The DEL-World Awaits: A Comprehensive Guide to Extended Backpack Travel

Photographer, musician, frequent traveler, and world citizen Paul Otteson passes along the lessons he's learned through many years of packbacking. Otteson shows what resources to have on hand, how to budget ahead of time, what to pack and why, and more. 75 b & w photographs. 12 maps.

Each year, many thousands of independent, adventurous Americans travel for extended periods in foreign lands. Passing into and out of the developing world, they follow itineraries shaped more by imagination than geography. They seek to discover and desire to be amazed. Most travel on a budget; all travel simply. For these people, the desire for freedom and experience is too potent to ignore. Featuring dozens of photographs, The World Awaits: A Comprehensive Guide To Extended Backpack Travel offers encouragement and practical advice for independent travelers of all ages with a spirit of adventure. Experienced globetrotter Paul Otteson provides all the details needed to plan a fulfilling journey, traveling only with what can fit in the pack on your back, teaching you how to do it yourself. Readers will lear about "travel goals", "travel approaches", "travel preparation", and "life on the road". Filled with appendices on foreign embassies and consulates, diseases of risk to travelers, packing check lists, and reference phone numbers, The World Awaits is a practical yet inspirational look at the ins and outs of worldwide backpack travel. Otteson also includes personal essays on the more intangible aspects of world travel and includes an ultralight handbook to tear out and take with you on the road. The World Awaits is also a treat for the armchair traveler as it immerses them in the daily thrill of life on the road and unique glimpses of the world. -- Midwest Book Review