Only Planet - A Flight-free Adventure Around the World

by Ed Gillespie

In an inspirational tale of global adventure Ed Gillespie takes anything but a plane to circumnavigate the world. Cargo ships to camels, hitch-hiking to hovercrafts. Playing table tennis with heavyweight Ukrainian boxers. Border arrests and drug searches. Communing with a Costa Rican jungle sloth. Illustrated with dramacic photography, Ed's journey brings to vivid life the joys, and challenges, of slow, low carbon, overland travel. En route Ed realises that staying grounded in an age of climate change may lead us to rediscover the pleasures of what real travel is all about. Through the journey and adventure he delves into the philosophy of sustainable travel, reconnecting with community and our one and only lonely planet.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Adventure

320 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2014

Reviews

[Lee · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm fairly conflicted about this book. I was really interested to read about a couple who chose to travel around the world without flying, in order to drastically reduce the environmental impact of their travels. I think what they have done is admirable, but i'm also disappointed in the book. I felt the author was pretty self-righteous, and often condescending, esp. of any other travellers/tourists they met along the way who follow the 'normal' model of travelling - fly somewhere, indulge in typical tourist attractions and go home. It was okay for the author to indulge in some 'touristy' trips or activities, but not okay for others? The author talks of inspiring others to do better, and even scoffs at 'old school environmental lecturing, of telling people what to do, castigating their 'normal' was of life, of imposing values on others....', but I felt this is what he was actually doing, ironically. Worth a read if considering doing a similar trip, but just not the inspirational book I had hoped it would be.

[Richard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspiring idea, but somehow the writing hadn't left me wanting to travel in the same way or to the same places. I'll definitely Inter rail Europe but I can't say I'm inspired to travel the world by container ship and end up in run down locations.

Firstly, the phrase "Don't use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do" springs to mind. Part of the reason why this book took me so long to read was because I kept putting it down and I think that may have been because the vocabulary was needlessly convoluted. Secondly, way too much time was spent describing minor points or uninteresting stop offs when actually I'd have wanted to perhaps learn more about the interesting locations and have them described to me a bit more. Many of the countries visited seem to fly by without me really being able to recall what the author had seen or done there.

That aside, I have huge admiration for someone that had travelled the world without flying and its something that governments need to make cheaper and more accessible for us all.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flight-free adventure is ideal if time is unlimited. However, given the modern era of working class with limited days off / year, it would be too idealistic. Yes, this book led readers to think more deeply about the carbon footprint and ways to offset it, which may serve the purpose to get a balance...
It's interesting to learn that this journey happened ~ 2007, but the book was first published only years afterwards in 2014....