Good afternoon and happy Friday! Sorry for being MIA for a while, for the last couple of weeks I have been battling sickness bugs and a terrible cold and have been feeling pretty awful! It has given me lots of reading time though, as aside from sleeping I haven’t had the energy to do much else. Today I am sharing this fantastic non-fiction travel ‘memoir’ with you.
Turning Left Around The World by David C. Moore
The Blurb
For some people, retirement dreams can consist of comfy slippers and gardening. Not so David and Helene, whose dream was of adventure. They presented Audley Travel with the challenge of exploring the history, landscape, wildlife, people and food in fifteen countries over ten months.
Fortunately, they were up to the task so David and Helene traded their slippers and gardening gloves for 53 flights, 30 trains, 8 boats, 3 cruise ships, 1 light aircraft, I hot air balloon, a motorbike and sidecar, countless speedboats, taxis, tuk-tuks, cyclos and bicycles. And a disobedient horse.
Turning Left Around the World is an entertaining account of their adventure, often intriguing, frequently funny and occasionally tragic. Share their adventure, enjoy the surprises and meet some fascinating people along the way.
What I Thought
Wow, what a book. I thoroughly enjoyed reading about David and Helene’s amazing around the world adventure. David’s writing style was friendly, while being informative, funny and also conveying sometimes sad historic events which happened in the countries they visited. There are many photos included too which were all stunning and helped illustrate the adventures they had.
I would absolutely love to take a trip like this – unfortunately health and wealth prohibit me but I really enjoyed reading about all these magnificent countries. South America has never hugely appealed to me but this book definitely changed my mind about that. I loved the way the couple decided on where to visit – a map and a pile of blue and pink pins and boom – a ten month once in a lifetime experience. I also loved hearing about all the people they met on their travels and how they immersed themselves into the local cultures and took part in the traditions of places and people they visited.
This was an easy to read book which I struggled to put down. It has definitely fired up the travel bug once again in me and even though currently my destinations may have to be closer to home, I have found a new way of seeing and exploring things and have definitely added a few more places to my bucket list!
Some of my favourite bits and quotes –
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than by the ones you did do.
So, throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your ails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
H. Jackson Brown Jr. – Foreword
“The first day of our adventures was not shaping up the way I expected. It just happened to be the day of Chile’s elections, odd day for elections but that’s okay. So, Sunday 2nd July, voting day, was declared a ‘dry vote day’. No alcohol to be served in any bar, restaurant or hotel until 2 hours after voting closed at 11pm so that everyone could vote sober. Great!”
“We then attempted the walk across the Bridge Of Sighs. Custom has it that you hold hands and then hold your breath and then walk across with your loved one. If you can both hold your breath all the way across your wishes will come true. On the third attempt we made it”
“If I thought Fiji was rugby mad that’s nothing compared to the Kiwis… comically most of the toilet symbols are rugby balls for men and footballs for women”
“Our flight from Sydney to Uluru… took over 3 hours and moved our timezone back by an hour and half – I always thought time zones were in full hours, apparently not, there are even some that move by 15 minutes”
“It was Nippers Day at Coogee Beach and Santa was due to arrive on a surfboard, I was not missing this”
Waving beads and bible in his crutched hand he raised his other palm with fingers spread. Not quite sure what this meant I gave him a ‘high-five’. ‘What on earth are you doing David?’ screamed Helene. ‘You don’t high-five a Buddhist monk!’”
“pointing to the tray hanging in a cinema usherette style from the neck of a fierce looking local lady. Instead of ice creams, confectionery, popcorn and Kia – Ora drinks her tray displayed coiled snake on a stick, brochettes of scorpions, barbecued tarantula, big black bugs that could have been cockroaches and an assortment of plump white grubs, possibly wichetty.”
“I had the most extraordinary toilet experience in the airport lounge high-tech loos. It sensed me walking into the trap so the toilet seat rose automatically in a welcoming kind of look up from a bow, and bizarrely a rather comforting blue light came on in the bowl itself. This was not the only comfort, the seat itself was heated… upon sitting the personal piped music began to play…there was a digital display just above the auto loo roll dispenser offering a variety of flashing buttons and symbols including spray, +/- spray strength, nozzle position, cleansing, wide/narrow, bidet, blow and massage. Massage? Well we promised to try everything” – I couldn’t resist a toilet one!
“The tannoy announced that ‘crying children should be taken into the vestibules immediately and those leaving the train should do so in an orderly fashion’”
Where To Buy
Buy now on Amazon (kindle or paperback versions available)
The Author – David C. Moore
David owned and managed a London marketing agency for 15 years,
creating advertising campaigns to promote iconic international brands
including Mars, Kellogg’s, Disney and Coca-Cola. Following the sale of
his agency in 1999 he became one of the leading Consultant Marketing
Directors in the UK, steering business in the launch or re-launch of their
consumer brands including B&Q, Direct Line and RBS. David lives in
Berkshire with his wife Helene.
I hope you enjoyed this review, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this none and highly recommend it, especially to those who enjoy non-fiction and travelling. Thankyou for baring with me while I haven’t been well and hopefully things will all be back to normal very soon!
Thankyou to Mirador Publishing and Cameron Publicity & Marketing for my copy of this book in return for a review. All opinions contained within are my own. Check out more reviews by visiting the other blogs on this tour –
The Spoonie Mummy 
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