“Elliot Hester tells funny and sometimes harrowing stories. Wrapped up in the core of each tale is some bit of illumination: about other countries and other people, about travelers and dreams. The man has no permanent home and travels incessantly, a world citizen adrift in a cross-cultural maze, frequently bewildered but curiously at ‘home' in the oddest places. He's one of my travel heroes.” —Tim Cahill, author of Lost in My Own Backyard and Jaguars Ripped My Flesh

“Continental Drifter is travel beyond the brochure---a real look at the places we go but stripped of the hype and pretty pictures. What remains, under Elliott Hester’s careful telling, are stories that are far more compelling than the sanitized-for-our-protection versions of reality that often pass for travel writing. This is the real deal, refreshing but no less enticing.” —Catharine Hamm, travel editor, Los Angeles Times

“The unexpurgated version of Elliott Hester's around-the-world journey, with all the good parts we couldn't print in the newspaper.” —Randy Curwen, travel editor, Chicago Tribune

“When it comes to travel, and for that matter, life itself, one of the worst five letter words is…plans. Elliott Hester is the personification of travel without plans … wild adventures, great stories, and some important lessons for even the most sophisticated travelers.” —Peter Greenberg, travel editor, NBC’s Today Show