Tales of a Road Junky
To find yourself it would seem it’s necessary to lose yourself first. Tales of a Road Junky is the story of how I did that on numerous continents in a decade on the road, zooming towards The Edge and only barely making it back.
The book covers just over a decade of my more reckless years on the road, back when I hadn’t developed a healthy sense of risk and yearned so desperately for experience that I put myself in the most absurd situations.
Some of the tales are covered in my podcast and really, the best thing to come out of this period were the stories I got to tell forevermore whenever a conversation needed a bit of livening up.
Tales of a Road Junky covers 5 main periods of my travels::
Goa – Seasons in Paradise
Goa was a world of its own back in the 90’s and in many ways I caught the last of the wave that had begun in the 60’s with the hippies arriving overland. By the time I got there it had evolved into an electric but unstable scene where people from across the world came to take acid and dance at the trance parties. I met there some of the most fascinating characters I’ve ever come across.
Delhi Jail Story
When the girlfriend of a smuggler friend of mine went to jail in Delhi, I took it upon myself to help her get out. I visited her there behind bars, liaised with corrupt lawyers and concocted elaborate escape plans in an effort to help avoid spending ten years in one of the worst jails in the world.
Israelity
I met Israelis in large numbers when I was living in India and I was fascinated by this arrogant-but-friendly, aloof-but-welcoming tribe. I spent 2 years living and travelling in Israel as I attempted to understand what kind of a country could be simply invented and what held it together – and threatened to tear it apart.
Fake Rolexes in Tokyo
Sooner or later, a traveller has to think about how to make money on the road and at one point I found myself working for the Israeli mafia peddling imitation goods in the streets of Japan. For 85 days I hustled and bargained and charmed Japanese customers into buying gleaming trinkets and acquired a street-level understanding of Tokyo.
Lost in Rio de Janeiro
I spent 6 months in Rio trying to smuggle a controlled medicine out of the country and, in the process, I nearly had a total breakdown. All the years of living on the edge caught up with me at once as I found myself on the borders of a murky nnderworld.
Sound intriguing?
Go ahead and buy the book :)
