Bonnie simply wanted a break after graduating from college. But unexpected things happened during a trip to Europe and she didn't return home for years. When Bonnie needed money, she did anything from working as a barmaid on an army base in Germany to helping the owner of an antique shop on a beach in Kenya; the red Volkswagen she bought in Germany often doubled as a hotel. Readers will be transported as the author attempts to drive from Cairo to Capetown in a post-colonial world and later, when she falls for a tall dark Frenchman and motors with him down the Usumacinta River searching for the last surviving Mayans. The author's stories are unique and heart-racing, but she doesn't consider herself a risk-taker. Instead, she describes herself as a person determined to spend less time doing mundane things and more time living a life rich in adventure and freedom. Without a Spare is an unforgettable collection of twenty-four interconnected short stories that take place on islands, in jungles, deserts and the exotic cities of Africa, the Middle East, Mexico, Central and South America, Asia and India. The intoxicating mixture of stories are about independence, transformation, friendship, laughter, love, sex, youth--and that much doesn't have to change as one gets older if you don't let it. Without a Spare is essentially about another way to live a life.
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