“Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one.”
Malcolm Forbes
I am a pretty big fan of Lauren from https://www.neverendingfootsteps.com, so when I saw that she had a book out, I jumped at getting it. I dove right into to reading it this summer. She is a world-wide backpack traveler/expat and all around sweet girl. She decided to pack up her life and travel around the world, which shocked her family, as she has both anxiety and some health issues.
Lauren is wonderful. I love her unfiltered honesty! It is one of my favorite things about her and is why I always go back to her blog. She keeps it real. Not every trip/adventure is going to be Instagram-worthy and the moments of hugging the toilet for days after eating something wicked never seem to make it to your feed.
She is very relatable to me, and I adore her quirks and her relationship with her boyfriend, Dave, who is the complete opposite of her. I can relate to her “opposites attract” story.
A couple of themes I picked up and have been thinking about since I read the book, have been her loss of friendships and a sense of belonging. She felt the most while she was in Chiang Mai and I suspect that is why she was so happy there. We all are happier when we have friendships, even those darned introverts! While it was important for her to see the world, the hole of missing friendships was integral to her moving back to Portugal and later back to the UK.
Jason and I know that we will need those friendships and really appreciate the confirmation from this book. We are looking at traveling but also putting down some roots where there are established expat communities that hike or bike, have book clubs and such.
It’s best to read this book as a beautiful extension of her blog and you won’t be disappointed. She offers similar stories with more in depth descriptions. I love her, and if you regularly read her blog, this book will feel like some of her best blog articles.
Book can be found on her blog and on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/How-Not-Travel-World-Disaster-Prone-ebook/dp/B0116TQDG8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536934661&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+not+travel+the+world