This is more than a tale of a hypochondriac and his travels. The tagline makes it seem slightly more lighthearted than the content, which is not essentially wrong, but I thought that the book had a lot more depth than I had anticipated. It took me a while to understand what the author was doing with juggling timelines, but once I did, it made the reading a lot smoother and had more weight as well.
We have multiple travels of Jeremy described to us, along with fascinating information about the local natural beauty and fleeting mentions of the socio-political situations in said places (the light mentions also help for a pretty solid picture for anyone wanting to dig further). Jeremy has travelled a lot since his college years, and each time, he has mental health issues that prohibit everything from being smooth sailing. He is very clear about how his mind works, and it is probably the first time I have seen how complicated those thoughts could be in someone suffering from both OCD and chronic anxiety. I think many of us might have a mild spattering of these emotions during certain events in life, but this is at another level altogether.
Per chapter, we are shown one trip and what they are doing there and interspersing it with his past and childhood. This latter bit gives us a better understanding of how the journey to the current time has been. The locations visited were remote, the animals mentioned nearing extinction and cultures mentioned, which I had not come across earlier. Overall, the further I got into the book, the more I was enjoying it. There is a profound love for nature that the author puts down in words and shows us with his observations that make this entire read a very heartfelt one.
I highly recommend this to anyone who is a nervous traveller or just liked to visit remote corners to learn something new through the pages of books like this.
I received an ARC thanks to NetGalley and the publishers; the review is entirely based on my own reading experience.

Loved reading this. The writing style is quick and easy, deeply personal and often hilarious yet sad. As someone looking from the outside in it gave me a relatable insight into what it is like to struggle with mental illness while also providing rather entertaining stories "from the road". Very happy I got to read this.

Baggage is a memoir by the author of traveling the world with OCD, anxiety, and hypochondria. I really enjoyed this - he’s hilarious and he was also so detailed in his descriptions that I felt like I was there. South America, Asia ... all around the globe. I love travel and I love comedy. I haven’t been diagnosed with any of his afflictions but I could relate to his anxiety and hypochondriac tendencies ... I think a lot of people can fall into that a bit easier when they’re out of their element. If you’re one who has any of these and you want to travel but are hesitant, I’d highly recommend reading this.

I could sooo relate to this book! I love the idea of traveling more than the actual traveling, if that makes sense. I never regret the trips, but remember the anxiety well enough not to want to do it too often. I loved this book! It makes me want to travel again. I makes me remember all the places, people, and events I enjoyed! It also kind of makes me laugh at my fears of the unknown, that really are never all that awful. Great read! Entertaining.

A perfect read for this time I traveled with the author to places in this time of COVID we can’t visit. Jeremy Hance tells a hysterical tale and also an informative tale of clo
I ate control and other issue.A pleasure to read a book I really enjoyed.#netgalley #baggage

An honest memoir, loved this book it touches on so many subjects close to my heart.

Along with excitement, most of us experience mild anxiety before we travel. We want to explore and see new places but there’s so much that could go wrong. This book shows you that you’re not alone in this thinking and that you can overcome it and go explore.

The author shares a very honest, often light humoured account of living with mental illness. Sharing the challenges of coping with OCD whilst travelling to remote locations around the world. With scientific evidence proving that the natural world is vital to those suffering with mental illness he pushes through his fears.

The travel writing is vivid with fascinating observations of the people, places and cultures he meets whilst travelling to some of the most remote, beautiful locations on earth.

The author is clearly passionate about conservation and protecting nature and wildlife. The book presents insightful, thought provoking arguments as to the challenges faced by our planet. Why the rainforests are disappearing, the real impacts of climate change and global warming to our vital eco systems.

My copy of this book has so many highlighted sections that I keep going back to read them. I love a book that draws an emotional reaction and stays with you for a long time.

An example quote I found very hard hitting:
“I hope that our descendants will be wiser than us and that they can heal and repair at least some of what we’ve discarded and desecrated”

Highly Recommended for those who care about our planet, our wildlife and the survival of our planet.

Hilarious book! Jeremy Hance is a great writer who transports you to exotic destinations, making this book a great escape for these times.

"Baggage" by Jeremy Hance, is as equally laugh-out-loud funny as it is insightful and thought-provoking about our world and the atrocities our planet faces. I learned so much about climate change, global warming, the amazon rainforests, and more. Each chapter tugged at my heartstrings due to Hance's mental struggles with his chosen profession, but lifted me up when I realized these hardships did not define him, nor did they totally limit him. Kudos to Hance for living his best life and writing about it in this wonderful memoir. I loved it!

I love travel books and books about psychology, so this book seemed a good choice, as it covers both.

The main focus is on travel - journalist Jeremy writes about travel, conservation and ecology for websites like Mongabay. In this book we get to see the work behind some of the articles - his explorations around the world and trips into the Amazonian jungle and many other places in an attempt to see rare animals and meet with conservationists who are doing their best to track, monitor and save the animals.

Jeremy writes well and this is quite an amusing  and easy read.  He is very aware of his mental health issues,  often from hindsight; after he has insisted to his local guides that he is seriously ill and needs to see a doctor NOW, often the middle of nowhere (he wasn't, it was just another panic attack).

It was enlightening  (and extremely worrying if you care about the planet and the future of species, including ourselves) to learn about the probable extinction of animals that I'd never even heard of (the solenodons of this world) as we journey with Jeremy into jungles, upstream villages, and mountainous territories to catch a glimpse. My respect for conservationists, doing such good work for very little reward, has increased immensely.

If you're interested in conservation and also finding out how Jeremy deals with his mental health issues whilst travelling, you'll enjoy this book.

You can read Jeremy's articles on Mongabay.com

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book follows Hance as he alternates travel anecdotes with memories of growing up and stories of how his mental illness has manifested.

Hance does a great job articulating the difficulties of traveling with OCD and how his mental illness has impacted his life. The travel stories themselves are also entertaining and humorous. There seems to be more focus near the end of the book, but there are some interesting stories throughout the book.

It's an interesting read about mental health and seeing the world.

If you like a writer like Bill Bryson, you will love Jeremy Hance. Entertaining and educational at the same time.

The author writes about his experiences with anxiety, OCD and depression, coming from a family where family members from both paternal and maternal sides used to have mental health issues. As a personal detail, I am so happy that he seems better right now, that he has managed to get a grip of his mental health issues. I am also happy that he has managed to make his relationship to Tiff (Tiffany) work.

This is a rollercoaster of a book. Jeremy Hance has taken me up and down, visiting glorious places, like Borneo and the Amazon jungle, and the worst places, like when he tells of his obsession with checking his own shit to see traces of blood. It's heart-breaking how he reflects on the wreck that companies create on the landscape, the traditional way of life of certain tribes, and global warming. And for some things, it is sadly already too late..

Really interesting and culturally relevant. I would recommend it. The most clear referent, as I said at the beginning, is Bill Bryson, of whom I am a big fan.

The only not-that-positive (it's not really a negative because I agree with the message nevertheless) that I can think of is like towards halfway he becomes too preachy. All type of humour disappears, and even the traveller's anecdotes fade away to give way to theoretical explanations of how the palm oil industry has killed the last Borneo rhyno. I would have liked a better balance. I know that what he is saying is all true, but I would have appreciated to have these explanations mixed with his personal travel stuff.

Baggage by Jeremy Hance.
Description: A Hilarious and Heartfelt Adventure of Traveling Around the Globe with OCD and Anxiety as Your Trusted Companions...(What Could Go Wrong?)
Seriously who could resist reading something with a description like that?? Not me!!
This was the first travel memoir that I have read and I was not disappointed. It was really fun getting to know Jeremy and his wife Tiffany. I can’t even imagine traveling to all these places and seeing all these things in one lifetime. The work that Jeremy does to get the word out for animals and conservation deserves a round of applause. He gives a very vivid picture into the mind of someone with a mental illness and it was a real eye opener for me. This book has it all, animals, conservation, travel, mental illness, history, science, culture differences, and many other things. The stories he told when his OCD would come out while traveling or at home were absolutely hilarious, I kept saying to myself “can you imagine”. I looked up some of the animals he was looking for or that he saw along the way. Just so I could picture the adventure better. It was amazing to see an animal that you have never heard of before, even though it was just an online picture.
This book has set the bar high for travel memoirs.

**Disclaimer: Thanks to NetGalley and HCI Books for giving me a free ARC in exchange for an honest review of the book.

Baggage is the travel memoir of a man whose travel companions include OCD and anxiety and the prologue involves taking anti-anxiety meds with wine while trying to hold it together on a long distance flight. Since that is the opening scene of the book, I'm sure we can all guess that it is going to be quite good. The sarcasm in this book was delightful and made the read highly enjoyable. I also like that is was very different from other travel memoirs in that it was incredibly honest in describing how traveling with mental illness can be a struggle.

Very engaging blend of travelogue, memoir and notes on conservation. Author with astonishing openness and sincerity writes about his lifelong struggle with multiple, sometimes debilitating, mental illnesses - depression, anxiety, OCD, you name it. Despite his prolific self-criticism, I think that he is a very brave man. He doesn't let his problems get in the way of his mission: to write about endangered species and help to save them and their world.

Reader shouldn’t be discouraged by the tough topic - it's really a page-turner, for the most part an adventure book, reminding me travelogs by Bill Bryson. I just wish that he would write more in-depth about the nature itself and animals he visits, but I understand that it is not a main subject here.

Thanks to the publisher, HCI Books, and NetGalley for the advance copy of this book.

Baggage by Jeremy Hance details the author's experiences of travelling as an environmental journalist while suffering the debilitating effects of OCD and anxiety. That he perseveres and excels in his chosen profession given his severe anxiety is astounding, but perhaps can be attributed to his reliance on humour as a coping mechanism. Although I would not wish to physically travel with the author, joining him to relive his experiences as he tackles some of the most challenging environments on earth is an absolute delight, as they are chock full of self-reflection and laugh out loud anecdotes. I would highly recommend this to any traveller who has experienced the pulse-racing anxiety of finding oneself in circumstances unknown.

Many thanks to NetGalley and HCI Books for this ARC.

Baggage by Jeremy Hance was a memoir about his travels while also trying to deal with his sufferings of severe anxiety, OCD, and depression. I loved learning about his adventures through Asia, South America, Africa, Europe, and more. I felt like I was there with him and his excitement for travel, animals, and nature was very clear. I loved his enthusiasm and passion he had. Hance also had some humor sprinkled throughout the book and he was actually pretty funny and sarcastic. Learning how he coped with his mental illness was interesting because I do suffer from depression and anxiety - though not as severe as the author. I really enjoyed this book, it's definitely something right up my alley and I can see this becoming a hit. Thank you so much to the publisher and to Netgalley for the advanced copy!

I have always loved travel narratives, reading about those brave people who venture down the Amazon or up the side of Everest. My own vacations are much more sedate, I’m not what you’d call an adrenaline junkie. And neither is Hance, unfortunately, his career as an environmental journalist required him to travel to some of most remote and wild locations on earth. Hance takes readers along on his anxiety ridden, hysterical travels in this unforgettable memoir