Pat Backley dreamed of traveling as a young girl and was fortunate to venture from England's beautiful, bucolic landscape to destinations and adventures all around the world before settling in New Zealand.
In the entertaining memoir of her travels, she takes the reader from a school trip as a teenager to what was then Yugoslavia, and then winning a trip as an eighteen-year-old and choosing to go to Tunisia, in the days when there were no restrictions on the size or weight of hand luggage on planes, so Pat juggled a huge Ali Baba linen basket on her knees on the way home. She goes on to visit Paris, Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius, and Spain.
At the age of twenty-five, Pat lives in Fiji for two years and discovers this beautiful place becomes a big part of her life story, her spiritual home, a place she returns to often.
She travels through the States and goes to Rhodes and the Isle of Wright, Singapore and the Bahamas– all places of marked contrast.
At age 40, Pat makes it to Egypt, a place she dreamt of visiting as a girl. She goes to Venice for her 50th birthday. The following years are filled with more adventures around the globe.
Seventy Years Worth of Travel is a wonderful book of small, perfectly formed vignettes that capture each destination with a great sense of place and a slice of the history of when Pat visited. She brings a great deal of curiosity to each of her stories, all laced with warm humour. A very entertaining read.
Reviewer: Karen McMillan
Beacon Press, RRP $30.00