The solo travel boom since the pandemic may seem new and thrilling, but solo travelers hopped on this trend long before it became a boom. In this book, a young teacher set out from the United States with a simple but radical mindset: to like the people he met on his home and world travels. While liking people may seem too basic to be transformative, deciding in advance to like strangers made it possible for him to get to know couples, solo travelers, families, and school workers who crossed his path. He put a cork on those interactions like messages in bottles through journal entries. Each day’s entry chronicles the people he met, foods he ate, costs of a ride or a movie ticket, sights he saw, and health issues he navigated. The first entry in his journal is from America on June 20, 1976. The last entry is from Bangkok, Thailand, on March 15, 1994. The years in between span his journeys across Southeast Asia, largely in Thailand.

One of the most interesting parts of this narrative is seen in how schools and teaching played a central role in Moehlenbrock's life and shaped much of what he smiles at when looking back. The kids in the schools were like his family. He got to see these tumbling little kids become adults over the years he taught, lived, and plugged into these communities. What makes these travel stories genuine, too, is that they’re from a backpacker who traveled within fifty-six countries—with repeat visits to many of the Asian countries he loves. The author's bank of knowledge and observations is extensive. Even beyond that, the journal entries engagingly depict a young traveler growing up, in many ways, through the joy of discovering that strangers are only friends he hasn’t met yet.

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