Travelling Light is a travel memoir that follows the adventures of young couple Steve Lowndes and Lisa Potts as they journey across the globe in the 1970s. It makes for fascinating reading as they spend nearly a decade travelling the world together. They met by chance in Bolivia in South America, and from there, they travelled to places as diverse as the USA, Europe, Poland, Russia, Turkey, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India, Thailand, Indonesia and Australia.
This is an entirely different type of travel than what we experience today. No mass tourism. No credit cards, mobile phones or the internet. It is more complicated than travelling now, but it also seems much freer in other ways, and there is a palpable sense of adventure. Certainly, the cities aren’t as clogged then as they are today. It’s a slower pace of life, more space and the chance to relax and experience all the small moments along the way – the travel every bit as part of the adventure as the end destination.
I found myself reading with particular interest the places I have also visited, noting what is the same and what would probably be a lost experience. For the places I haven’t yet visited, it ignited my curiosity about new places to add to my bucket list.
Steve has a very engaging writing style that brings their adventures to life, capturing the romance of travel in this era. The photographs by Lisa are a highlight of the book, the colours and style reminding me of old family photos from when I was a tiny girl, but now featuring exotic destinations, not our backyard.
I must mention the fabulous endpapers – they are a work of art and deserve to be framed and put on the wall.
I think this will be a wonderfully nostalgic read for some readers, reminding them of their travels in this decade. I found it to be a fascinating mix of memoir and history, a slice of life that seems familiar to life now but is also completely different. Travelling Light is a must-read for anyone interested in travel or other people’s stories and anyone with an adventurous heart.
Reviewer: Karen McMillan
Quentin Wilson Publishing