by Jennifer Bagget, Holly C Corbett, and Amanda Pressner
Rating: 7/10
When I was younger and wandering my way through the blogsphere, I somehow managed to stumble on a blog written by a woman who was traveling the world.
It was nothing fancy-- not like today. Her posts were erratic and frequently out of order as her adventures piled up, too numerous to get through. She never had a strong enough internet signal to post many photos, but from the first post I read I was hooked. The idea of traveling the world seemed so romantic and exciting, I loved living vicariously through all the blogs I found.
And so, when a friend recommended me this book-- which started as a blog that one of the girl's kept during their travels-- I couldn't wait to read it. It's a mammoth book-- at 542 pages ironically it's not an easy book to read on the go.
I went into the book with clear expectations: I expected it would be thrilling and fun, and I expected that by chapter two I would be so green with envy I would immediately try and find some way to squeeze traveling abroad with friends back into my life.
Now I will say that this was a fun read-- don't get me wrong. The friends bounce around from country to country doing exciting things, meeting cool people, and having their share of misadventures. And for the first chapter or so I was jealous-- but that didn't last long. The idea of living in a foreign country is fascinating to me, but the idea of wheeling from country to country for an entire year without a job? Not so much.
But luckily, even though I became disillusioned with the idea of quitting my job and becoming a vagabond, I still enjoyed reading about that lifestyle. And while sometimes I felt like yelling through the pages (doing illegal drugs while in a foreign country where you don't speak the language while surrounded by strangers? really?)( also we GET it. you guys LOVE each other. okay. you can stop talking about how much you all LOVE each other) for the most part it was a whirlwind adventure full of cockroaches and strangers and friends and surprises. It was real in a way that travel books often aren't, about how you can love someone but that love doesn't guarantee a future, about how thousands of miles of distance can tear apart a relationship.
So if you are looking for a summer read AND looking to get a arm workout in, then check this massive book out (I can't even imagine-- they kept talking about how they were leaving stuff out!). It was a fun read, even if it didn't go the way I expected it to.
Tell me-- do you like travel books? If so which ones-- I hardly know any (besides some of the big ones like Eat Pray Love and all that)--- which ones should I put on my to-read list?
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