Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac

Award-winning journalist Jeremy Hance embarks on an eco-adventure with his fiancée, OCD, and chronic anxiety, inspiring travelers and environmentalists. Despite his mental health issues, Hance travels to remote corners of the world, discovering the importance of resilience, nature, and living a life packed with experiences.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 304 pages
Publication date: 24 December 2020
Publisher: Health Communications

An award-winning journalist embarks on an eco-adventure across the globe, accompanied by his fiancée, his OCD, and his chronic anxiety. This hilarious and wild journey will inspire travelers, environmentalists, and anyone with mental illness.

Silver Award, 2020 Nautilus Book Awards, Memoir & Personal Journey Category
Gold Award, 2020 Benjamin Franklin Awards, Travel Category

Most travel narratives are written by superb travelers: individuals who crave adventure, laugh in the face of danger, and rapidly integrate into foreign cultures. However, what about someone who is paranoid about travelers' diarrhea, incapable of speaking a foreign tongue, and hates not only flying but driving, cycling, motor-biking, and sometimes walking in the full sun?

In Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac, award-winning writer Jeremy Hance chronicles his hilarious and inspiring adventures as he reconciles his traveling career as an environmental journalist with his severe OCD and anxiety.

At the age of twenty-six, after months of visiting doctors, convinced he was dying from whatever disease his brain dreamed up the night before, Hance was diagnosed with OCD. The good news was that he wasn't dying; the bad news was that OCD made him a really bad traveler—sometimes just making it to baggage claim was a win.

Yet, Hance hauls his baggage from the airport and beyond. He takes readers on an armchair trek to some of the most remote corners of the world, from Kenya, where hippos clip the grass and baboons steal film, to Borneo, where macaques raid balconies and the last male Bornean rhino sings, to Guyana, where bats dive-bomb his head as he eats dinner with his partner and flesh-eating ants hide in their pants and their drunk guide leaves them stranded in the rainforest canopy.

Hance's journey is filled with humor, resilience, and a deep appreciation for the beauty of the natural world. He shares his struggles with OCD and anxiety, offering insights into the challenges and rewards of traveling with mental illness. His story is a testament to the power of determination and the importance of embracing one's passions, even in the face of adversity.

In conclusion, Baggage: Confessions of a Globe-Trotting Hypochondriac is a must-read for anyone who loves travel, adventure, and the human spirit. Jeremy Hance's hilarious and inspiring journey will leave readers laughing, crying, and feeling inspired to embrace their own fears and pursue their dreams, no matter how daunting they may seem.

Weight: 444g
Dimension: 177 x 228 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780757322068