Fearless Footsteps: True Stories That Capture the Spirit of Adventure

by Nathan James Thomas (Editor), Jennifer Roberts, Christina Myers (Contributor)

Travelling the world is an exhilarating, eye-opening, life-affirming experience. But it can also be scary to even think about. There are language barriers, borders to cross, planes to fly in, and of course, the mystery of an unknown land. It can be difficult to take the chance, even when you’re yearning for adventure.

This inspirational collection of true travel stories proves that the best journeys are to be had when you feel the fear but go anyway. From a nervous flier anxiously taking to the skies for the first time to a female traveller braving the Middle East, from a death-defying hike on an Indonesian volcano to the anxious freedom of finding yourself alone on the other side of the world, these stories are certain to send you looking for your passport.

Created by the popular travel writing website, Intrepid Times, as part of an international writing competition that saw entries pouring in from across the globe, Fearless Footsteps is travel writing at both its most exhilarating and its most introspective. Covering every continent from Africa to Antarctica, these carefully selected stories get to the heart of what it means to be a traveller and see the world with courage, open-mindedness, and relentless curiosity.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Paperback

Published November 17, 2020

Reviews

[Dimity Powell]

Intrepid Times introduces this colourful and stirring collection of travel anecdotes, recollections and harrowing incidents with the notion that 'the difference between travel and adventure is the presence of fear'. I couldn't agree more. Even a leisurely sojourn can morph into a heart-racing experience of dread when heightened by feelings of isolation and anxiousness brought about by an inability to understand the language, culture or motivations of the land through which you are trekking. But without this kind of innate unease, the edge of adventure is eroded. Excitement and a sense of triumph are sometimes best savored after your guts have roiled a little with terror.

This is why I wrote about one of my fearful travel encounters and why I am deliriously proud to have it included in this anthology. But perhaps more telling, is how much I've enjoyed travelling again, albeit vicariously, through the tales of others. These true stories about staring down fear full in the face told through the eyes of fellow travellers, trekkers, and hustlers of life keen to, well ... live... are truly emotional and inspirational. Not only do they entertain and enthrall (some causing audible gasping), they demonstrate the sheer tensile strength of the human will and our ability to endure. A quality, like this book, to value and revere.

[Carmel Audsley]

With travel restrictions currently in place across the world, regular travellers are longing for the day when they can once again sate their wanderlust. Just at the right time, along comes a book that captures the spirit of adventure with a collection of true stories from people who have had the courage to let go of fear and enjoy incredible experiences. Travel writing website, Intrepid Times, held an international writing competition that attracted short stories of intrigue, curiosity and daring, and curated and edited them into Fearless Footsteps. Each traveller writes of personal experiences of overcoming language barriers, facing fears and being placed in physical danger in the pursuit of adventure. The reader walks with a new mother overcoming post-natal depression, who finds solace in the hills of north Wales. We experience the solitude of tramping alone in the mountains, and feel the anxiety of a young woman who must follow custom and go naked in a Taiwan bathhouse. We stumble into a war zone, and find the gift of conversation while fly fishing in Colorado, as the first person narration takes the reader along on each adventure. With 36 different travel stories to enjoy, you can experience again and again what it’s like to face your fears and come out the other side.

[Kylie H]

The basis of this book is to travel in spite of fear, feel the fear and do it anyway.

This book took me on journeys around the world New Zealand, Greece, Thailand, Iran, Tanzania, Switzerland, Argentina, even Antartica. With travel off the cards for most people at the moment, this was a book I needed to read.

[Joanna Nowitzki]

I love to travel. Recently, travel got harder, and scarier. The stories in this engaging book told me that I am not alone. Great stories to dip into when you would otherwise be booking flights.