Grounded by Seth Stevenson

Freelance writer Seth Stevenson and his girlfriend Rebecca were in a rut and decided to turn life into an adventure. Grounded is the journal of their trip around the world 'by ground only'.

Selling almost everything and putting the rest in storage, they leave with packs on their backs and no keys in their pockets. Bunking on cargo freighters and cruise ships, riding rickshaws and bicycles, motor scooters and buses, they circumnavigate the 25,000 miles of the Earth.

Washington DC, Antwerp, Estonia, Japan, Beijing, Hanoi, Bangkok, Singapore, Australia, Los Angeles, and points in between.

They ride the Tran-Siberian railway with drunken bunkmates across Russia to Japan, bicycle with a tour group through Cambodia, drive a rented car through the outback directly across the continent of Australia, and have a hair raising connection to an outbound cruise ship in Singapore. The options are limited when you aren't flying, so connections are tight.

They arrive in Singapore to find their freighter cancelled, but there is a luxury cruise ship leaving for Australia the next day. Although they are not allowed to pick up passengers en route, they plead their case to the captain. While they are waiting, Rebecca races back to the hotel for the baggage. The captain consents, and they are allowed to join the cruise - which is not leaving the next day, but right now! Someone in a white suit and epaulets runs up to Seth and passes him through security, sprints him down the narrow hallways to the raising gangplank, and they jump onto the deck. The horn bows, the ship moves. They both laugh, saying "I've never done anything like that!" and then... "Where's your luggage?"

Unlike most travel literature, the book is more about the journey and ways that it happens, than the places visited. They sometimes have a few days in each place to explore, other times, it's from train station to boat or bus. It's the journey, and I highly enjoyed the ride.

Recommended if you love travel lit, or just want to escape from your work and join them on a leg of their journey.

2010 / Paperback / 320 pages