Dark Confronts the Light, Their Battle Leaves You Laughing! Heaven and hell collide in Paradox In Paradise, a light-hearted and soulful adventure that explores the darker side of spiritual transformation. Imagine “shadow work” on steroids. In her outrageously funny yet courageously honest memoir, forty-something disgruntled spiritual warrior Lois Benson tells us what happens when she trades her life in California for life on a remote tropical island in Central America as the manager of a new bed and breakfast hotel. Once she lands in Panama’s Pearl Islands, clashing cultures ...

In the fall of 1978, Ray Ordorica packed everything he thought he would need into his Toyota LandCruiser and drove north to Alaska. He came to a land he had never seen, to find something he wasn't even sure existed: a wilderness cabin he could use for a year or more to live, think, relax, read, and write. Ordorica found his cabin, fixed it up, and, although it was just an un-insulated 12- by 16-foot one-room log structure, he spent three winters in it in relative comfort.

In Whistler's Walk: The Appalachian Trail in 142 Days, author Bill Monk brings readers his real-life, day-to-day account of hiking the Appalachian Trail in its entirety, from intense, necessary preparation at the start to the emotionally charged conclusion of summiting Mount Katahdin. Based on Monk's journal entries written daily along the way, readers are afforded the up-close and intimate privilege of witnessing his very real trials and triumphs, and each incredible, beautiful moment as he experienced it. Anyone who has hiked, or plans on hiking the Appalachian Trail, lovers of nature, ...

What could possibly go wrong when Grandma, a toddler, and two exhausted parents decide to backpack Italy’s most famous cliffside villages? Get ready for another laugh-out-loud Italian adventure! In Grandma Backpacks Cinque Terre, the Lucchesi family takes on Riomaggiore, Vernazza, Monterosso al Mare—and, in true Grandma fashion, an unexpected side trip to Viareggio that nobody saw coming. And, incredibly, Grandma does it all in classic style with nothing more than a backpack! From steep trails and cliffside trains to overflowing gelato cups and Grandma’s unstoppable one-liners, this ...

When Richard Lucchesi invites his mom to join his young family on a whirlwind tour through Italy, he’s hoping for quality time and postcard memories. What he gets is a full-blown comedy of errors involving lost passports, multiple police units, pickpockets, missed trains, ancient ruins, caffeine-induced breakdowns, and one absolutely unforgettable trip across Italy from Milan to Tuscany, Napoli, Pompeii, and beyond. In this side-splitting travel memoir, Grandma Backpacks Italy chronicles the chaos and charm of three generations navigating trains, tantrums, and tiramisu. From unbelievable ...

A college graduate from the Midwest travels to Beijing to teach English, and contends with culture shock and a mysterious government official following his every move. Based upon the author’s journals, the story combines exploration of a strange land with magical realism and a sudden romance, which forces a critical, life-changing decision.

Living a life of quiet desperation? Maybe you should run away, at least for a while. What Happens if You Keep Going? is a collection of 15 mostly true travel stories about accidental rites of passage and dirtbag pilgrimages. In a world of doomscrolling, political chaos, and creeping burnout, it’s encouragement that you don’t have to accept your fate—travel still provides a way to create the life you want. Among the stories, you’ll find: A teenage clown evangelist in Peru reluctantly accepting his life’s mission. A pilgrimage in Spain achieving the opposite of its intended result. ...