Farley's Follies Doing it live everyday.

Long Way Round Review

I finally finished Long Way Round after a month of grueling reading. OK, it wasn't that grueling but it wasn't the most inspirational read, and every other page led me to cast it aside until I had nothing better to do but pick it up again.

I have two major issues with this book:

1.) After spending three months riding around the world, I expect more details. Tell me more about the land and people. Throw in some history along the way to bind it all together (sympathy and guilt are not reliable substitutes for facts here, fellas). I'm sure in an attempt to keep the book around 300 pages a lot had to be cut, but less time could have been spent whining about how much they missed their wives and children – we got the point, no need to remind us every other page.

2.) Heard of packing light? Not Ewan and Charley. Two 4x4 support vehicles, a camera man on a third bike, a doctor, and local "fixers" is all it takes to ride around the world? God I hope not! Throughout the book Ewan complains about the local media attention that awaits their arrival in each town. No wonder! To many of these people it must have looked like the carnival was rolling into town with as much crap as you guys had in tow.

In the end this book is nothing more than two personal journals – seemingly written after the fact – clobbered together in an attempt to create an epic travel novel. Had there been more details about the trip itself and less self-absorbed introspection and whining it could have been a good read.

Many men and women have completed this same trip without any sponsors or support vehicles. In fact, I've gained more knowledge about the land and people from reading firsthand accounts on ADVrider.