Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, well-known humour writer, has a way with words. I am reading his book, "A Walk in the Woods", where he describes his LONG walk up the Appalachian Trail- around 200 miles long. You might imagine that this would be a big bore, but he makes it very engaging. Why anyone would attempt such a walk is a question worth considering. As Bill puts it, you are for a while in a world without any meetings, engagements, things to do (except walking, of course), and I might add, without any expectations of other people to weigh you down. I also saw this movie about the motorcycle wanderings of Che Guevara through South America, and it has a similar spirit. The generally idealised 'world cruise' concept probably stems from the same desire- to do nothing for a longish period of time. Was it the same idea as Sanyas, or Vanaprastha, that our ancient texts talk about? Could be.