A Long Way Back: Stories of Travelling Home

There are two ways to reach Canada from East Asia: a short way back, and a long way. This is the story of one couple who took the long way home—four months of trains and buses stitched together by one-way flights and scenic detours.

It's a collection of pure travel stories: in Brunei, witnessing the contrast of the golden mosques against burnt-down water villages; in Malaysia, meeting a karaoke DJ with dreams of pop stardom; in Jordan, camping in the dead-silent desert without a tent; in Iceland, glimpsing a faint aurora borealis from a remote farm on the edge of the world.

This is a book for lovers of the erstwhile Paul Therouxian, Jan Morrisian travelogues neglected by a world of blog diaries and listicles. It's a book about the essence of travel, embracing the fact that good travel is hard, and indulging in it allows you to appreciate home in a way you never could before.