Wanderland: Living the Traveling Life

by Kate Evans

From a Malaysian penthouse overlooking the turquoise Strait of Malacca, to a miniscule, under-furnished apartment in West Hollywood, Kate and her husband Dave travel the world living in other people's houses. They tend to their gardens, sleep in their beds, and care for their pets. Along the way, other opportunities appear, and they working and living in China, attending a wedding in Vietnam, and tracking wild animals in Indonesia. Eventually they buy a casita in Mexico that is nearly blown away in a hurricane, but they continue wayfaring, creating a web of connection with others throughout the world. In Wanderland , Kate explores how this unconventional lifestyle, launched upon her early retirement, makes her alternately free and unsettled-especially as she faces a dire medical emergency requiring surgery and the pandemic hits. All along the journey, she questions what "home" really means.
FROM THE BBA "AUTHOR OF THE YEAR" AND THE WINNER OF THE BISEXUAL BOOK AWARD
"With an eye for descriptive detail and the reflections that cause one to ponder definitions of home, Kate Evans leaves her heart in so many places. I didn't want Wanderland to end!" - Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber, author of Queering the American Dream   "To be educated and entertained at the same time...this is the greatest gift of nonfiction literature. In Wanderland, Kate Evans adds another "e" for enlightenment, when she leads us to examine the chains forged by our possessions and how they deny us the opportunity for yet another "e": exploration." - Cathleen Miller, author of Champion of Choice and Desert Flower   "Another fabulous life story from the ever-enchanting Kate Evans who seems to be living her nine lives. I love how she embraces the joy and flexibility of life on the road, housesitting, meeting up with friends, and jamming to her own beat. What an inspiration for anyone thinking of an untraditional path of nomad life and adventuring out into this beautiful world." - Chris Englert, EatWalkLearn   Kate Evans is the author of eight books, including Call It An Odyssey of Love, Sex, Spirit & Travel , winner of the Bisexual Book Award for Best Memoir.  Her essays, stories, and poems have appeared in more than 50 publications, including HuffPost, Woman's Day, Good Housekeeping, Zyzzyva, and Santa Monica Review. A recipient of a PhD in Education from the University of Washington, she holds an MFA in Creative Writing and an MA in English from San Jose State University, where she is Emeritus Faculty. 

Genres: Memoir, Travel

206 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 15, 2023

About the author

Kate is the author of the best-selling memoir duo: WANDERLAND: LIVING THE TRAVELING LIFE and CALL IT WONDER: AN ODYSSEY OF, LOVE, SEX, SPIRIT & TRAVEL, named "Best Memoir" at the Bisexual Book Awards--where Kate was also lauded as "Writer of the Year" by the Bi Writers Association.

Her other books include two novels (FOR THE MAY QUEEN & COMPLEMENTARY COLORS), two poetry collections, and a book about teaching. Her stories, poems and essays have appeared in more than 50 publications. With Mary Janelle Melvin, she co-authored a French Revolution historical romance, REVOLUTIONARY KISS (under the pen-name Mary-Kate Summers).

Recipient of a PhD from the University of Washington and an MFA from San Jose State University--where she is Emeritus Faculty--she has taught writing and literature in California, China, and Japan. As a writing coach and editor, she helps writers unleash and shape their stories. She also leads writing workshops worldwide.

Half the year she lives in Mexico. The other half, she travels.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

I lived it, I wrote it, and I hope you enjoy it!

[Patricia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm not a wanderer, like Evans, but I was inspired by traveling the world with her as she housesits, takes on teaching gigs, and makes her way to all manner of exotic sites. While sitting in my arm chair at home, I felt the adrenaline rush of travel. I appreciated that Evans did not shy away from the emotions and difficulties that come with living a nomadic life, especially how traveling and the overstimulation of new places can be exhausting and distressing. I liked how she mentioned her many techniques for getting centered and grounded when she got off balance--in a claustrophobic high rise elevator, after a dog bite, or dealing with illness.

The thing I most admire about Kate Evans and her husband Dave Rhine is the many, many connections they make with people all over the world. Over and over, Kate writes "my friend" and "our friends" and then proceeds to describe a playful or intimate or intellectual encounter with people they considered friends. Kate develops the theme of connection throughout the book and extends it to the many pets they also care for in their travels, writing about all the ways one might interact with other people's animals. She also tenderly addresses the way Covid (and also politics) threatens such connections. This couple serves as a model for how to move gracefully past such stumbling blocks.

This book is equal parts inspirational, travelogue, how-to, and memoir. I'm happy to have read this book at the start of summer as I plan my oh-so-low-key travel on a couple of mini-vacations. May I travel with spirit of Kate Evans at my back.

[Lisa Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyable to read. It's like traveling the world with a wise, compassionate, practical friend -- who loves to dance and make music, read, eat, and write. And there are so many sweet animals (and humans) along the way. This is a keeper.

[Frank Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Kate Evans writes in such a way as to take the reader along for the ride, and going along for the ride is what the book is about. A blend of very intimate journaling along with creative travel writing, I didn't want it to end.

[Sequana · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a fellow traveler and pet carer, i so enjoyed journeying along with the author. Places familiar and unknown vividly described, made it like traveling with a girlfriend.
Richly descriptive and honest, a window into the nomad lifestyle, this story is one I enjoyed and have shared with friends who travel or desire to.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if we cut all ties with home and work in the Bay Area and spend our lives traveling from one housesitting gig to another? That’s the question Kate Evans and her husband Dave Rhine asked each other. The answer was: Let’s do it. This memoir tells the story of their travels, which take them across the United States and to many other countries, including China, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Australia. They live in apartments, farms, palatial homes, and modest cottages. Wherever they land, they take a chance. Will the bed be comfortable? Will there be a bed at all? Will the pets be friendly? Will they be expected to do hard physical labor or allowed to lounge by a swimming pool all day? Will they be shoveling snow or swatting mosquitoes? Will there be another place to stay when the housesitting job ends? It takes a special person to live such a rootless life, but Evans and Rhine have done it, continuing through illnesses and injuries and even COVID. I couldn’t do it; I need a home base, but this engaging book shows how to embrace life and live it fully every day, at least vicariously.

[Jennifer Lang · Rating 5 out of 5]

I so identify with the author's two selves--the traveler and the homebody--her desire to see the world and meet people of different cultures and countries and the need for home, for stability. I admire Kate's and Dave's ability to pack up and pick up and go wherever the work takes them, whether when she teaches writing in China or they housesit different people's pets in various continents. The tales of travel and rich encounters with extraordinary individuals is one thing, but the real story starts when Kate needs medical care, not for the first time, and realizes that she craves the ease of the system and language and culture she knows in California. That is the turning point, the reminder of how fragile life is, how vulnerable it is, how mortal we all are. A much-needed reminder to live life to the fullest and pay attention to it--the big, the small, and all the moments in between.

[Dana Killion · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've ever entertained the romantic notion of traveling the world like a nomad, city by city, country by country, delighting in the wonders of new tastes and smells and experiences, this is your book. The author shares her experiences of a life few of us have led, the life of a perpetual house sitter. We follow her journey through Asia and the US, home by home, caring for pets, collecting new friends and broadening her life view.

I was mesmorized by the very idea of this life and habits and expections of what home means as I read. I can't imagine myself with this lifestyle, but what a joy to read someone else's journey. You can't walk away from this book without taking time to contemplate the meaning of home and what is important in your life.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved, loved, loved this book. Kate is an excellent descriptive writer. She sparks memories of the places I've been and brings to life places I'd love to see. From the remote island of Bali to my nearby canyon neighbors in Helltown, I felt that I was truly experiencing what Kate "is doing with her living time." I highly recommend this book!

[Chris Englert · Rating 5 out of 5]

I simply adore anything that Kate writes. She is my travel twin, my twin wanderluster, my twin nomad. Every story she tells resonates to my soul. I'm so glad to see this book come out, as it matches the stories she tells in daily conversations. If you're someone who just wants to go, Kate's stories will pull you out of your comfort zone into the big blue world of wander.

[L.L. Kirchner · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you’ve ever wondered how nomads live in the modern era, you will devour this book like I did. I was lucky to get an advance copy from the author and enjoy her stories of places that I’ve also, in many cases, visited. She nails this experience, rendering it through the people, places and things she encounters along the way, while also revealing her own dramatic story in a highly crafted tale.

[Heather Diamond · Rating 5 out of 5]

At first, Kate Evan’s memoir about living in other people’s houses as a house and pet sitter extraordinaire reads as an entertaining and engaging travelogue. Prompted by a medical reckoning, she and her husband choose to live outside conventional definitions of home as defined by a house, neighborhood, and local community. Their housesitting gigs take them across the country and around the world. Tending to everything from farm animals to pampered pets, they stay in rural and urban, humble and palatial, and exotic and traditional settings. Their travels alone are eye-opening because as house-sitters on extended stays, their experiences transcend what tourists or other kinds of travelers encounter. They literally step into other people’s lives—sleeping in their beds, maintaining their routines, meeting their neighbors, cooking in their kitchens, and safeguarding their belongings. As Evans states repeatedly, what they have chosen is a life of privilege in that she and her husband are retired and have the means to relocate from place to place within the US and internationally. They are educated, so they can easily find skilled employment if their coffers run low, such as when Evans lands a teaching job in China. Their relationship seems perfect and their adventures seem glamorous and carefree, but there are deeper and more introspective levels to this book which is peppered with political commentary and is as much about definitions of freedom and community as it is about the nature of home. Evans has a medical scare that echoes the one that precipitated her change of life course. While Evans and her husband are neither homeless nor houseless—they purchase a casita in Baja, Mexico to which they retreat when they are not wandering—they discover that they are part of an international movement of people who choose to liberate themselves from the standard tropes of settling down in a single place. The reward is deepened friendships, expanded perceptions, and a sense of community that spans the globe.

[Tara Taylor · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Kate’s writing, so I’m not surprised I loved this book. Wanderland was a touch less personal than Call It Wonder (her previous memoir), but it was still personal enough for me to feel like I was hanging out with Kate and Dave on their travel and housesitting adventures. Kate has a knack for offering the perfect amount of sensory detail for me to drop in and be there—in Hawaii, Mexico, Tahoe, East Asia, and beyond. Each chapter took me to a new place, where I got to experience not only the loveliness of the people and precious pets but also the pesky bugs, literal and otherwise.

I found myself itchin’ to travel more and get out of my comfortable bubble. My overarching mindset as I read the book, though, was a deep and welcome desire for minimalism. I found I was eager to reduce clutter and let go of things I no longer need—in a material sense, sure, but also emotionally and spiritually. I don’t know if I’ll get out and wander anytime soon, but Wanderland made me long to be ready for it.

[April Hirschman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take Wanderland with you on your travels or stay at home and let Evans take you around the world as she housesits, and explores the deeper philosophies of life and home. Her style is rich, warm and relatable. Wanderland is great on its own but you will probably want to read her previous memoir too, Call It Wonder, which explores her bisexual relationships, her writing and teaching career and is packed full of poetic writing and life insights. You can hear here interviewed about Call it Wonder on the Heart Centerfold podcast. https://open.spotify.com/episode/2TAv...

[Suzanne Falter · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've dreamt about hitting the road for a life of adventure, this one's for you. Kate Evans' writing is full of color, pictures, incidents large and small that paint a beautiful portrait of travels that took her and her husband from Santa Cruz, California all over the world--even to China where she worked as a professor to students with extremely touching personal stories.

Her own story makes it seem not only possible, but a great idea to let go of all your tethers to this world and take off. The way she and her husband evolved is admirable ... and this is one great read because of it. I highly recommend this book.

[Amanda Jaros · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Evans's Wanderland is a delightful memoir of the nomadic lifestyle. Evans and her husband gave up the comforts and encumbrances of a settled life and instead chose to explore the world during their retirement years. The couple moves around the country and world via house sitting jobs, so that they can experience how people live in different places. The result is an adventure full of synchronicity, laughter, new friends, freedom, and personal growth. I loved the colorful descriptions of both far-flung and close to home locales. I love to travel, but not having experienced this way of living lightly, I appreciated being brought along on Evans's personal journey. 

[Cathleen Miller · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an amazing journey this memoir is! While we read in the news each day of the world going to hell in a handcart, Wanderland proves the opposite is also true, as Kate and Dave encounter generosity and fun adventures around the globe. There are also moments of pathos, but they connect us with the author's honest account of her life on the road. If you're looking for motivation to get out of your rut, this book will blast you off the recliner.

[Ann Batchelder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wanderland is a lovely read—so well written, the details are delicious. I felt right at home, no matter where in the world Kate took me. I also learned what it was like to take root in a foreign place rather than simply be a tourist. But this book is more than a travelogue, it is a deeper exploration--one I will remember for a long while.

[J Burton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thought provoking in the best way! I've been pondering what it means to be or have a "home" since I've finished reading this book. Reading Evans' vivid, insightful writing, I feel as if I lived, vicariously, through her ordeals and adventures. The experience has catalyzed me to think more deeply about how I want to live now and in retirement. Definitely recommend!

[Jasmine Pittenger · Rating 5 out of 5]

I came for the travel stories… and stayed for the deep exploration of Home and of how to live life with your arms—and your heart—thrown wide open to it all. Kate is a wise, funny, and inspiring writer. I highly recommend this book for anyone who wants to throw away the rule book, make your own rules for living, and live your biggest and most adventurous life.

[Karen DeBonis · Rating 5 out of 5]

In prose rich in imagery and emotion, Kate Evans evocatively illustrates her nomadic life as a house sitter. As she explores each new country and home, she also delves into what drives her to do so and what she learns about herself. I’m not a traveler, but Evans’ tales are so tempting, I may become one.

[Judy Kirkwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm about halfway through Wanderland and loving it. The writing is thoughtful and descriptive of the journey and quest to live our purpose. For Evans, it is experiencing the world in person as she and her husband take on house and petsitting gigs all over the planet. When you live a centered life, all paths lead home.

[Shulamit · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exquisitely written with brilliant detail, describing with immediacy, and vividness the wonderful adventures of global travel. I was enveloped and totally engaged. The detailed descriptions made me feel I was by the author’s side every step of the way. I was torn between wanting to finish the book and not wanting to put it down. It’s totally wonderful read.

[Cheri Mostyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed Wanderland by Kate Evans. Her vivid descriptions of places, people or events bring them to life for me and create a desire to go see for myself. Even her descriptions of places that I have already been to bring back wonderful memories and a feeling of connection. I highly recommend this book.

[Kaye · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely love this book! The writing is excellent and the lifestyle it chronicles is fascinating! We’ve had the pleasure of meeting Kate and Dave and can attest to their friendliness and joie de vie!

[Tina Iaquinto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. I was captivated by the author’s story and amazed at all the people that became friends along the way. I couldn’t wait to see where they were going next.

[Kim Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartwarming Stories or Adventures & Housesitting

I adored Wanderland! Kate & Dave's stories gave us the courage to start House sitting as part of our wandering life.

[Julie Weiss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I´m a huge fan of everything Kate writes. Reading her beautiful new memoir was a wild ride for me, a departure from the monotonous, daily grind, into a dreamy world of travel, exploration, friendship making, and the magic of serendipity—imagine making new friends in another part of the world and discovering, time and time again, the mutual connections you have with old friends. That was one of the most amazing parts of the book for me. I love how Kate and her husband say yes! to life wherever they are, and I adored her descriptions of the places they travelled to, the different homes they lived in and tended to, and especially the pets they cared for. I also love how she expresses her very human vulnerability, depicting negative experiences, as well as lessons learned. I highly recommend this brilliant, exquisitely-written page-turner.

[Staci Greason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Evans memoir, Wanderland, is as infectious, consuming, delightful, and fast-paced as the way the author travels through the hills and valleys (and countries) of her life. This is a read that must be savored to be fully digested. Only then can you understand that what Kate Evans is offering readers is more than a lens into other places but a better way to live.

An example of this is a scene in which Evans and her husband have just returned home to Baja after six months of extended travels. A friend asks her, "How was your vacation?"

Evans is startled by the question. "Travel wasn't our vacation - which comes from the Latin for being unoccupied. We weren't taking a break but exploring the world. Travel was our vocation, our calling as world citizens."