I had my first taste of life on the road at six--and haven't stopped. It began in an old red and white Chevy, with a burlap-covered water bag strapped onto the front grill. With my father behind the wheel, we sailed wide-eyed across the wide expanse of an uncluttered America and I was hooked on travel--my sweet addiction.
Writing true travel adventures has given me the rare opportunity to combine my two greatest passions: travel and writing. Soon, there will be four books in my adventure travel series that shed light on choosing roads less taken and never saying "impossible" to our most outlandish dreams.
"Yak Butter Blues," my first book, is about a historic 650-mile trek that my wife and I made in 1992 across the wild Himalayan plains from Lhasa to Kathmandu. Facing lung-burning altitudes, slow starvation, dehydration, blizzards, and bullets, every day became an exercise in survival, trust and "letting go". Relying on the kindness of strangers, we were soon taken into Tibetan homes where we witnessed their bravery in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. An Independent Publisher IPPY award winner. (Now also published in a new Spanish edition.)
My next travel adventure book, "Dead Men Don't Leave Tips: Adventures X Africa," chronicles a crazed seven-month overland journey from London to Cape Town across some of the wildest regions of Africa with the most bizarre traveling companions. Warning: This is not the postcard perfect Africa of travel magazines. This is the raw, gritty Africa that travel guides only warn you about.
Yes, travel changes you. Yet our travel can impact others. In 2006, a French friend and I set off on 2620-mile trek from France to Jerusalem to re-create Godfroi de Bouillon's route of the First Crusades--and to transform it into a modern path of peace. The exciting step-by-step account of our inspiring journey, "Along the Templar Trail" interweaves adventure, history, Templars, politics, and mysticism into a tale that makes you feel as if you're walking with us. I was heartened to hear that it recently won the 2009 Lowell Thomas Gold Award for Best Travel Book (Society of American Travel Writers).
Finally, I've just finished writing my fourth book in this series of true travel adventures. This one is different in many ways. It chronicles a trans-Alp trek my wife and I completed in 2009 - a hike across eight countries from Trieste to Monaco on the Via Alpina. Moving at high altitudes, hut-to-hut, it was the most difficult journey we've taken. Imagine 40+ days of rain, mud, deadly ticks, crumbling trails, and climbs (and descents) of 3,000-feet each day, then add the awesome beauty, weird characters, culture (and food) of the Alps. It's a more humorous look at the Alps (everyone needs to laugh more these days)--as well as at our typically head-long rush to reach for another gonzo dream. Incidentally, it's also the first Via Alpina travelogue published in English. It recently received the Foreword Reviews 2010 Book of the Year Bronze Award (travel essays).
Join me for another unforgettable step-by-step journey in Over the Top & Back Again: Hiking X the Alps. And never miss the chance to follow your dream.
