Written in 1970, this unique travelogue looks back on an enigmatic Englishman's travels through post-war Europe, as both author and continent search for identity.

The most pleasant and inspiring of travel companions, Gordon gives us period photographs, and contemporary View-Master images as he attempts to answer the age-old question “Why do we travel?”

The book is printed in full colour.

Whether he is writing about his curious bookshop in Bath, his even more mysterious employer, the highs and lows of continental cuisine, architecture, space travel or the rebuilding of East and West, Gordon Nicholas’s erudite yet almost boyish immersion into his surroundings is inspiring and revealing.

After seventy years his voice is as immediate and engaging as it would have been in the 1950s when his journal begins; his dry, sometimes mischievous, often self-deprecating humour will make you smile; and his ambitious politics of hope might be just the antidote we need in 2024.

This edition is enhanced by contemporary additions from the author’s son, who followed half a century later in his father’s footsteps; a multi-layering of historical perspectives that at key moments almost evolves into a conversation with a much admired, much-missed and much-loved father.

“Gordon not only opens the eyes of readers around the world to a sense of adventure, but also to a better understanding of what it truly means to be a citizen of the world.”