
If your passport has been gathering dust in a drawer and the only jets you see are twinkling lights in the night sky, you'll enjoy this book of wandering. It begins in British Columbia where Elisabeth Eaves--still a high school student--is newly in love. Her boyfriend Graham, instead of taking the more traditional college route, decides to travel around the world. Because he's a year or two older than Eaves, she starts to live vicariously through his adventures. As soon as she graduates, she starts planning her own.
Along the way she starts school at the University of Washington in Seattle, but the summer between freshman and sophomore years, she hurries over to Moraira, Spain where she works as an au pair. It was a pretty demanding job, seven days on, but soon Elisabeth realizes that if she works hard all day, she can escape after hours and have fun. Fun translates into riding around on the back of Pepe's motorcycle and partying into the wee small hours. (Graham is still in the picture but as Elisabeth's mom said, "They are two ships passing in the night.")
The next big trip occurred during junior year. Elisabeth, who had been studying Arabic, chose Egypt for her year abroad. She learned to dress modestly, but it still rankled her when men yelled catcalls at her. Also, she learned that even poor Canadians were were treated like the higher echelons of Egyptian society, but a woman's ability to travel alone or even walk in the public squares was severely limited. Somewhat rebellious, she did not enjoy that her freedom was being constricted or that her social world was limited by her class. But she loved being in the Middle East, especially on the short trips she took into the desert area or to small towns.
Shortly before leaving she and a girlfriend visited Yemen. Elisabeth described her trip there as stepping back into time--centuries. Both girls donned burquas and walked out on their own. Although it's hard to believe that they fooled anyone, it was a brazen move and one that could have gotten them into serious trouble.
Next, she traveled to Pakistan where as a college intern, she actually became the point person for environmental issues for the American embassy. Until this posting, she had been planning a career in the foreign service, but this gig convinced her that she wouldn't be able to handle the red tape or bureaucracy.
Many other adventures followed--five continents, right? Eaves tells a good yarn and writes fluidly. Her account of a long hike in the jungle of Irian Jaya is particularly absorbing.
She has a knack for exploring out-of-the-way places and for connecting with the locals. She also manages to find romance often. The book describes her odyssey from a young girl with little confidence to a strong woman living life fully, taking risks, and really experiencing the world. For compelling arm-chair travel writing in the spirit of Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love, try this wonderful book.





