Positives: I found it fun to read along and virtually travel through Europe with the author. I found it very educational and informative, in that I learned a lot about particular countries, people groups, cultures, geography, etc. that I didn’t previously know. I liked that she both made and shared some wise life discoveries along the way, such as kindness is very important to all human beings, that material things don’t bring happiness, and that there is blessing in simplicity of life. Negatives: I think this book was greatly lacking by not having pictures and more maps to coincide with the author’s travels. I found myself constantly googling things on my iPad and looking them up to get a better idea of what they were, where they were, what they looked like, etc. I can only guess that this was not included because of the expense to publish color photographs, but I felt it was sorely missed. I also found it odd that she would often use foreign languages (words, phrases, or even complete sentences), but not have the English interpretation...another thing that I needed to look up! I felt that this type of book is very subjective—what one likes, another may dislike, for instance, the author had a big thing for France and French food. I was a little surprised at how forthright she was in expressing some of her opinions on politics, religion, gender, etc.); most travel books would leave such commentary out of them. Lastly, I found it both a little endearing and maybe a little nauseating, too—that she and her husband got along so well, and really only quarreled about one thing (the opera) while traveling in unfamiliar territory and living out of suitcases for an entire year. She presented their lives as having very little tension, drama, tragedy, or problems overall. Would I recommend this book? Not particularly. If you are getting ready for a big trip to Europe, stick with Frommers or one of the other well-known travel guidebook series.