Adventures of a Continental Drifter: An Around-the-World Excursion into Weirdness, Danger, Lust, and the Perils of Steet Food

Elliot Hester was a flight attendant who found his job getting a lot less fun in the wake of 9/11. So he decided to spend a year traveling the world on his own terms instead, visiting every continent except Antarctica, and in this book he presents slices of his adventures and experiences.

It's a really appealing idea, armchair-traveling the world with a flight attendant who's finally getting to go places for more than the space of a short, jet-lagged layover. But I found the book itself mostly disappointing. Not entirely. Hester does describe some cool places and share a few interesting thoughts. But for so much of it, he just seems to be having an unpleasant time. Which can still be fun to read about if the writer/traveler manages to show more make it interesting or funny, but at best he's mildly entertaining, and so many of his experiences are just kind of... gross. He spends a remarkable amount of time covered in a remarkable number of bodily fluids. He does some dumb stuff, and some petty stuff. He's horny all the time, and we have to hear all about it in no uncertain terms whenever he sees an attractive woman. I know, I know, I was basically promised horniness and gastric ailments in the subtitle. I should have paid better attention, but I didn't expect it to be that much of a focus. Oh, and then of course there's the homophobia. Seriously, one entire chapter consists of nothing but a "story" about how he got on a bus, and there were DRAG QUEENS and they SAT NEXT TO HIM, and it was SO SCARY AND HORRIBLE. And, OK, I know this was the early 2000s, and such attitudes were sadly kind of the default, but it would have made me personally uncomfortable then, too, and not in sympathy with the guy writing it.

So, yeah. Probably this is someone's idea of good travel writing, but it's really not mine. show less

See lately with me, I've lost interest in any book towards the end. I find myself skimming the final chapters and I admit I did it in this one too. And at first I wasn't too sure about his trip, he seemed to only be writing about the negative but slowly he grew on me and I think the best stories are towards the middle of this book.

Some favourite bits:
-I liked his thoughts about the main island of Papeete in Tahiti. I nearly went there in November 2004 but opted instead for Fiji because it was cheaper. I wondered if I'd chosen well and whether I'd missed something. It appears I had and I didn't.

"The Jerry Springer Show is a slice of Americana that would have been best
kept to ourselves. Thanks to satellite technology, however, 19 million show more Aussies believe that most Americans live in a trailer park and engage in sexual intercourse with trisexual siblings." Indeed. I swear Springer airs more overseas than he does in the US and I spend more time explaining him. That said I enjoyed EH's travels through Australia as it's a country where I spent a fair bit of time. Always nice to see someone else's take on it. His mention of Radeka's in the CP section made me smile--that's where I stayed as well!
And yes, I felt his pain about the flies. That said, there's so many more wonderful things about Australia and I Felt he focused on the negative. :( I would have done with hijacking a sea turtle though. Especially Crush.

Overall this was a good read. He went places I'd never think of going, and experienced things I've not done. Yet in the same breath he took me back--realising life didn't get much better than his Balinese sunset took me back to some wonderful sunsets and the people he met made me think of some wonderful people I've met in my travels as well.

-"Who knows where I'll end up next, or what urge will lead me there? I'm not qualified to answer unimportant questions. Suffice it to say I'm a continental drifter. A lover of leaving. A nomad with an e-mail address."

...and a man after my own heart!

I'm glad I read this, thanks for sharing DreamSE22! show less

Publisher description:

In October 2002, Elliott Hester sold his car, abandoned his apartment, and took off alone on a trip around the world, during which he drifted to over fifty destinations. Elliott’s tales about his travels range from the bizarre to the hilarious to the flat-out shocking. Travel with him as he:

· Chases off transvestites in the South Pacific
· Gets drunk on Estonian moonshine at the maker’s eightieth birthday party
· Impersonates Samuel L. Jackson at the 38th International Film Festival in the Czech Republic
· Ponders the Finnish tradition of sprinting from steamy sauna to plunge into the frigid Baltic Sea—naked!
· And much more.

Only an around-the-world excursion could produce such outlandish, hair-raising, show more hysterical adventures. And only Elliott Hester could make such vivid observations and write such vibrant insights about life---and people---on the road. show less

Read in one rainy day.
It was okay.
Read like a collection of articles that may have been posted elsewhere. Which, they probably were.
Great armchair reading.
Premise: Elliott sells everything he owns, packs a duffle, heads around the world, writes about his exploits.
The articles seemed to revolve around bodily functions and sex.