Meet Me in Cairo - Kerr, Jim

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Résumé :
In 1964 best friends Jim Kerr and Blair Campbell left their sheltered life in small-town British Columbia to explore the world together. Short on cash but high on youthful hubris, they made their way across North America, through Europe, North Africa and the Middle East-all on just over two dollars a day. Offering a rare first-hand account of historical moments including post-independence Algeria, pre-1967 War Jerusalem and a divided Berlin, Meet Me in Cairo invites you to join two ragtag hitchhikers on the journey of a lifetime. . . . 264 days later - having taken 1,459 rides; sold their blood twice for survival money; slept in homes of distant family relations and pen pals, an orphanage, boats, jails, seedy hostels and hotels; and been faced with situations that could have had them arrested (or worse), all on only dollars2.06 per day - neither [Kerr nor Campbell] are the same person that left home. Meet Me in Cairo has captured this most popular rite of passage for young people of North America in the '60s . . . . It is a story of self- discovery and of coming of age at a time when doing so in this way was a rebellion against the status quo . . . . [It] is the story of two young people exploring a world of possibilities they never knew existed . . . and through it all uncovering meaning and potential in their own lives. - Excerpt from foreword by Ray Chatelin, award-winning travel writer, author of The Seattle and Vancouver Book: A Complete Guide

Biographie:
Jim Kerr was born in 1945 and was brought up in Kelowna, BC. He attended the University of British Columbia out of high school and dropped out after his first year to hitchhike through Europe and North Africa with his best friend, Blair Campbell. Soon after, Jim returned to earn an arts degree in economics at UBC after discovering his knack for quick calculations at currency-exchange booths over the course of his journey. He has lived in Vancouver, BC, ever since and enjoys golfing and travel during his retirement after a successful career as a partner in a national chartered accounting firm. After many years boring his close friends and family with countless stories of his epic voyage, he committed to writing Meet Me in Cairo at their behest. Jim is married to his wife, Kelly, and has three daughters and one son. He currently spends a quarter of the year travelling around the world, often arranging adventure bike tours with friends to far-flung places such as Chile and Myanmar.