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If you are an avid traveler or hope to be “one day,” you’ve probably read hundreds of books, articles and blog posts about people doing their thing out in the big blue world. After eight straight hours of scrolling, reading about how amazing the Thai islands are and what Michelin starred restaurants you should check out in France, you put your phone down determined to experience these incredible foreign places for yourself. As a traveler and travel writer, I have to be honest with you, here. Most travel writing will gloss over the actual experiences and just highlight the attractions. Insert photoshopped pictures captioned with inspirational quotes, and helpful tips and tricks for avoiding crowds in places that see 3.5 million tourists a year. After spending the last three years meandering all over this planet of ours, I can say with the utmost certainty that 99% of travel writing is complete and utter bullshit. Sorry to dash your dreams darling... So, if you picked up this book because the title made it sound like another sweet story about someone who took a gap year and had a perfectly amazing time bouncing between Instagramable tourist traps, you are going to be very disappointed. Sure, the premise is there. I went to uni, secured a high paying corporate job only to quit three years later to go traveling. I saw the sights, documented it on social media, and told my family the wholesome stories of meeting amazing people and finding myself. You know, the bullshit. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t lie to my parents much anymore, but the parts I left out, the drunken drug-fueled nights that turned into mornings, the dangerous situations my friends and I got into, the nights I cried myself to sleep over boys who broke my heart, the real stuff, that is what made my years on the road the best years of my life. If you are more interested in a story about a princess in a pretty pink dress taking photos in front of the Sydney Opera House to showcase how perfect her life is to her 300K followers, then please for the love of a God I don’t relieve in, put this book down. You’re probably thinking, this bitch isn’t going to sell any books by telling people NOT to buy it. Well guess what, you’re probably right. Oh well. One of the first things you learn on the road is that life isn’t always greener with more greenbacks in your pocket. Well... I guess if you take that literally, it is, but you know what I mean. However, if you are thinking about venturing off to the other side of the world and want to know what really happens in the Land Down Under and beyond, keep reading. I can’t promise you’ll enjoy it, but I can promise that everything in this book really happened.