Following the breakdown of her marriage and at the age of 48 in 1998, Jacqui decides to leave her job in health visiting and set off on a year’s adventure, backpacking alone in South East Asia. Armed with wide-open eyes and a guide book, this was to be the beginning of a journey that left conformity a distant memory. John Allsopp reviews.
Six months into the trip and feeling ‘quite the adventurous explorer’, she went on to visit both Pakistan and India before returning to the UK. Finding herself bitten by the travel bug, she then set off again, at the age of 50, this time combining her love of travel with her other passion, motorcycling.
What follows is a tale of seven years, 20 countries, and no discernible plan. Jacqui’s writing is overflowing with evocative descriptions of the highs and lows of round the world overland travel.
She effortlessly transports you with her, whilst evocatively bringing the sounds, sights and smells she encounters to life in your imagination.
Jacqui’s depictions of the multiple encounters with the people she meets along the way is another great strength of the book.
The impact these meetings have upon her on a practical and emotional level is very honestly laid bare.
I finished the book uplifted and reflecting that it detailed not only her physical journey but also that of her journey into awareness of herself.
As Jacqui remarked to me: ‘Sometimes when I ride my Enfield, I wonder is this really the same bike? When I realise it is, but it’s that I’m not the same person’.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend it without any hesitation.
Hit the Road Jac! is available through Amazon, Kindle and Audible.
More information is available at www.jacquifurneaux.com.
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