Since I’d finished with January’s book so early, I actually read most of February’s book before we went to Belize & I wanted to download a fun little something to read on vacation. I learned that one of the women’s groups in my area was doing their March book club on The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World and I was instantly sold. I’d heard about the lost girls a few years back, but didn’t realize they had a book chronicling their adventures as three women in their late 20′s traveling the world for one years. Their website, Lost Girls World, has spawned into a whole multi-media community of travelers & exciting destinations.
It was so weird to have read the whole book, and then finally went online to see a picture of these girls. They are obviously glammed up here for some special event, but they sure roughed it on their worldwide journey. The background on the book is that they are frantically climbing the corporate ladder and stressed to the max as they take a vacation to Brazil. Their they hatch a plan to take a year off work, lose themselves, see the world and find themselves again on the other side.
I love travel, so I was instantly excited when their first stop was in Peru to hike the Inca Trail, since that is on my list of placed I’d love to go. Each chapter is written by one of the girls, and they take turns sharing their personality and twist on the stories as they criss-cross the globe. I must confess that I was more than a tad jealous that they could actually walk away from their lives- their jobs, their apartments, their boyfriends, their family and so much more to explore the world. There’s many moments where I contemplate selling everything & becoming a global nomad, but I’m too chicken to ever follow through on such a plan.
Each of the girls have specific places they wanted to visit & tasks (goals) they wanted to be a part of their trip. They learn many funny and many serious lessons along the way- about other cultures, about poverty, about friendships, about how life is so much bigger than Manhattan or a boyfriend problem and mostly about themselves. They spend a few weeks volunteering in one of the poorest places in Africa & those weeks teach them more about the importance of life and priorities than anything else. One girl gets her yoga certification in India & they struggle throughout their trip with leaving their old lives behind and the new women they are slowly becoming.
They spend time in another of my favorite places- New Zealand. After a few months hitting up various countries in Asia & a refreshing stop in Bali, the girls enjoyed the same wonderful experience as I did before heading on to their last stop in Australia. The book was a quick & fun read to learn so many neat things about so many places that I’ve been or would love to go one day. They did an amazing job of narrowing down a lifetime of stories and adventures into one book that really stitched together how each place shaped them and changed them.
GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY: Got some parts to get my Jeep all fixed up- just need to get them installed now.
That book sounds awesome, I’ll have to check it out – I love a good read. If I could travel more, I definitely would, I hate being tied down to a 9-6 job day in and day out!
Are you part of a book club?
I am part of a Meet-up group that does a variety of things (the art museum was a meetup) and they have a monthly book club. We’re actually meeting tomorrow about this book. http://www.meetup.com/houstonsocialites/ Come join us sometime!