It's only the Himalayas: Book review

If you love travelling or even if you’ve never been outside of your own country, you’ll still love this book:

It’s only the Himalayas by S. Bedford

*Full disclosure, I was given a free copy of this book in order to review it. This post contains affiliate links, which are all clearly marked, these provide me with a small commission at no extra cost to you*

It’s only the Himalayas: Book Review

Following Sue’s year travelling through Southern Africa, Nepal, Tibet, India and Southeast Asia, this book is a hilarious backpacker account.

Sue travelled with her friend Sara, who had gotten the travel bug after a summer backpacking through Europe. One of the best quotes I read was about the doubts

‘Jean (Sara’s mum) was right – we were going to die. Well, I was going to die, Sara could run faster than me, so she might live.’

All normal thoughts of course, when taking that giant step to go travelling for months!

Sue at Angkor Wat in Cambodia

I enjoyed reading about their overland truck tour across Southern Africa, just like my one week safari in Kenya and Tanzania ‘It’s not a bus, it’s a truck’ is something you’ll hear plenty of times!

Sue and Sara actually took their dads trekking with them in Nepal, managing to trek to the Annapurna Base Camp despite being the least prepared people to ever attempt the trek, oh and a bout of food poisoning along the way….

At Annapurna Base Camp with her Dad, their laid back attitude to preparing for the trek is the inspiration for the book’s title.

The verdict:

The book is hilariously written and really gives me travel lust to get back out there! Not only do I feel I could totally conquer the Annapurna trek, but I really want to go sailing in the Philippines. Sue’s description of the ocean there as

‘brilliantly teal with waves glittering like the sequins on a ladyboy’s miniskirt’

is both evocative, and also makes me smile.

Sue has since travelled a lot more and it was her ambition to get this book – her first – published before her 30th birthday, which she managed to achieve by 12 days!

I devoured the book in 3 nights, giggling a lot as I read. If you need some travel inspiration you should definitely read this book! I was given an electronic copy to review for free and you can find it on amazon here: It’s Only the Himalayas By S. Bedford [affiliate link]