Adventures of a Continental Drifter by Elliott Hester

After the events of his previous book "Plane Insanity", author Elliott Hester was looking for a more meaningful way to spend his life. With the airline cutbacks after September 11th, he was given his chance. He took a voluntary one year layoff and used it for a chance to travel around the world. He left his apartment, sold his worldly possessions, and set off to journey six continents.

Hester begins in South America, finding himself the center of attention in Argentina as the darkest face in the crowd. He moves on to brave soccer riots and the first of many bouts of travel sickness. In Marquesas, he inadvertently befriends a local cattle rustler and witnesses his first and second animal killings. By the time he leaves for cooler climates, Hester is bloody, sore, bewildered, and thankful that he wasn't mugged by a group of burly drag queens on a late night bus.

He scuba dives near Australia, finds himself alone in Brunei's largest amusement park, and temporarily adopts a street kid in Ethiopia. He spends time in an underground community mining for opals. He impersonates Samuel L Jackson, and inadvertently flirts with a muscleman in an erotic museum (while perusing inflatable love companions).

The book doesn't read so much as a biographic adventure as an absurd travelogue. Hester gives you the flavor of each of his visits: the people, the food, the climate. If you're looking to know more about Hester by the end of the book, you'll be disappointed. If you're able to hold on for the ride and just enjoy the sights, you'll find Hester, the Continental Drifter, as an amiable companion and astute tour guide to the places you've always wanted (or feared) to go.