We are excited to celebrate our author John L. Kessell, whose mesmerizing travel memoir  Around the World Not Counting Days got the spotlight. The memoir transports readers to 1958, when 22-year-old graduates took ocean liners and spontaneous adventures, costing unspent traveler’s checks. The captivating storytelling captured an era when travel was meant to be an authentic discovery and not just for Instagram likes and views. If you are also a travel lover and a lover of travel diaries, this book is a must-read for you. 

This is a story for those seeking vintage travel memoirs, 1950s nostalgia, and spontaneous and adventurous stories. It captures the travel’s lost innocence, where journeys unfold naturally without guidebooks or GPS. Fresh from Fresno State with no job prospects, Kessell visited Australian relatives who refused to let him spend any money. And then he traded his return ticket for Sydney-Gibraltar passage, launching an unplanned round-the-world journey on authentic ocean liners. Click here to order the book. 

John L. Kessell has been fond of traveling and became a historian, publishing with New Mexico, Arizona, and Oklahoma university presses a decade after his world travel, transforming 65-year-old memories into beautiful narratives, inviting the readers on a journey meant for transformation and not tourism.