Travel Year

In the heart of China's Sichuan province, amid the terraced hills of the Yangtze River valley, lies the remote town of Fuling. Like many other small cities in this ever-evolving country, Fuling is heading down a new path of change and growth, which came into remarkably sharp focus when Peter Hessler arrived as a Peace Corps volunteer, marking the first time in more than half a century that the city had an American resident.

Under Alan’s leadership, Tribe Grant has become a prosperous society–but to his alien overlords, peace is boring. When another tribe murders his friends to earn points from the aliens, Alan must find the culprit and take revenge… without starting a war he can’t win.

This festive collection takes you from Frogmorton Farm to the Time Police HQ in five short stories from across the worlds of Jodi Taylor - including the internationally bestselling Chronicles of St Mary's series. It wouldn't be The Most Wonderful Time of the Year without riotous misbehaviour, traditional illegal expeditions, and a story you just can't stop listening to.

In 1894, Nicolas Notovitch published a book called The Unknown Life of Christ. He was a Russian doctor who journeyed extensively throughout Afghanistan, India, and Tibet. During one of his journeys, he was visiting Leh, the capital of Ladakh, near the Buddhist convent Himis. There, Notovitch was told of an ancient record of the life of Jesus known as The Life of St. Issa.

Time Travel Adventure When 12-year-old Ben pricks his finger on an antique sewing machine in his grandfather’s curiosity shop, he sets off an incredible chain of events that sends him hurtling back through time. Suddenly stranded over 100 years in the past, Ben is taken in by the kindly Carver family who run a notions store. But when the business comes under threat, Ben realizes his appearance in the past may be more meaningful than he realized. As he works to rescue the Carver’s legacy, Ben discovers his accidental time travel has a deeper purpose tied to secrets surrounding the ...

A Year in the Merde is the almost-true account of the author's adventures as an expat in Paris. Based loosely on his own experiences and with names changed to "avoid embarrassment, possible legal action, and to prevent the author's legs being broken by someone in a Yves Saint Laurent suit (or quite possibly, a Christian Dior skirt)", A Year in the Merde is the story of Paul West, a 27-year-old Brit who is brought to Paris by a French company to open a chain of British "tea rooms".

In school, you probably were told that Cro-Magnon Man appeared about 35 thousand years ago and after 25 thousand years humanity finally got to the Stone Age. We stayed there for another 7 thousand years to get to something called the primitive Bronze Age and then in the past 5 thousand years almost every bit of civilized development occurred. Your teachers told you it happened so you didn’t even question it. Unfortunately, most of that was a lie. Researchers, anthropologists, archeologists, historians, scientists, teachers, and even clergy all knew it or should have known. OK! Some were ...

What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, until it doesn’t. It was one hot night and I wanted so much more. But the next morning, she was gone. The only thing she took with her was my heart. I never figured love at first sight was real, but it was. Skip forward eight years later and guess who shows up needing a job? Just so happens that I need an assistant. Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. She’s a smart cookie, though, and feels the tension between us. I’m not sure if it’s lust, love, or my need for revenge, but I’m not giving up without a fight. My lover turned enemy,...

Against the backdrop of the Vietnam War—with the ongoing saga of his draft status and other historical events of the time—Ron White’s adventures, at home and in numerous locations around the world, began with a schoolboy yearning to travel. His quest was to explore the world as well as to escape. With the tragic loss of several of his best friends, and being the victim of endless abuse at home, it was travel and music that kept him sane. If you lived during this era, the pages of this inspirational book drip with nostalgia; if you’re too young, then you can be wonderfully ...

Have you ever parachuted in the moonlight and juggled work with play? In 1995, Steve set himself the goal to sail across the North Atlantic. Saint Lucia and the Caribbean island chain were the prize. He had to master sailing in spring Scottish waters, keep up with his military training and undergraduate life. It was hard keeping a romance alive with so many distractions, like landing a gig as a swordsman in a Hollywood movie. There were other commitments—a jaunt to Pamplona in Spain, and a camp in the United States before he could join his crew. How will he get to the tropics and have ...

What happened when a young man ditched the office and headed to the outback of Australia for the adventure of a lifetime? In 2002, a young Englishman left London behind to try something new on a working holiday. One year; 2,000 sheep: 4,000 km travelled. Horses and quad bikes; two light aircraft; one Ford station wagon. He uncovered real life far from the hustle and bustle of the beaches and coffee shops of the East coast. There were "Skimpies", surly farmers, tough miners, vets and call-girls. How did he go learning to fly, and getting behind the wheel of a ten-tonne truck? A must-read for...

What would happen if you quit your life for a year? In a pre-COVID-19 world, the Wheelan family decided to find out; leaving behind work, school, and even the family dogs to travel the world on a modest budget. Equal parts "how-to" and "how-not-to" - and with an eye toward a world emerging from a pandemic - We Came, We Saw, We Left is the insightful and often hilarious account of one family's gap-year experiment.

With an itinerary covering 41 countries, spanning all seven continents, and armed with a backpack, binoculars, and a series of one-way tickets, he sets out on the greatest adventure in the birding world. Along the way he meets a colorful cast of fellow birders—and discovers a world of blood-sucking leeches, chronic sleep deprivation, floods, war zones, ecologic devastation, and conservation triumphs.

Richard Henry Dana called this book a "a voice from the sea". It had an influence on both Joseph Conrad and Herman Melville, both of whom sang its praises. Dana was a law student at Harvard College who decided, in 1834, to take a break from his studies in order to experience the "real world" by signing on as a common sailor for a two year voyage from Boston around Cape Horn to California. He kept a journal which he turned into a book after the voyage.

Join the adventure as 33-year-old Rene Cormier politely removes himself from the working world that surrounds him and cashes in what few possessions he has to finance a three-year-long motorcycle journey around the world. Never one to let excessive planning get in the way of a good ride, Rene runs out of money half way through the tour and ultimately takes five years to cover the 41-country, 154,000 kilometer (95,000 mile) route.

This is my story or at least the college and early marriage years of it. As I look back on my life, I realize that it has been a rather interesting one. Therefore, I thought I would tell my story. There are a couple of caveats I need to add here at the beginning. One, these are my memories and, as such, may not be entirely reliable. As with most people, I have a tendency to remember some things and forget others. I, also, don’t necessarily remember it the way it really was, but the way, well, I remember it. I have asked some of those “who were there” to read over what I have written ...

In 1982, Wendy Wood was poised on the brink of stardom. Lead singer with talented local band, Velvet Temptation, she was a rising star of the Oxford music scene. Tipped for fame by the music press, success seemed inevitable. But conflict within the band, a series of betrayals and infidelities, and an unwelcome run of bad luck all played a part in shattering her dreams.

In Cruise Confidential, Brian David Bruns spills the dirt - or, in this case, the dirty water - on those romantic, fun-filled vacations at sea. His hilarious chronicle of the year he spent working for Carnival Cruise Lines takes listeners down into the areas where the crew works and lives, leaving listeners gasping with laughter as they're assaulted nonstop with events that range from the absurd to the utterly bizarre. Stewards fighting over food. Cutlery allowances and other nonsensical rules.

A little over 10 years ago, Janine Marsh and her husband gave up their careers in London to chase the good life in the countryside of northern France. Having overcome the obstacles of starting to renovate her dream home - an ancient, dilapidated barn - and fitting in with the peculiarities of the locals, Janine is now the go-to expat in the area for those seeking to get to grips with a very different way of life. In this book, Janine regales us with the delights and dramas of a year attempting to live the rural idyll.

David’s wife has been dead for fourteen years. Someone else lives in his home. And he’s decades younger than he should be. A dizzy spell and a thunderstorm started it all, but David woke up to a whole new world. And a terrifying one. Discovered by the FBI, David is whisked away to a mysterious island where others like him—rejuvenated and cast forward in time—are held by a government that no longer resembles the democracy he knew. This new regime is a communist dictatorship, intent on unraveling the secret behind their inexplicable youth and the lapse in time. In a thrilling escape ...