As a fellow Brit who immigrated to Canada, the author being British also, especially attending university in my home city (I grew up in West Heath) deeply resonated with me.

Overall a lovely tale/memoir of adventure, taking chances, and graciously accepting the gifts of the universe, and life coming full circle.

Trigger warnings: discussion of death of a friend in a skydiving accident and graphic death and dismemberment of hitchhikers/serial killer crimes. I enjoyed the book other than these moments which felt they were written about a little gratuitously/it a little more graphic description than needed.

'Backpack, Jacket, Surfboard' has a good premise and with that it had promise. In places this memoir was funny and at time it was interesting, I loved the section set in Tijuana, for example. However, I didn't enjoy this book nearly as much as I wanted to as there are rambling digressions that are not relevant to the main story and then really relevant and interesting aspects which are quite underdeveloped. Overall, the book is an easy read, but it was quite disappointing for me.