Synopses & Reviews
A call to reassess how and why we travel, and examine our own sense of place, starting at homeThe Idle Traveller is an inspiration to travel more meaningfully and enjoy the journey. As we jet off, passing from airport lounge to hotel in our desperation to escape our everyday lives and find some better weather, we'd do well to ask ourselves what on earth we're doing. Do we really travel any more or do we just arrive? Besides extolling the virtues of staycations, Dan Kieran argues we need to toss the brochure, glide rather than fly, embrace disaster, be epic in our travel pursuits, and immerse ourselves in the life-changing experience of true journeying. Full of inspiration for making the journey more meaningful and fun, this book will transform the way you travel forever.
Review
"Deeply alluring . . . beautifully told. Wherever you travel, you'd gain a lot from reading this book." —Telegraph
Review
"Thought provoking and often comical." —Lonely Planet
Review
"Blue Collar Nomad is a serene collection of meditations on self, time, and place in the 21st century American landscape. Evoking the spiritual quests of Jon Krakauer, Jack Kerouac, and Henry David Thoreau, this collection of poems, narratives, and essays affirms one’s faith in the power of language to root and restore a world of one. For anyone searching for the Church of the Blue Sky, reading Jake Kaida is a must.” —Nancy M. Grace, author, Breaking the Rule of Cool
Review
"Jake Kaida found spiritual discipline in the nomadic lifestyle and sustained it with the gift of intuitive grace. Above all, Kaida learned about showing up and being present. His personal journey is beautifully told in Blue Collar Nomad in both prose and poem." —Christine Cote, editor, Stone Voices
Synopsis
A compendium of North American travel and place-based pieces composed between the ages of 23 and 35, this book explores gritty urban areas, eclectic towns, and isolated geographical landscapes, introducing a cast of interesting local characters along the way. The atmospheric narratives blend genuine working class ethics with jazzy intuitive prose in order to transport the reader deep into various localities and communities in the United States and Canada. The author sponsored his 12-year trek across the land by working as a farmhand, natural chef, organic gardener, bartender, landscape artist, writing instructor, and mentor to at-risk youth. As a whole, this collection of travel essays encourages the reader to be with the land and its people in order to deeply feel the world.
About the Author
Dan Kieran is deputy editor of the Idler. He is the editor of Crap Vacations, The Book of Idler Pleasures, and The Idler Book of Crap Jobs, and he has written for the Guardian, the Observer, the Sunday Times, and the Times. Tom Hodgkinson is the author of The Freedom Manifesto, How To Be Idle, and The Idle Parent.