Around the World in 88 Days

Book excerpt: This is the story of my trip around the world with my two friends, Scott Ashby and Mark Nelson, after we completed our 2-year service as Mormon missionaries. I got the idea from my mission president, Ted Johnson, while driving with him across Kansas one night. It sounded like so much fun I quickly drafted Scott and Mark to go with me. We visited 25 countries in 88 days. We stayed in youth hostels and in nice hotels. We camped out in a park in Rome (where Nero used to kill the Christians) and slept out on the deck of a cruise ship as it sailed to Athens, Greece. We flew on Pan Am using their Around the World flight coupons (16 in all). The only rules were you could not backtrack and you had to return to your departure city within 80 days or the tickets expired. I lost all of my travel documents and tickets on a crowded street in Barcelona and left my backpack in a deli in Germany. I was pick-pocketed on the streets of Cairo and offered cocaine in Amsterdam. One of the greatest days of my life was the day I galloped on horseback across the lush, green hillsides of New Zealand. I threw coins into the Bangkok River and watched young children dive for them in the mucky brown water. In short, it was the adventure of a lifetime and I've now looked back on it for 35 years.