Colin Angus

There are several different subject categories in which I could put Rowed Trip: adventure, boating, bicycling, travel, culture, or even marriage to name a few, because all of these subjects are covered in Colin and Julie's account of their journey from Scotland to Syria. Everything about their trip is either informative or funny but always entertaining. To start from the beginning, Colin's ancestors are from Scotland while Julie's are from Syria. While studying a map (I forgot why) they realized there are various waterways the entire distance between their homeland countries. As seasoned adventure travelers they asked themselves wouldn't it be fun to travel the entire distance by boat? Both Colin and Julie have considerable experience in this area and have written books about it. As newlyweds, married less than a year, what better way to break in a marriage?
To be fair, in actuality Rowed Trip is a misnomer. The entire trip wasn't by oar as the subtitle suggests. There were miles traveled by ingenious bicycles and trailers as well. Due to complicated lock systems most of France was traversed by bike, to name one instance. Because Colin and Julie each take turns writing the chapters their individually personalities reveal themselves. Colin's style of writing is more descriptive of the surroundings while Julie has more introspective emotion. Both narratives are didactic at times. It was interesting to read how they handled navigating the locks in each country (which seems to be one of their biggest challenges besides getting their trailer stolen and blown bike tires).
All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed Rowed Trip and breaking with the Lust rules, I probably will research Colin and Julie's other books not on my list.… (mere)

I am not a traveler but I love reading about people who do. Actually, I'm interested in people who are adventurers. It starts out as a buddy book but the partnership quickly falls apart when Tim, the partner, romances Yulia the Siberian guide. Colin asks his girlfriend to join him from Moscow to Lisbon and from there, an ocean crossing complete with two hurricanes, two tropical storms and one crammed rowboat. The second half of the trip and the book is slightly romantic as Colin finds out that Juile really is his soul mate and better half.

I wasn't going to read this book but I keep getting drawn in by people who choose to put themselves in peril and hardship. Colin also wrote a book about his Amazon adventure. He also wrote, "Lost in Mongolia" but it isn't in the library collections.… (mere)