The author wrote a memoir that perfectly captured the triumphs and setbacks of her life. It was easy to empathize with the author due to the raw writing.

This is a book encapsulating Ed Davis's life time experiences of making journeys, describing either the actual journey itself or what was encountered at the beginning or at the final destination. The opening chapters are for me by far the best. Beginning in 1972 when he was just a young man, Davis narrates his time illegally riding the freight trains of the USA Pacific Northwest and Canada. Awaiting the chance to board a train during a cold night at a freight depot in Canada, a marvelous description of the scene and the itinerant people he encounters is presented which is worthy of Kerouac.

There is a fundamental element of thrill seeking and a feeling of obtaining freedom being pursued here. Unlike the hobos of the 1930's this was not an economic imperative for when Davis is caught by security he has enough cash on him to purchase a normal passenger ticket to his destination. Also even in the 1970's you still get the impression through the disused and abandoned former stations and decaying trains left to rot in the rail sidings that this is a country experiencing a profound economic change and deindustrialisation.

I also like the later narration regarding a Greyhound bus journey, you really get a visual picture and the observations are so accurate including the bit about the man putting his possessions on the seat next to him and pretending to be asleep when new passengers board at a new stop.

Other chapters include trekking on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Andes, working in a Zimbabwean hospital and attending Obama's presidential inauguration. With a whole host of emotions experienced and retold that range from wonderment to fearful we get a good understanding as to the essentially optimistic character of the writer. Certainly a most enjoyable read that in the early part of the book reminded me of the famous phrase that "to travel hopefully is a better thing than to arrive".