“These stories made me fall in love with the world again.”
—Isabel Allende

“Don George is an inveterate adventurer and master storyteller, with the biggest, most generous heart on the open road.”
—Andrew McCarthy, actor, director, and author of The Longest Way Home

“What shines with crystal clarity through all of these wise and wonderful essays is Don George’s irrepressible generosity of spirit. He loves the world he finds, and the world loves him back in equal measure. Those of us lucky enough to know him have long recognized Don as a seriously life-enhancing kind of fellow: this marvelous collection serves amply to reinforce the notion.”
—Simon Winchester, author Pacific and The Map That Changed the World

Foreword by Pico Iyer(author of Video Night in Kathmandu, The Lady and the Monk and The Global Soul)!

Highly recommended by Isabel Allende, Andrew McCarthy(actor, author) as well as Simon Winchester!

Explore the World with a Legendary Travel Writer--Don George

Don George has been captivating readers with chronicles of his wandering adventures for four decades. Here you’ll find his best stories and essays, from climbing Kilimanjaro and contemplating the magic of Uluru to exploring the jungles of Cambodia and the backcountry temples of Shikoku. Let Don open your eyes to the wonders of the world as he falls in love in Greece, encounters whales in Mexico and elephants in East Africa, makes roof tiles in Peru, dances like a South Seas warrior on Aitutaki, and much more.

Don George
National Geographic has called Don George “a legendary travel writer and editor,” and he has been lauded as the most influential travel writer and editor of his generation. Don has been exploring new frontiers as an author, editor, and adventurer for almost four decades, and is also an acclaimed teacher, speaker, and tour leader. He has visited more than ninety countries on six continents, has published hundreds of articles in dozens of magazines and newspapers around the world, and regularly speaks and teaches at conferences, campuses, and companies from San Francisco to Singapore to London.

Don’s first job was as Travel Writer and then Travel Editor for the San Francisco Examiner. After fifteen years at the paper, he founded and edited Salon.com’s groundbreaking Wanderlust travel site, then became Global Travel Editor for Lonely Planet. Don is currently Editor at Large and Columnist for National Geographic Traveler, Special Features Editor for BBC Travel, and editor of GeoEx’s travel blog, Wanderlust: Literary Journeys for the Discerning Traveler.

Don literally wrote the book on travel writing, Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Writing, the bestselling travel writing guide in the world. He has also edited ten award-winning literary travel anthologies, including An Innocent Abroad, Better Than Fiction, and The Kindness of Strangers. Don has received dozens of awards for his writing and editing, including ten Lowell Thomas Awards from the Society of American Travel Writers. He is a highly sought-after keynote speaker and workshop leader, and is interviewed frequently as a travel expert. He also consults nationally and internationally on travel and social media, and hosts a popular national series of onstage conversations with prominent travel writers.

Don is co-founder and host of the award-winning San Francisco-based reading series Weekday Wanderlust, and is co-founder and chairman of the celebrated Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference.

Don grew up in Connecticut, and lived in Paris, Athens, and Tokyo before settling in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife; they have two children. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the Hollins College graduate program in creative writing.

Foreword: Saying Yes to the World by Pico Iyer

Introduction

Prologue: Every Journey Is a Pilgrimage

PART ONE: PILGRIMAGES

Climbing Kilimanjaro

A Night with the Ghosts of Greece

Ryoanji Reflections

Connections: A Moment at Notre-Dame

Conquering Half Dome

Impression: Sunrise at Uluru

Castaway in the Galápagos

Machu Picchu Magic

A Pilgrim at Stinson Beach

Japan’s Past Perfect

Home for the Holidays: A Thanksgiving Pilgrimage to Connecticut

PART TWO: ENCOUNTERS

In Love, in Greece, in the Springtime

A Day in the Life of Dubbo

A Passage to Pakistan

Insights into Nice at the Musée Matisse

Treasures of Dubrovnik

Letters from Jordan

Baja: Touched by a Whale

Building Bridges in Mostar

Into Africa

Making Roof Tiles in Peru

Living-History Lessons in Berlin

PART THREE: ILLUMINATIONS

At the Musée d’Orsay

California Epiphany

Japanese Wedding

Prambanan in the Moonlight

In the Pythion of Time

Finding Salvation in the South Seas

The Intricate Weave

Unexpected Offerings on a Return to Bali

Spin the Globe: El Salvador

French Connections in Saint-Paul-de-Vence

Piecing Together Puzzles in Cambodia

Epilogue: Travel Writing and the Meaning of Life

Acknowledgments

Story Credits

About the Author