What Happens if You Keep Going?: Mostly True Travel Stories

Living a life of quiet desperation? Maybe you should run away, at least for a while.

What Happens if You Keep Going? is a collection of 15 mostly true travel stories about accidental rites of passage and dirtbag pilgrimages. In a world of doomscrolling, political chaos, and creeping burnout, it’s encouragement that you don’t have to accept your fate—travel still provides a way to create the life you want.

Among the stories, you’ll find:

• A teenage clown evangelist in Peru reluctantly accepting his life’s mission.
• A pilgrimage in Spain achieving the opposite of its intended result.
• A disoriented teetotaler on an Australian booze cruise finding unexpected clarity in love.
• A grueling 2,600-mile hike redefined by shocking family news.

This powerful, often hilarious collection will leave you inspired to step out on your own, to escape both your inbox and your existential crisis.

Tim Mathis is the author of four books. This is the follow up to his independent hit The Dirtbag’s Guide to Life.