Lesson Unplanned-A Decade of Teaching, Travel, and Transformation

by Michelle Ray

WHEN THE BAHRAINI POLICE OFFICER asked Michelle Ray to get out of the car, she stumbled, trying not to sway. This was worse than giving someone a middle finger, worse than being seen eating during Ramadan. Much worse.
Her adventure hadn’t started like this. She’d left Kansas at 26, looking for a bigger life. She hadn’t planned on the Middle East, but it was big, different, and best of all, far, far away. Collecting experiences like coins, she rarely considered what she’d do with them. Even with traveling a world away, it was the people around her who changed: finding partners and finding professional fulfillment. Meanwhile, her life kept circling: another dark club, another questionable relationship. Another stamp in the passport: You Are Here.

298 pages, Paperback

Published September 22, 2026

About the author

Michelle Ray is a writer and educator with over 25 years of teaching experience in Ecuador, Bahrain, Dubai, and the United States. She is currently pursuing her MFA in creative nonfiction at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where she received an Honorable Mention for the 2026 Helen W. Kenefick Poetry Prize, sponsored by the Academy of American Poets. She also serves as a reader for Guernica and The Good Life Review. Her work has appeared in Beyond Words International Literary Magazine and Obindo Magazine.

Her years of living and teaching abroad form the heart of her debut memoir, a story rooted in the ongoing negotiation of identity, belonging, and transformation that comes with building a life far from home.

Michelle offers writing coaching and courses through her Substack, States of Matter (@michelleray70). She’s an avid reader and runner, with a full marathon, multiple half marathons, and 10K races under her belt. She lives in Southern California with her husband, son, and two dogs. She welcomes readers, writing conversations, and book club invitations (less)

Reviews

[Thrice Blest]

Lesson Unplanned is a touching memoir beautifully written. Part journal and part travelogue it explores not only the different locales but also the feelings they evoke. The language is descriptive enough to transport the reader to the cities and villages. Anyone having travelled to the locations described will recognize the sights, sounds and smells while seeing the activities freshly through the eyes of the author. This was an enjoyable read, like catching up with an old friend.

[Leona]

This memoir is an engaging, honest, and beautifully written account of a life spent teaching and living abroad. The author’s storytelling is warm, vivid, and deeply personal, making it easy to become immersed in her journey through Bahrain, Dubai, and beyond.

What I appreciated most was her willingness to share both the highlights and the challenges of expatriate life. Rather than presenting a polished version of events, she writes with authenticity and self-reflection, allowing readers to experience the highs, lows, mistakes, and moments of growth that shaped her journey. That honesty made the book feel genuine and relatable.

Having lived in the Middle East for over 20 years myself, I found much of the author’s experience resonated with me. The people, cultures, and wonderfully diverse communities I have encountered have shaped both my personal and professional life in countless positive ways. Living and working overseas is an enriching experience that broadens perspectives and deepens understanding.

As educators, we all bring our own backgrounds, experiences, and life stories into the classroom. What matters most is our professionalism, our commitment to our students, and our desire to make a meaningful difference in their lives. Teaching has never been a profession people choose for financial reward; they choose it because they care, because they believe in education, and because they want to have a positive impact on young people. This memoir reflects that same passion for teaching and learning, alongside the realities of navigating life in a foreign country.

The writing flows effortlessly, with a conversational style that makes it difficult to put the book down. Whether you’ve lived overseas yourself or are simply curious about the realities of expatriate life, this memoir offers an entertaining and thoughtful perspective.
Overall, this is a compelling read that celebrates resilience, adventure, and the transformative power of stepping outside your comfort zone. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would happily recommend it to anyone interested in travel, education, or personal memoirs.

[Cyn Posner]

'Lesson (Un)Planned' hits three of my favorite subjects: travel, overseas romances, and alcoholism. One of my favorite lines sums it up perfectly: “With travel and chaos as my currency, I was rich.”

As a traveler myself, I loved getting a glimpse into what it was like for an American woman to live and teach in the Middle East, the cultural differences, the assumptions we make, and those small observations you only notice when you stay somewhere long enough to stop being a tourist.

What resonated most was the realization that you can move halfway around the world and still bring yourself along for the ride. Michelle writes beautifully about using travel, relationships, nightlife, and alcohol as escape hatches. I recognized so much of myself in that restless search for the next place, the next person, the next adventure that might finally make everything feel different. Her line, “Maybe I kept choosing men who would never really show up - because then I would never have to either,” absolutely hit home. And 'Bathtub Gin' was one of my favorite chapters because I will always have a soft spot for a walk-of-shame story.

The travel writing is equally compelling. Michelle doesn't romanticize being an American abroad. She allows herself to be humbled by the places she visits and examines the assumptions she carries with her.

This is a beautifully written story about going far enough away to discover that eventually, wherever you land, you still have to meet yourself there.

Cyn Posner
Author of Escape to Mexico & It's Messy in Here

[Kelly Fowler]

I just finished, and honestly, I wanted to turn right back to page one and read it all over again. And I just might!

I found it adventurous, joyful, deeply personal, and sometimes even a little bit disturbing in its rawness and realness. But I liked it! I appreciated the learning and personal reckoning, and discovery!

Even though I am not a teacher myself, I loved the way she framed her memoir using a lesson-plan format. It was so creative and surprisingly compelling. It actually prompted me to reflect on my own life lessons, my own transformations, and the places where I’ve painfully experienced healing in my own life. I related, to say the least. Her perspective on education is refreshing: to be a truly great teacher, you have to be a brave, curious, open-minded learner first.

Beyond the travel and teaching, it’s Michelle’s real, poetic and fun voice, her sheer vulnerability that makes this book shine. I love how she doesn't hide from the messy, stressful, or reckless parts of her past. I felt like I was right there with her watching her navigate the delicate balance between shame and pride, hiding and living out loud. It was heart-wrenching and inspiring. Whether you’re an educator, a traveler, someone on a healing journey or beside one, or just a lover of great memoirs, you will find something very beautifully familiar in this book. I can't recommend it enough!

[Deborah Svec-Carstens]

With unflinching honesty, humor, and tenderness, Michelle Ray shares her experience of living and teaching in Bahrain, Ecuador, and Dubai. She left the US to escape her past and ended up embarking on a 10-year journey toward self-discovery. I found myself turning each page and wondering what predicament or revelation might come next as Michelle navigated life abroad. Part travel memoir, part recovery narrative, part spiritual quest, Michelle’s book will offer insights to a wide variety of readers.

[Katharine English]

I went into Lesson Unplanned expecting a straightforward expat memoir and came away most struck by the softer moments the author leaves to the reader to unravel – the memoir is at its best when Michelle Ray is simply observing, drawing us into her world. Her account of the Bab el-Bahrain Souk, the spice pyramids, the fluorescent light bouncing off scarves, put me right there.

I also appreciated how much emotional honesty she brings to her animal companions throughout the book – Gaby, Ellie, and especially Clementine, the Dubai street cat who ends up settling into a Kansas backyard. The late chapter with her mother, who drives sixteen hours round-trip to bring her home, is a real highlight – some of the most grounded, tender writing in the book.

I also appreciated the structural choice to frame the whole memoir as a series of lesson plans, and the way a journal discovered in the opening pages serves as an igniting device that Ray ties up in the end – it’s a smart bit of bookending that ties the whole decade together.

If you're drawn to memoirs about reinvention through travel and teaching abroad, there’s a lot here worth sitting with, particularly in the book’s more observational, scene-driven passages.

Thank you to the author who graciously provided me with a complimentary copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

[Darcy Gleisberg]

As someone who also taught and traveled abroad, this book brought me back to the world of living in a cultural bubble within a broader, complex and foreign context. It resurfaced that experience of constructing a network, or a family, from the people living a similar path in that moment. It also gave me the sense of a late night confessional, where a friend relates some of the more buried things that have shaped her. I read it with the interest of having discovered an older sister’s diary. Ray creates such a sense of the eras in which she taught, the places she visited and the people she meets, that it’s arm chair time and space traveling at its best. And through it all is this amazing trajectory of growth. The writing style seems to evolve along with her awareness. I found it honest, funny, self-aware, self-deprecating, tender, and ultimately, triumphant.

[Polly Letofsky]

We all have romantic visions of traveling and working overseas -- adventure, new experiences, meeting interesting people. But Michelle Ray's book gave me solid reasons to armchair travel instead! ha ha. It was full of honest and reflection and a few solid giggles. Highly recommend this for armchair travelers everywhere!

[J Burton]

Michelle Ray is one of those writers who has one of those voices that you would follow anywhere; the fact that she has traveled around the world and writes about her experiences as a traveler, teacher, and human, makes this memoir doubly compelling. I would recommend this book to any traveler, teacher, or human being, who wants to learn more about how to be a *better one* from someone who, while striving to be the best person she can be, has honestly reflected on and learned from her experiences, challenges, and mistakes. If you are a fan of the memoir genre, you will love this book like I did.

[Abdullah Almuslem]

I received an advance reader copy of this book via BookSirens and am leaving this review voluntarily. All opinions expressed are my own

My Review:

I am probably not the right audience to review this book.

The book is not yet published, and destiny brought it to my hands. Let me try to be fair and honest about what I think about it…

So, the book is a memoir by a traveling English teacher who spent years in South America, Middle East & India. The book focuses mainly on the author experience being a teacher in Bahrain during the early 2000s as well as her later experience in Dubai.

Now, this is where my personal background influences my review. I have my own opinion about expats and how some of them behave in our region. Some come with real desire to learn about the culture, others bring their own problems with them and try to find healing path in their stay. Many simply bring their own lifestyle and expect it to fit into a culture that differs tremendously from their own assuming their way of life is superior to the locals they meet. The author seems to fall a bit into all three categories.

I am not going to dwell too much about her life story or her struggles with alcohol, the nightlife, or her relationships. The reason is that the story really left me disturbed because some of these expats become our children teachers, helpers or even sometime mentors. Our cultural morals and boundaries are extremely different from these expats. What appears normal in their culture can look to us like completely shocking behavior. I will admit the story is well written and easy to read, but I hated a lot of the details as they involve choices and behaviors that clash strongly with my own believes.