This was such an interesting book. It amazes me how one person can leave home with no job and only 50 bucks (and spend 35 of that on beer the first night) and travel the world for four years. But what Christopher Schacht found was adventure, friendships, and lessons that would last him a lifetime! While this is a dream of mine (in a sense), reading of his experience of meeting new people and seeing how he was able to continue on this adventure for multiple years gave me a slight heart attack! Just thinking of all the people he had to meet and get to know...that's so not for me! But what an amazing experience he had! I also really enjoyed reading about his experience of coming to know God during this time! It was a beautiful story for sure!

Such a great book for someone looking to travel around cheaply! I hope I am able to use it one day.!
I have many friends who travel more than me and I am recommending it to them.

Like Being There!
I so enjoyed this book! Reading it was just like traveling that road with the author. Since the trip was less than 10 years ago, it is the most current and honest account that I have read. The author's descriptions are enough to give the reader the entire mental experience complete with bug bites, awesome views, nasty smells, and exotic foods. While I have some issues with his version of world history, the book was mostly a joy. At one spot, he quoted that the Great Wall of China could be seen from the moon and then went to great lengths to dispute that. I have never heard that line before. But, I have often heard of how it looks from space (orbiting the earth) and have pictures to prove it!
There was a certain sniping at the USA throughout the book that got very old. I received this ARC book for free from Net Galley and this is my honest review.

I received a digital copy from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I originally chose this title because I have always wanted to be able to travel the world and I love reading about how other people got their opportunity. I really wasn't disappointed with this book. In fact, I liked it much more than I thought I was going to. It had so much information packed into it that I thought it might read like a textbook but it was quite the opposite. I learned so much by reading this book but it never actually felt like I was learning...he made it fun to read about his adventures while teaching at the same time. Now is this something I would ever personally do? Absolutely not, not even when I was young. But I really enjoyed reading about his ideas and his experiences. I would 100% recommend the book to anyone who is also interested in traveling and other cultures. If I had one complaint it would be that there were no pictures. I actually had to stop what I was doing several times so I could look up what he was talking about.

I am not sure that I have ever read a book (other than a classic) that was translated from another language. Knowing that the main character was German was interesting to me because my Grandpa is from Germany. I feel like that they did an excellent job of maintaining his voice. His experiences on traveling were shared well. He was definitely quite adventurous in his approach. I liked the fact that he was willing to work hard to make his traveling experiences happen. Due to the fact that he is honest, I would say that I would recommend this for teenagers on up. While a parent could certainly share parts of travels with younger kids, reading discretion is advised (due to context not inappropriate language - that part was fine). His perspective on people around the world is also intriguing. This (part-time) geography teacher is definitely glad that he wrote this book!

I enjoyed reading about Mr. Schacht's adventures around the world. This is my dream to just drop everything and go travel everywhere, but I don't have it in me to do it in the same way without a plan. These types of people are the bravest types of people and always get to have the best time and create the best memories! It was really fun to hear about all of the different places he traveled, and kind of nail biting to read about some of the scarier situations he ended up in a few times. I didn't feel like there was a good flow to the story, so I thought maybe it would have been better as a series of essays on each place instead of a long memoir.

A very interesting book about a young man, Christopher Schacht adventures while traveling around the world. Love the fun stories he shares and the honesty of his story telling.

A for sure read for anyone wanting to travel abroad on a shoestring budget.

Thank you Thomas Nelson Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Ah, youth! How I miss those wild and free days! Kids, If you want to discover life and learn more than any school or college can teach you, make great friends for life, see new places, have one of a kind experiences, etc... back pack! Trust the world to be a great teacher! I love these books! I just met a young man back from his first backpack adventure-5 months in Costa Rica! I'd love to do all the traveling and exploring again.... Thank you Christopher Schnacht and all you other travelers and back packers for sharing your journeys! Happy and safe journeys to you all! Trust that wherever you land up, it will always work out- it always has for me and I am the only traveler in my family! believe in the goodness of your fellowman. This book, and other books like it, should be on every child's shelf!

What a great adventure! The author left his native Germany as a teenager with just 50 euros (and spent 35 euro on booze the first night!) and managed to travel around the entire world for the next four years.

What I loved:
I really enjoyed reading these adventures. Just the idea of continually traveling around the world for four years, meeting strangers who become new friends, learning new skills and seeing wonderful new places... that all sounds so incredible, and the author was so gracious to share his story, along with his thoughts and opinions. It sounded like he had a wonderful time and I'm so glad for him!

What could have used improvement:
Note- I'm a teacher, so take this with a grain of salt... Throughout the entire book, I hoped that the writing quality of the book would improve, and it didn't. To be fair, the author had many factors against him... The book was originally written in his native German, then translated into English. Additionally, the author was young, and at the time of this writing had only a secondary education. I would have loved to have read more descriptive accounts, and for the author to have shared more of his personal growth story. He tells that he developed a relationship with God throughout his trip and that he met a woman with whom he would have a romantic relationship (I don't want to spoil this), but his account is largely just the whens and wheres of his story, without nearly enough whys and underlying hows.

If you are interested in learning more about backpacking around the world, I recommend this book. Just don't expect it to be more than it is.

What a cool book!! It’s storytelling and world adventures at its best. You will get lost in the pages of this book with all the places her goes and the people he meets.