ROBERTLOUIS
DEMAYO
ROBERTA young man searches the pre-internet world for
meaning while traveling on an extreme budget in this real-life, coming-of-age story.
The Wayward Traveler follows the adventures of Louis, an American who, in 1985, is determined to travel the world. The story takes place in forty countries and spans ten years: from the deck of a felucca on the Nile to the scorched dunes of India’s Thar Desert to the powerful Beni River in the
Amazon Basin.
Louis is broke most of the time and spends considerable effort trying to get by. Along the way, he meets other travelers, learns how to get by on the road, and eventually develops a list of Rules for Survival that help him get by. The Rules might seem trivial to someone reading in the safety of their home, but to Louis, they are his compass. Embrace the Unknown… Choose Your Battles… Don’t Chase the Fire… each one has a story behind it—or, in this case, a Chapter.
These travels occurred before the internet and cell phones shrunk the world to pocket format.
Guidebooks were still nonexistent in many places, and there were still a few dark spots on the world’s maps. Whether you're a traveler or an armchair traveler, this book will make you feel the road.
Winner of the Pinnacle Book Award for Travel Fiction.
Winner of the John E. Weaver Excellent Reads Award for Fiction: Travel
Me and Jill in front of our shack in southern Israel.
The path to our shack cut through a junk yard. Here I am 8 months into an 18 month trip,
completely broke, but nowhere ready to go home.
The 80s and 90s were a great time to travel. The pre-internet world is hard to fathom now, but back then I loved how you could drift into some far corner of India and feel like you'd gone back a thousand years. Without Tripadvisor or a cell phone, I tended to get into troubles that might be easily avoided now--but I wouldn't change my experiences. I'm proud of my scars. Eventually, I hit the road. It was 1985, and I was twenty-one. I ran out of money pretty fast and ended up living in a shack in southern Israel. Here, I worked when I could or drifted down to D'hab and chilled. Eventually I saved enough to fly to London, where I worked until I had enough to get to Asia. That first time gone I hit forty countries and was away eighteen months.
Me and the crew in southern Israel, or more likely one of our excursions into the Sinai desert to Da'Hab. 1986
Lioness in Kenya.
My bloody sandals after getting attached by leaches in the Annapurnas (Nepal).
The Highway of Death, in Bolivia, as you go from La Paz down into the Amazon basin.
My camel Kalu, who got me out of the Thar desert after we were hit by a sandstorm and lost our water.
Early cover for The Wayward Traveler.
Drawing by Tom Fish.
When I was a kid, all I wanted to do was travel.
But my dad had other plans, so I had to keep
these dreams hidden.
Behind a mirror in my room, I kept a collection
of quotes about travel, and when I was restless
for the road, I would add to it.
Interior artwork by Tom Fish.
Over a fifteen-year period, I wrote 55- travel features. In those days, the paper didn't have anyone else abroad, so they would give me the front and the following two pages. That might be five articles and up to 10 photos. My editor knew I was broke so she tried to run as much as she could to give me a budget.
If you enjoyed The Wayward Traveler and want to see what travel books I would recommend, please check out my list on Shepherd.
