Travelmemoir Stories

After tragedy struck his family and his five-year relationship with his girlfriend ended, Jason packed his suitcase and headed for his first summer-long solo adventure through Europe. But he discovered that his problems didn't disappear as soon as he stepped off the plane. He was still filled with anxiety and needed to overcome his depression, come to terms with who he is, and accept his failures and the changes that altered his trajectory. Jason didn't know that his trip to Europe was only just the beginning. Soon, he'd be on a life-long mission to see the world because of his discovery of what it really means to be happy and fulfilled, inspired by one very important person, whose death changed Jason and his family for the better. Seen through a musical and philosophical lens, Jason's story takes the reader all over the globe, as he shares insight into his travels and offers a glimpse into his imagination and creativity. Jason Cooper is a music educator from Michigan with a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and a Master of Education in Educational Technology. He is a first-time memoirist of Building Fires and Finding Stars: Why I Never Stop Traveling, a heart-touching and candid story eleven years in the making. Now available in Apple Books and on Amazon for Kindle https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083DJ6HS9?pf_rd_r=30FTE7M1SDMBRDJJCN1D&pf_rd_p=ab873d20-a0ca-439b-ac45-cd78f07a84d8

When Anna moves to China without the approval of friends or family, she goes from recent graduate to language teacher in a country in which she knows nothing and no one. As she overcomes culture shock and gets used to being illiterate, her explorations take her to the eastern start of the Great Wall, densely-populated chaotic cities, serene mountaintop temples of silent monks and former pleasure palaces of emperors. But she wants to learn more, to understand, to go deeper. It is only in the Chinese nightclubs, where she becomes Cui Hua, or Jade Flower, a stage dancer, that she finds what she didn't know she was searching for: self-acceptance, self-confidence and eventually, herself. Dear Potential Reader, This is my memoir of my time in China in my early twenties in 2006-2007, before there was a fence all the way along the North Korean border. It is generally true, although names and some events have been fictionalized, and some conversations and situations recreated from diary entries and vague, hazy memories of them. I hope you enjoy it! Kind regards, AJ

In the spring of 2004 - after living in Tokyo, Japan, for over three years pursuing a career as a freelance musician - science fiction and fantasy author Domenico Italo Composto-Hart set off on a half-year backpacking journey through the lands of East and Southeast Asia, Siberia, Central Russia, the Baltic states, the Nordic countries, and Eastern and Western Europe. Traveling by foot, bus, train, and boat - and seeing the world through the analytical lens of anthropology, archaeology, and economics - Domenico documents, researches, and deciphers the developing nations he encounters as they rise through the turbulence of unregulated Western capitalism and globalization. Travels in the Land of Hunger is the author's reflective account of the dark, long-lasting impact of Western colonialism and imperialism, the Vietnam War, the Khmer Rouge regime, the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and the sex tourism and sex trafficking industries in Southeast and East Asia. It is also a narrative of finding exotic beauty, inspiration, inner strength, and unexpected love.

What starts as a spontaneous idea to head to the sea turns into a full-blown adventure across the Crimean mountains - on bicycles. With broken gear, forgotten water, mysterious nighttime visitors, and a cast of eccentric travelers, this is not your average vacation. It's a story of sweat, laughter, crab hunts, and bureaucratic absurdities. And in the end, it's about the kind of woman who jumps off a moving trolleybus just to make sure you're not left behind.

"You know how, in 'Eat, Pray, Love,' 'Under the Tuscan Sun,' 'An Italian Affair' and all those other memoirs? Women go to Italy to put their lives back together." I said this to Jenny over our first gourmet Mac and Cheese planning meeting. "Well, let's go and have a delicious time because there is nothing wrong. Because we are happy with our lives, well-loved, and healthy." "Let's make it our plan," said Jenny, "to stuff our eyes with art, and our bodies with good food. Let's gain ten pounds." "It's a deal," I said. "Ten days, ten pounds" ----------- Thank you to my thousand readers-or peekers-who checked out my memoir-in-progress. Wattpad was a wonderful trial platform to expand on the misadventures first recorded in the blog, http://kristenandjennygotoitaly.com, which is still up and you are welcome to take a peek. I'm taking this draft down and polishing it from a solid midway draft into a delicious and memorable read about the unexpected feelings, brushes with death, and awakenings that unfold when you think you've got life figured out. If you like horses and hiking, pasta and paintings, shoes and shopping, fantasy and friendship, please 'like' the book on Facebook @10D10P. There, you can learn more about the characters (real people) and the beauty we value, listen to sample chapters, and follow my journey to publication. And sometime, if you've got a bottle of prosecco open, you might tune in to the Ten Days, Ten Pounds playlist on Spotify and imagine yourself walking cobbled streets with a best friend. www.tinyurl.com/10D10Pmusic All rights reserved.