No Baggage: A Minimalist Tale of Love and Wandering

I received a copy of No Baggage by Clara Bensen from its publishers, via NetGalley, in exchange for my honest review.

I was intrigued by the unusual premise of No Baggage - a young American woman takes off on a three-week trip across Europe with pretty much nothing other than a credit card, a toothbrush and the clothes she stands up in. And in the company of a man she met about a month beforehand via a dating website. What could possibly go wrong?!

Using the course of the three week journey as her book's skeleton, Bensen describes her burgeoning relationship with Jeff, the dating website find; the mental health issues that had put her life on hold for most of the previous couple of years; her close-knit family and Austin, Texas lifestyle; and a little about the cities she visits during the whistle-stop tour. While I think I would have liked more detail about the journey itself, I was unexpectedly fascinated by Bensen's candid discussion of her mental health - the problems she had had, their causes, and her post-recovery outlook. It is an odd facet of our society that allows physical ailments to discussed easily and openly, but still insists that mental ailments be hidden away. It must have taken a lot of courage to write this and she has done an excellent job of explaining her illness.

I was less taken with the repeated attempts to define and categorise her new relationship although the 'what are we' tension did lead to some of the more entertaining (for the reader at least!) moments. I was interested in Bensen's thoughts on places that I too have visited - Austin, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh - and now have more must-sees on my future travel list - Istanbul, Sarajevo. The Couchsurfing website - a way to get accommodation in local people's homes - was a new notion to me and sounds like a wonderful idea for independent travellers. In return I offer a find of my own for women travellers - get a mooncup. Bensen's period tribulations are funny in hindsight in a been-there-too kind of a way.

I enjoyed Bensen's easy-going writing style and would be interested to read more of her later travels. The couchsurfing particularly allows for a different view from the standard tourist angle and I loved the idea of leaving practically every arrangement to chance although I am not sure I could ever be brave enough to travel like that myself.