I. Love. Geraldine. This is the travel book you NEED to read. It's honest, it's realistic, it's not some post college age kid who feels they have their life together(I know, I know hey pot, I'm kettle), it's an average woman on not-so-average adventures. I LOVED her approach to this and I honestly just need more from her.

I love Geraldine DeRuiter! Such a great author and writes really engagingly and humorously. I'd read another by her!

I like travel books, the quirkier the better! Geraldine DeRuiter's book is charming. I made me smile as I could relate to so much in it. I love the idea of traveling, but not the actual traveling part, myself. So reading books like these are always entertaining! Good book for summer!

I found this book to be disjointedly charming. As a travel memoir goes, it doesn't really fit, but it is a great coming-of-age-even-though-you've-technically-aged memoir. I loved reading DeRuiter's exploits and foibles, as well as her insights into the human condition and her laugh-out-loud wit.

This book ended up being way better than I expected! I've read quite a few travel memoirs, but none quite like this - and the author is quick to point out that that will be the case. This book is funny, unexpected, heartfelt, and a breath of fresh air.

This was very fun to read. I laughed out loud. Some travel stories, some personal stories, all charming. I had never heard of this blog before, but I'm signed up now.

I am all about travelogues. I figure if I can’t travel at this point in time then I certainly can travel from the comfort of my couch. The title of this one drew me in. All Over the Place: Adventures in Travel, True Love and Petty Theft. It piqued my interest. If I can get my travel fix from my couch I am all about that.

First off this is non-fiction. The story begins as the author, Geraldine, is about to lose her job. The company she works for is about to go under. What does she do? She leaves for a few week trip around Italy with one of her best friends. She and her friend get severely ill. They spend most of the trip chugging DayQuil and NyQuil. That is until her friend’s cousin suggest they go to Cinque Terra. From there he suggests a hike from Vernazza to Monterosso. An hour later they still haven’t reached their destination. They feel like death. After another hour they come to Monterosso and any angst they hold towards their cousin vanishes. Their breath is taken away. They are struck speechless. It is the most amazing view they have ever seen in their lives. Certainly one they will never forget. When they return home, Geraldine loses her job for real. Two weeks later she marries the love of her life, Rand. It was Rand who suggests that she start a Travel Blog now that she doesn’t have a job. Suddenly she is one of the Top Travel Blogs according to TIME magazine. Just as quickly, her world comes crashing down. She had been battling severe headaches for a long time and recently they have gotten even more debilitating. Stay in bed and not move debilitating. Rand suggests she goes to the Doctor who orders an MRI. The results come back the next morning. Tumor in her brain. They don’t believe it’s cancerous but they want to do a biopsy just to make sure. While the results are non-cancerous and a relief to all, will Geraldine ever get back the life she lived before?

This book really wasn’t what I expected. She does say that in the first few chapters that if you want an honest travelogue then go read Rick Steves. This, as she describes, is a more how not to travel. She cannot get from point A to point B without getting lost. That is really the only reason I gave it 4 stars. That it wasn’t the Travelogue I was expecting. With that being said it is still a good book. I laughed until I cried a few times. She does drop a fair amount of F bombs so if you have an aversion to that then, heads up. She writes in a very conversational way. The book was a quick and easy read. She writes real and doesn’t sugarcoat anything. I have already signed up for her blog The Everywhereist. I can’t wait to read it!

This really isn't a travel book but rather a memoir where physical travel propels the author to a better understanding of herself, her family and the world around her. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this as I'm not generally a fan of the reflective memoirs a la Eat Pray. This is funny, it's sharp, and it's very very honest. She doesn't do travel tips (really) but you will definitely have a sense of each place she touches down. I had not read De Ruiter's blog or other writing but I know now to look for her. She's got a lot to say that will be applicable in ways you won't imagine when you start this. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC.

Geraldine's husband travels a lot so he suggests that she go with him and write about her experiences. Travel the world with your best friend and the love of your life, why wouldn't you?
Ms. DeRuiter has written a travel memoir about loving other places but sort of hating the getting there part. Much like life, good things are coming but sometimes the getting there SUCKS.
This is a story about how traveling can make you realize just how important love and home can be. It was witty, touching and made me appreciate my husband even more. Geraldine also has a great gift to not only entertain you but to make you feel like you are right there with her when all of life happens to her.
If you are looking for a spiritual epiphany ala Eat, Pray, Love this probably isn't the book for you but if you are looking for a real look at life, love, family and travel with a lot of laughs and a little bit of tears too then pick up this book.

After Geraldine DeRuiter gets laid off, she travels the world and blogs in the Everywhereist about it. Fun, crazy people, travel!

3.5 stars. All Over the Place is, well, a bit all over the place, but I still quite liked it. I recently read The Yellow Envelope: One Gift, Three Rules, and a Life-Changing Journey Around the World which was a memoir written by a young woman who quit her job and sold her house to go on a long journey around the world. My primary complaint about The Yellow Envelope was that it is too inward looking – I found out far too much about the author’s relationship with her husband and not enough about the places she traveled. I could easily say the same about All Over the Place, but in this case it wouldn’t be a complaint. Geraldine De Ruiter is a travel blog writer. All Over the Place is a memoir in which she chronicles some of her travels, but the focus is really her family, her husband, some serious health issues and some inner struggles. What makes this book work for me is De Ruiter’s tone, sensibility and honesty. She is funny and self-deprecating, while delivering a healthy serving of random thoughtful observations about life, death and the universe. It’s light and not light – a book that can be read in a few disjointed sittings. Part of me kept wondering why she wrote this book and why it was picked up by a publisher – another voice told me to relax and enjoy the experience – which I did. It was definitely “all over the place”, but it took me to places I was happy to follow. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for an opportunity to read an advance copy.

I really wanted to like this one - I enjoyed the blurb, and a quick scan of the author's blog caught my eye and captured my imagination... She clearly leads a fascinating and amazing life - and appears to have a deliciously snarky and richly developed sense of humor. How could such a memoir be less than fascinating? I'll tell you how: by not reading like a memoir. I found the book to read more like a self-help book about the power of love - and while there's nothing wrong with either topic, they're not genres that usually grab (or hold) me. I even tried skipping around. I just couldn't get into it - and I tried, several times. There's nothing wrong with it - the writing style is engaging and easy-going, I just wasn't enthusiastic about the stories she was telling. I guess I'll have to stick to the blog...

I have never read (or heard of, honestly) the author's travel blog. But I love good travel memoir so I started reading. And found is been hoodwinked. This is a memoir, but travel in is secondary to a story about love, acceptance, priorities and family. And I loved it. It's a quick read, but we'll worth it. The author is honest, open and highly relatable (though I fear a bit what that says about me). The writing is fun and informal, like we were chatting over macaroons. Read it.

I usually enjoy humor from neurotic, relationship-impaired writers. DeRuiter is happily married and seems to be emotionally well-adjusted, even though she is hard on herself. I’m glad I kept with it though, since I learned that relatability can be hilarious…and I could relate to her on so many levels. I also learned that expressing gratitude can also be accomplished in a humorous way.

(The complete review will be posted on UnderratedReads on the release date 5/2/17)

This is wonderful- there is no other word. The essays in the book lit up my heart and fulfilled my love of travel at the same time. DeRuiter's stories are the real travel stories that we all (to some extent) share- lost luggage, messing up hotel rooms, losing our way. But her connection with her partner and the support they have for one another shines through without being a cliché. The writing is funny- really funny- and I think DeRuiter is someone a lot of people will be able to identify with.

Don't miss DeRuiter's All Over the Place! I hadn't read her blog, The Everywhereist, but the fact that she started off as an accidental travel writer who gets consistently lost makes this book particularly humorous (See chapter entitled: "In Which I Am Surprised to Learn That Getting Lost Doesn't Bring About the Apocalypse). Not only do we get to hear about her incidents in airports and hotel rooms (see chapter entitled: "Marry Someone Who Will Help You Deal with Your Shit"), we get to know the other key players in her life: her dramatic mother, her patient, understanding husband, Rand, and several other quirky relatives. Readers quickly begin to understand their personalities and see how DeRuiter's family members shaped the adventures she went on and how, as a result, she understood them better because she experienced something they were passionate about. Even when the subject matter delves deeper, DeRuiter maintains a comedic tone of voice that keeps the pace moving and the story riveting! By the time you're done reading, you'll have lots of new quotable quotes to live by!

It's very rare that an author can combine a personal memoir with travel and do it right.
This is one of those books.
It's worth the purchase just to read the chapter about the author's mother in the TSA security line!
Well done!

What a beautiful surprise was reading this book. After the first page I was already thinking "I need to buy this book for my daughter". After the second page I was thinking: "I'm buying this book as a Christmas present to all my friends." It was like that, all throughout the book. The only time I stop reading was to think on who I can give or recommend this book. I was first hooked because it is so funny. Laughing out loud funny. But it gets even better, there are fantastic live lessons on learning to love/understand your family and yourself and coping with some tough things like a brain tumor.
It was a delight to feel the love the author has for her husband and vice versa.
I cried (happy cry) all through the end of the book, but probably because the subject hit home or maybe not. I guess I won't know until I talk to someone else that have read this book.
I think this book was perfect. Great beginning, fantastic ending.
I'm so exited to have discover such a terrific author.

Geraldine deRuiter is the writer behind The Everywhereist, a funny and quirky travel blog. She started writing about her travel, and often her ineptitude in accomplishing it, after losing her job to the recession and thus was free to accompany her husband, a workaholic SEO entrepreneur, to his various conferences and speaking engagements throughout the U.S. and around the world. Her self-deprecating sense of humor and unlimited openness about her mistakes and wrong turns coupled with her helpful insights and surprisingly deep meditations and observations on life, love, and the world we live in make it clear why the blog is as popular as it is.

I'm not familiar with her blog though, and I sometimes shy away from travel memoirs if they're too shlocky or chick lit-y. I worried this one might have the potential to be so, thanks to the martini on the cover and "true love" in the subtitle. How wrong I was.

I'm also never looking for funny books, I think it's a sign of great writing when an author makes you laugh in the course of their storytelling, but I hate a try-too-hard comedic book. Luckily, this avoids that too (mostly) and actually managed to be laugh-out-loud funny in several parts. The petty theft incident referred to in the subtitle, at a sanrgia-soaked dinner in Spain, is one of the funniest things I've read in a long time. Maybe because it's so strangely relatable

I was also completely mistaken in thinking this would be mainly travel-centric, it was not. I should've known when early on, she professed that her enemy is everyone's favorite (at least, grudgingly accepted) bland and organized travel book guide author Rick Steves. Travel certainly figures in, but much is about DeRuiter's family and stories from her personal life, making it much more a collection of memoirist's essays than a standard travel memoir.

The combination is just right - she manages to explain that elusive, near-magical ability of the right kind of travel at the right times in the right (also sometimes the wrong) places - to help you learn more about yourself and where you came from and the people you were born to and found along the way.

In her disclaimer, Geraldine quickly disabuses us of any notion we might have that she, a well-liked travel writer, will give us a useful travel book.

So if this book by a travel writer is not about travel or about finding romance somewhere along the road, then where does that leave us? These last six years have taught me a great number of things, though being able to read a map is not one of them...I have learned about my family and myself, about losing my job and brain tumors and lost luggage and lost opportunities and just getting lost, in countless terminals and cabs and hotel lobbies around the globe.

What she does write is a book that showcases her quirks, her flaws perceived and otherwise, and her strategies or lack thereof as she navigates the post-employment landscape, figuring out what and where exactly her place in the world is supposed to be. It's a struggle many of us can relate to, and it helps that she's an easy, vastly readable writer, with a bold sense of humor and a warts-and-all mentality about her decisions and experiences.

Believe it or not, I didn't realize that my journeys...were going to lead to all this introspection about and understanding of the people closest to me. At the start, my plan was to eat a lot of cake and do my best not to cause any international incidents.

In all honesty, can any of us really hope for anything more in our travels? With all that can go wrong, I think not. (see: her Air France experiences, which gave me secondhand anxiety, although that might be because I have the same fiery hatred for one airline and its demonic employees flown straight out of hell, but it's American Airlines.)

Although a joke here or there occasionally goes too far (please never refer to a baby's "tiny vagina" even if it's your own, and can we please call a moratorium on any mention ever again of the zombie apocalypse? Is it some kind of hipster literary keyword? She's better than that and we're all better than that! Let's not use that tired, crutch of a joke anymore! As a generation we're going to look back on this and regret it! Now I've bitched and let's never speak of this stupid zombie apocalypse joke ever again.)

But for the most part, she annotates her experiences and stories with lines that both poke fun at her choices with the wisdom of hindsight and introspection while still subtly acknowledging that she'd do the same all over again, if given the chance: "...it's always a good idea to spread your drunken grief across two continents, if you can."

In a secondhand way, the more you read of her experiences makes you think about your own. And there's a familiar comfort in much of what she says, in words both clear and sentimental, about figuring out life and yourself even if you're attempting it all without a map. Making lots of wrong turns are ok. It happens. Keep going, and don't forget to fall in love with your hometown while you're at it.

"That said, getting lost isn't the worst thing in the world: If you are trying to find yourself, it's a great place to start."