Several weeks ago, John and I flew to Tempe, Arizona for the weekend. I scrambled to get ready in the days before the trip (my dad was in the hospital) and forgot all about reading material, something I remembered at the airport. In a hot panic about 6 hours of flying and layover with nothing to read, I found myself scouring the book rack in the gift shop looking anything that might keep my attention.
I am a reader of non fiction and biographies but I particularly love anything travel journal and adventure related. Unfortunately, nothing was reaching out to me until my eyes landed on “What I was Doing While You Were Breeding” by Kristin Newman. I have to tell you, Kristin had me with the cover.
I both laughed and cringed at the title. These days, the word breeding is a little crude for my taste but I confess, during my 20’s and 30’s, my single friends and I often slung the term around to describe married friends who were having babies. Truth be known, we were breeding too, just not producing offspring.
Several reviews of the book (posted on the book rack) compared it to a funny version of “Eat, Pray, Love.” This was not good news for me. I didn’t like “Eat, Pray, Love.” I wanted to slap author Elizabeth Gilbert during her 50th (or was it just her 4th) break down and tell her to get over it. By the way, I never made it through EPL, within a week of purchasing it, I rushed to the nearest used bookstore and sold it! No, I passed on the movie too.
But I digress, here I was, standing in an airport gift shop desperate for something to read. I had “What I was Doing…” in my hands, the cover looked so inviting and the table of contents so intriguing that I purchased it. As a result, I was entertained with stories about international travel and sex for the most of the trip!
Author Kristin, a comedy writer for such shows as That 70’s Show, How I Met Your Mother, Chuck and The Neighbors, began her international adventures at 26 after the breakup of a 6 year relationship. She and a girlfriend (and her friend’s boyfriend) took off to Amsterdam and then Paris. For the next 11 years, Kristin continued to travel, party and seduce around the world. Her story is funny, sometimes sad, adventurous and a good read. She describes herself as “The Girl with the Great International Romance Stories” at dinner parties and around the writers’ room table.
While I will save the story for you if you decide to read this book, Kristin points out two things she learned that most of us who travel can relate to (on some level):
1. “That I am someone a little different on the road and that vacation from being my home self feels like a great sleep after a long day.”
My thoughts: I also find that I my travel self is a little different from my home self. When I travel, I slough off the daily grind and worries and live in the moment. I am more adventurous, less self conscious and totally caught up in the experience.
2. “You can have both love and freedom when you fall in love with an exotic local in an exotic locale, since there is a return ticket that you, by law, will eventually have to use.”
My thoughts: I am not looking for love with a local in an exotic locale but I find that when my love and I travel to an exotic location, our bonds of love and friendship grow stronger. We are dependent on each other, we are discovering new things together, sharing experiences that we will talk about as we grow old(er), we are relaxed, carefree, and more romantic.
Do you relate to Kristin’s points when you travel? Have you read any good travel adventures recently? Thanks for reading!
