Review: Braving the World by Pam Saylor

A dynamic couple decide to make retirement a gateway to shared overseas adventures in Braving the World: Adventures in Travel and Retirement by Pam Saylor.

This engaging memoir covers all the highs and lows of an ambitious stay abroad. Pam and her husband Dave each had areas of expertise and both were highly detail-oriented, which would be crucial to the year-long escape they envisioned, the “bel sogno,” the beautiful dream: a year in Italy, half in Rome, half in Venice. Before they could leave they had to rent out their home, find a year-long dog sitter, sell their cars, store their belongings, get visas and permits, and, for Pam, a Type 1 diabetic, investigate ways to purchase or receive insulin in Europe – illustrating the types of challenges one may face when making such a big life change.

A few months before departure, it seemed their plans had come to a standstill: the visas needed for a six-month stay were not, for some reason, being issued, so the first major re-planning took place. 3-month visas were available almost everywhere, so they would split the year into four blocks – Rome, Croatia, London, and Venice. With four suitcases and a cooler filled with insulin, Pam says, with typical wry humor, “We held hands and walked over the cliff.”

Everywhere they stayed for a three-month sojourn, and on every jaunt to places beyond, the couple had a combination of enjoyable, enlightening experiences and frustrations galore. VISA cards didn’t work, and then they did, ATMs likewise, phones the same. They were determined, though, to persist in their dream to truly imbibe the cultures, so they also found marvelous pluses: European eggs, so much tastier than those back home, carbonara, an Italian specialty for which Pam provides a recipe, and pizza that simply had more flavor when made and served in Italy. Saylor describes all of these moments with great poetic enthusiasm, so you feel her discoveries along with her.

One can feel Saylor’s passion for travel coming off the pages – she paints each moment well, whether it’s the food, the sites, or local color, which is so crucial for a travel memoir. Even the downsides are painted with a similar enthusiasm, as she never loses her optimism. The couple cherish the memory of Oktoberfest in Munich, and learned a great deal about third world countries on a short trip to Egypt. In Croatia they battled with a language in which “gdje” was a word, but conversed comfortably with many locals in English. There was a distressing hospital visit in England though their time in London was a highlight, and Venice was all that Pam remembered from a visit there in her youth. Returning, there were expected readjustments, and the barrier of Covid keeping them sequestered when they would rather have assayed another travel adventure.

All told, the book works well either as a travel fantasy for those staying at home, or a kind of manual for those looking to do the same – they made mistakes so you don’t have to. What binds it all together is Saylor’s charming voice. She has chronicled her travels with both verve and frankness, clearly wishing to help others who might have similar journeys in mind. Helpfully, she shares names of agencies and websites that offer factual data as well as answers from experiences of other wanderers. Her book succeeds in conveying a sense of the possibility about discovering the big wide world, along with the amusing and sometimes harrowing occurrences she and David faced throughout their time out of the country.

Saylor is proud that, unlike typical tourists, they “stopped, focused, settled in, explored and navigated the backroads.” She chronicles her journey with both wit and insight, offering an endearing and informative peek into traveling abroad.