Canuk

The injections horrified me! Waaaaay out of my comfort zone! I do hope the "love of your life" lasted. I met mine in a bar in Toronto "Woody's" ( emblem a rhinoceros head) - so subtle. Within minutes we both realised we liked an obscure author Barbara Tuchman and 20 years later we are still together!

Well you certainly brought out the insensitivity and unthinkingness of youth! Even the last paras where he talks about Isaac being "superhuman" its all about himself .I'd like to say that "if he reflects" but of course, what teenager reflect on anyone or anything..."😁 Great writing. Very real.

It's probably a country I'd be a tourist in, rather than a traveller, but my parents (then in their 70s) visited and because extremists had executed someone or other, they seemed to be the only ones there. So they found the place extraordinarily pleasant. So I'd suggest that finding a time when no one else is there is the ideal!

Singing, dancing, drawing, poly-lingual, pan sexual (ish!) ..quite the renaissance man! Now you have travelled through territory familiar to me. Cyprus, (Trodos mountains, paphos, etc. I did cross into TRNC but by 1980 due to lack of Turkish investment it was a wasteland.), Rhodes (Lindos, the old city, amazing orchards,) and Greece. Many many happy memories.

"No news", used to be one of the blissful parts of travel! I, too was the victim of an attempted pickpocket in southern Sicily. My wallet was also tied to me, but for the poor unfortunate boy ( he was under 15 ) a policeman saw him... the boy was dragged off before me and my limited Italian could intervene. Enjoying the journey!

Lawrence Durrell, the cause of much of my wanderlust! (Bitter Lemons had me all over Cyprus!) I haven't yet made it to Egypt as on each of my "extensive" travels it was always in uproar! I would have been terrified with the Tunisian minister.... not as brave a traveller as you, at all!

Philanthropy; possibly the worst possible way to run social services. No real assessment, no certainty, susceptible to lobby groups. While this is obviously fiction, it does high light how the whims of the 1% can affect the disadvantaged. Hopefully Harlan comes to the rescue!!,

Hmmm, and here I had hoped when I finally got to north Africa, it wouldn't have changed much since my great aunt in the late 30s... because, of course, Africa hasn't changed not like the "progressive" west! Well, I aren't quite that innocent, but I did hope that Tunis and Algeirs would be still like Marrakesh, Fez and some of the great ancient Arab cities...obviously too late. But we will get there! I too never felt afraid while travelling except where it was my own fault; getting lost in back streets of Marseilles, and a con man in Athens. Memories like those you are putting to paper almost make getting old palatable!

Do not start me on "balanced budgets" otherwise you'll get a rant that will go on for pages! I haven't seen my namesake since he was about 5 or 6, 😕 and yes I read fast...too fast, a product of a 35 year career where I was expected to produce instant summaries of complex reports! Sad really... I did actually read the entire report into education. It is actually more damning than the gloss that appears in the media. It's not that we are doing worse than Singapore ( we have never done as well as Singapore!) but we are doing worse than Australian students in 2012...utterly coincidently the year Abbott became PM!

My geography teacher came out to me too, after he had left his wife...they had named their first child after me...sadly he was a very early victim of AIDS. A whole lot of what ifs in that last disjointed sentence. I do need to get back to Scotland. Hopefully when it's not raining! I did stay in a few hostels in my travels and yes there were the desperate "where are you going, may I come too?" travellers, but also some amazing people that were characters so far removed from my life experience and therefore fascinating! Loving the journey!

What parallel lives we have lead! My sales experience was the toy section of a Department store at Christmas... parents were worse than the children ( tho' at one stage I had to assist with an "emergency" delivery of womens undergarments, for which I received extra pay called "embarrassment money"!). Edinburgh. In my two weeks there I never saw the castle as it rained continuously and the clouds were so low...I did get to see greyfriars bobbie as his statue is on the ground, and I saw many cafes and pubs as I kept out of the rain. So really just like your visit, just tamer and far less interesting!😁

Interesting your comment about Europeans and people from the ME being your readers. While I truly love GA and an awful lot of the stories here, sometime the inability of certain citizens of the US to undertake just a little self reflection is amazing and I think their writing suffers because of it. That said the only writer I have truly blocked comes from south of the equator! As far as age I have assumed you are about a decade older than me, as we seem to have some shared experiences, with you being braver than me and starting your exploration at a slightly younger age! I am sure if I could write about my travels it would be extremely pedestrian compared to "Dancing Bare"!

You have an amazing ability to not only thread the needle, but pick the right needle! Truly amazing time that has produced beautiful memories, now a great tale. Thanks.

Oh! How things had changed by the 80s. Some Italian men may have been interested in pinching women's bums, but an equal number hunted Australian, New Zealand and Canadian males! As for the customs/immigration experience, mine was in the US at LAX and while they didn't stick a finger (or anything else) up my bum, there was an hour of mental torture which amazes me to this day. They never identified what the issue was, but they seemed serious enough. Then as bizarrely and spontaneously as it started it finished, I was ordered to dress and leave. Compared to the Swiss who not only unpacked and repacked my back pack but they did it so beautifully I didn't want to undo it for days! The past is a different place. And I must be getting old, as at times I'd go back in a heartbeat!

What an open minded group! As far as you anyway. I am a little confused by their attitude to culture; did they ever say what they were travelling for? It sounds like it was a list ticking exercise! I met some Russians travelling (by train) in 1979/80. They were "allowed" to travel from Moscow to Rome and back, with three days in Rome. They were among the most intelligent and interested travelling companions I encountered. Glad you survived your whirlwind tour!

Avoiding Bob Dylan and his ilk, and loving Paris...yep pretty good summary!

Now we know why the personal details of authors aren't published.... It's not even a cliff...its like climbing Everest and seeing a wall! Great literary device tho'! Thanks for the ride!

An amazing and memorable excursion; everything travel is supposed to be! While we didn't get to Africa, southern Spain away from the tourist beaches and God awful high rises was amazing and so very friendly, similar to how you describe Morocco, tho in our case no hashish! Gibraltar I found interesting away from the mock-tudor tea houses. Driving up to the top was an experience, particularly when we had to rescue two drop dead gorgeous ~25 year old German travellers who had stalled their car. While travel does broaden the mind, there should be a licence to travel to stop those who are an embarrassment to everyone else; the American who tried to take his beer into a mosque, The Brit who had thrown up on his T shirt, so he just put it on backwards.... yep, at times I am a completely unrepentant snob when travelling! Great read! Thanks.

Number super snipe! The first car I re all my father driving! Grey with red leather seats! It also had the turning circle of the Queen Mary! Why is it that to with varying degrees of adventurousness some of us will take these mad cap adventures in our youth (I crawled over Italy in 1980, my sister spent a year touring Africa in 1982) and others think their journey to the corner store is an achievement? Your story engages me as much for the memories it brings back as the elegance of your writing. Thank you.

A few catch up chapters ! I like how your writing often hints at a whole lot more than you say, which allows us mere mortal readers imaginations to run riot using our own outlandish fantasies to fill in! Makes for a very entertaining read. There is something that tells me tho' , that much of what you Hmmmm edit needed....computer issues have resulted in prose worthy of Shakespeare's 2nd cousin twice removed has disappeared into the ether! What I was trying to say is that tensions and concerns are thankfully filtered out by hindsight! ( but it was said in much more prosaic way!) Good read! Enjoying the story.

"Know your audience": I have been trying to get speechwriters to do that for years. The ones that managed it have long careers! The dictum obviously applies to dance as well! Great! thanks!

What a journey! Mine was a much more toned down if not 'G' rated more 'NRC' with occasional 'M' rated scene. I was way too WASP to be as adventurous as you, but I did almost the same journey, Marselle, Nice, Canne, Monte Carlo, Menton, Ventigmillia in 1980. Great life, well told. Thanks.

These two are trying to be American AND royalty.... going to cause problems!

Interesting; you brought back memories of my one experience of public baths. Male only, I was "warned" that some men held to the "old ways" and didn't wear bathing suits/swimmers/Speedos. I courageously went naked, joining about half the crowd that were similarly un-attired. After a few lengths of the pool I noticed that all the men sitting around perving, as it were, all wore togs of some sort. Even at that young age I could see that the clothes were actually highlighting a problem.

Because I am playing catch up here, I havent beeen commenting, but finally your writing has forced me to! Sex. The utter hypocrisy of "No sex 'til your 18" has been eating away at me since it first appeared a few chapters ago. The puritanical streak in America that allows children to drive and join the military at 16, but not have sex or drink alcohol until 18/21 is so self destructive and the cause of more issues (legal, familial, psychological) than is ever necessary. Safe sex and sensible drinking is all about education not a bloody date on a calendar! Well, that was good to get out of my system! Nb is 4 quarters for a shower normal? While I have not been camping for a loooong time, when I did I recall buying around a dozen tokens for $1 (Australian) each token was a 5 minute shower, (which for me coming from the country where 3 minutes was considered wildly luxurious and extravagent) was ample. The aim was not so much to make money as to limit the time. $1 a shower sounds like a money making exercise! Great read. You have created some interesting characters with great quirks and strengths!