I got the email back in June. His name was Grant, he had spent a year vagabonding around Mexico, Belize, and Guatemala, he had written a book about it (Imagine: A Vagabond Story), and oh, by the by, did I want to read and review it?
This was right after I decided that come September, I was going the nomad route myself, so I was like, “um, yes please.” And then I looked through the pictures on his website, and on Facebook, and I saw that in addition to being an incredibly badass backpack-around-the-world-er, he’s also fucking hot. Like, “oh sure I’ll strip down for you in public just because you asked me to” hot.
The book arrived a few weeks later. I started it, I was immediately consumed by it, and then I finished it. All in like.. a day. Because it’s that good. He’s honest (and hot) and simple (and hot) and approachable (and hot) and spontaneous (and hot) and I sort of want to get on the next plane to Mexico and recreate his entire trip. With him.
Obviously.
BECAUSE HE’S SO HOT.
But here’s the thing: the book was such a quick, enjoyable, and inspiring read that I would recommend it even if he weren’t hot. And that’s saying something.
The story goes start to finish on his year abroad, recounting tales of beauty (both the natural-wonder type and the naked-females-of-the-world-that-he-hooked-up-with-while-drunk-or-high type) and details the people and places that changed his life. Totally a worthwhile read.
Want to order a copy? Do that here. Want to win a free copy? Leave a comment telling me which country you’d most like to backpack around for a year and why. Winner will be randomly selected and announced on Sunday, September 6!
*Update: Katelin, our randomly selected contest winner, will be receiving a free copy of Imagine: A Vagabond Story! The book’s (hot) author is also giving a 20% discount to all readers who use the code “nicoleisbetter” when purchasing the book from his website! So pass the word on and enjoy!*
{ 57 comments… read them below or add one }
ONE country? Just one?! Nope. But I'll name a few: Costa Rica. Chile. Thailand. Argentina. Indonesia. Spain. How's that?
gfwftw!
(see you tomorrow!)
Oh man, picking just one would be impossible! But, I'm going to go with Greece— because it's gorgeous, and the guys are HOT!
I am having a love affair with France right now…so I'm going to go with France. I hope to go there for a longgg while sometime soon.
Greece. No Spain. No Greece! Greece. Because I haven't been there. I spent almost two weeks in Spain and it was the best two weeks ever…so a new country it is.
GOD I need a vacay.
SO COOL! I want to say that some of my friends actually met this guy in their travels, and they were really inspired.
I'd want to backpack around an European country for a year, but it is SO HARD to decide which one!
Where would you go?
Nepal is my go-to answer, but a friend just returned from Mongolia and now I am obsessed – so it would be a tough choice to pick just one country.
Australia! Just kidding. I know living here isn't the same as backpacking around. I freaking adored ALL of France last year when I went and would not mind spending a year backpacking through the ocuntryside for a bit, catching some sun along the Riviera, and playing in Paris for a bit… France it is.
Oops I mean countryside.
You're right. He's FUCKING HOT!
And as for a country? hmm tough choice but definitely somwhere not "western". I've done the UK/Australia/NZ thing and I want to go somewhere wild. Like Nepal, or Belize or Bolivia, or anywhere in Africa. Actually? I'd pretty much go anywhere if you offered me a free trip.
agh just one? i guess i'd choose argentina because it's always been my "i should go there" place. or maybe germany because i have a bunch of friends around there right now
ITALY!!! In a heart beat! I am originally from Minnesota and currently doing 12 months in Melbourne, Australia. Definitely worth the trip!
My next adventure is going to be Italy to discover my family heritage and take in all the fabulous pasta making, wine drinking, little bits of goodness men that they have to offer!
PS: Just found your blog and am loving it! So refreshing and inspiring.
Hello you're from Minnesota? We need to be friends now. :::hops right on over to stalk your blog:::
Ireland! It's beyond beautiful and Irish accents – so hot! I've wanted to go since I saw P.S I love you.
I'd love to go to Germany or Russia. I think I'm far too much of a wus to backpack though!
Zimbabwe, except it has to be Zimbabwe free of crazed leaders and corrupt police and the other types of people that make it not safe to go there and see all of the amazingness of the Great Zimbabwe National Monument and Victoria Falls.
Tough! Either backpack through all of Europe or Southeast Asia.
I love you for so many reasons. But this post? A-freaking-mazing!
Me? I want to go to SE Asia again or maybe even the USA. Alaska, Hawaii – gorgeous!
if i had to pick just one place, then it would have to be italy because i haven't been there. but i would also choose germany or russia or the aurrounding areas. hehe
Great post!! Sounds like an amazing book! I just ordered a copy from his website to give to my nomad sister… still wouldn't mind winning one too!
I would go to the Seychelles.. mmmmm… paradise.
I did New Zealand last year. Next Aussie land or Scotland, because I want to see where William Wallace killed fufty men (50).
Southeast Asia! Who wouldn't want to visit there, it looks stunning!
Italy. I"ve been twice and I would LOVE to be able to backpack there. Why? The gorgeous scenery, the history, the art, the cathedrals, the FOOD, and the HOT men, Plus, I just love the European view of life. Not so go, go, go as here in the U.S. They actually ENJOY life instead of just trying to plow through it at a hundred miles an hour. Ahhh. Now I miss it. And did I mention the food?!?
I'd love to backpack around Spain. Was there once for a week and it wasn't enough!
Australia! I've been trying to get there for like 8 years, sad that I haven't made it yet I know…but I have traveled everywhere else. And totally becuase not only have I loved every Aussie I've met but I could do scuba and snorkel and other fun watersports there!
This author sounds delicious! I have hiked the Andes and back-packed through a good portion of Latin America. For my next big trip, I would love to spend a few months backpacking through South East Asia.
I'd love to nomad my way through the Czech republic. And by that, I might mean just live in Prague. Still counts.
India all the way. I know a ton of people who've backpacked there and looooooved it (including my parents, who, in lieu of a honeymoon, quit their jobs and randomly went to India for 5 months with no plans whatsoever).
Hot. And Spain. And all the money I'll save by sleeping on the streets, I'll spend on food.
Nothing better than a hot backpacker.
I would LOVE to backpack through Italy & Greece (that's two countries, I know, but I can't pick just one.) I'm Italian and to really soak in my heritage and maybe track down some lineage? That would be fantatsic. Not to mention the copious amounts of wine, pasta, bread, cheese and gelato I'd be sure to consume while in the lovely country.
I just won a copy of this (err so don't pick me) from another website and now that you've enlightened me about how HOT that HOT HOTTIE is I am even more excited to read it!
You weren't kidding when you said he was hot!
If I were going to pick one country to backpack around for a year, I would pick Italy. Gorging myself on pasta and pesto and panini, trying (hopelessly) to use my four semesters of Italian (a class in which I spent more time day dreaming about my ruggedly handsome European instructor) to communicate and taking pictures of all the beauty. Yes, that's what I would do.
So was he hot?
I'd pick France, no doubt. I've always loved the French language and culture and to backpack through there, from the Mediterranean Sea through Champagne and the wine regions, and Paris, of course. It'd be amazing.
Um, instead of the book can you just book me a flight to France? Okay, thanks.
I would love to explore all of Canada, taking a train to different places and then hiking.
Um Italy please. Because um, it's freaking Italy. I've never been and only heard amazing things and I'm pretty sure I'd be in love the second I landed.
Iceland! Because it is different from other countries. People don't usually want to go there but there IS a lot to see and explore. And I want to go there during winter time and explore the country in a Jeep with my husband right next to me BECAUSE HE IS HOT!!!
So is Iceland. Even in the winter!
I'd love to spend a year in the Philippines. I may have to settle for a couple of weeks though.
I would like to back pack around Australia b/c it looks like a neautiful country with a lot of natural resources.
Would love to travel Ireland – because it's so green and I love the accents!
I don't know if I could do -one- country, but if I had to pick, I think it'd have to be thailand. I just feel like there is such diversity there, not to mention absolutely beautiful!!!
I am in the very beginning stages of planning a backpaking trip myself, so I feel that the book would be both absolutely helpful and inspiring!
Italy!! I would love love love.. did I mention, love? to go backpacking across Italy!! Thank you for the giveaway! I'd love to read his book!
I'd love to back-pack through Italy.
Oh man, so many people are entering. I'd say France because I spent a summer there with my family when I was about 12, and I would love to enjoy it as an adult. Or honestly? Canada. My own country. It's nature is just majestic and I wish I had/took time to enjoy it. Also, Switzerland. I just watched a movie about the Alps in IMAX. The best.
Living in cold cold Norway I would love to backpack a warmer country where I could enjoy the sun, happy people and good food. Eventhough I've already travelled Mexico and Guatemala I would love to be able to do it again. But since it seems unlikely for me to be able to jump on a plane and live out my dream, I'm hoping to live my life through Grants experiences – that is if I'm lucky enough to win the book.
Ofcourse I know which place to pick, I've known it all along! Years. Middle east. Egypt to Israel then Syria and end in Turkey. It makes my blood flow to imagine visiting the places of the oldest streets ever to have existed, to walk through the pavements, possibly a thousand years used as such. To experience the most widespread religions of the world, see where it all started, and possibly figure out whats the fuss all about. Learn to eat with hands. Learn to belly dance my way through a baby delivery (WTF). Climb a F-ing mountain and maybe wound around meeting the God dude. Meet the most naive and harmless people I know, and try my luck reasoning with them on why they do not mind interference from the world and what is it that they most care about? Religion and Women's NON RIGHTS "as to what the TV shows" or just to be left alone. AND WRITE THE TRUE STORY. Once and for all. Oh, and I'm not ruling out the possibility of meeting a hot, tanned, middle eastern, something major about rough, mountainous guys in a stubble. Aah.
PS: I know posting it all the way to India would be something, but I wanted to reply anyway!
PPS: Thanks for reminding me about it, I'm doing it very soon.
I'd have to backpack the South Pacific of course I'd need my yacht to get me from island to island! Keep dreaming!
I prefer biking to hiking; I think/know I'd like to bike around Nepal. My aunt leads treks there, and the pictures are just absolutely unbelievable; I'd love to see that firsthand. From the bike vantage point, I'm pretty sure nothing could be better. And, I'd like to do it with my own (hot!) boy.
Africa… Thailand.. Costa Rica.. maybe in that order.. I want to win!
I don't know if I could pick just one country! I'd love to travel through North and West Africa.
For some reason, I'm driven to say "That ridic island from Lost, but only because I'm kind of obsessed with that show right now, and only if Sawyer is there because YUM". But considering you're probably looking for a REAL PLACE…I'd have to say…somewhere in South America, maybe? As long as I don't get eaten by some crazy-pants wildebeest.
Australia or Italy. Probably the latter because of the food/wine.
I would say Austria. I have always thought it was such a beautiful country. I think Sound of Music started my fondness for Austria.
Mm… is it lame to say America? I would love to really road trip through the whole US, hit local restaurants everywhere I went, and seeing the whole thing. Because I'm kind of obsessed with Americana. No lie.
I'd backpack around the Philippines, because they have beautiful beaches, friendly people, and everything is cheap!
New Zealand. No question. In New Zealand, EVERYONE'S hot.
shit! i missed the deadline!
oh well… ill look into the book anyway. because he's hot.
also because it sounds fabulous.
Does it have to be a different country? I mean, I'd love to explore England or Australia, but I'd really like to wander through the United States and experience all the different cultures. Peter Jenkins has written books about his Walk Across America, and I've always wanted to explore my own country in depth!
Brazil… mmmmm those yummy men and women. I think I would stay forever.
When will you announce the winner of the book giveaway? It sounds really awesome and I can't wait to read it!