Jupiter's Travels

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They met Ted Simon, and enjoyed an afternoon of story-swapping; my dad said this book made him want to take off across the world again. Knowing my own taste for travel and the edgy, dangerous, or uncomfortable experience, my dad lent me his signed copy of this book as a way of sharing something he cares about. He makes a few wonderful insights but he spends far too many words fussing over his bike and his predicament at different stages in his journey. I wasn't too keen on Ted Simon's style of writing, and at times I found his opinions rather off putting.

Listen to our other motorcycle podcasts: ARR RAW - Monthly roundtable talks about motorcycle travel.Reviewed as part of my ongoing saga to write a review for every book I've read and logged on GR. (Written March 2019) Every separation gives a foretaste of death - and every reunion a foretaste of resurrection.' I'm pretty sure that Schopenhauer never rode a motorcycle, but those sentiments could easily be applied to Ted Simon and his epic revisiting of a round-the-world journey he did in 1973.

But at some point descriptions of dresses that held "breasts up for [his] inspection" and calling a woman a "silly cow" really spoiled my enjoyment of the book. In Kenya, the isolation and constant battering his ageing body is taking start to bite and it's clear that the cherished memories of a quarter of a century ago are being slowly, irrevocably, violated. Exhausted and in the middle of a vast plain, he hits a patch of mud and his bike topples over. 'For the first time in my life, I hear the loud snap of a bone breaking,' he writes. 'I put my right foot down, only to see it flop over uselessly.'

On to the book. What a boring, self-indulgent novel. Ol' Ted decides to go slummin' through the third world in some misguided attempt to test himself. Once underway, his special brand of bitter negativity slowly swallows every paragraph. His suspicions and mistrust permeate all of his interactions. The countries flow by as little more than overblown customs headaches. The rare happy moments end with a caveat. As much as you'd think the trip should be the focus, it's only ever about the author.

In the early 1970s Ted Simon set off alone on his Triumph motorcycle, Jupiter, to ride around the world. He was gone 4 years and, in an age before mobile phones or cheap flights home, was often out of touch for worryingly long periods. His book, first published in 1979, is a particular favourite of mine. In the end, while I appreciate the fact that traveling in the physical world means also undergoing an inner journey, I would have appreciated a little less navel-gazing, and a little more effort towards showing both positive and negative sides of each place. Oh tell me please, how does it go, the triple jump?" She pro nounced it tripee-el She had a way of pleading for things in her Brazilian English to make you understand that they were matters simultaneously of no consequence and of life and death. You could refuse, and nothing would be changed; or you could give, and earn undying gratitude. It was a great gift, which she had won by long effort and sorrow and laughter. It was the humorous residue of cravings which had once been corrosive enough to etch her face. We are not always kind to our foreigners and it is a sobering experience to have the tables turned." p. 50 It's all in the timing. Something can be profound in a certain instance of life, and banal the next. The view, you see, changes from where you are standing. 'Jupiter' was profound for me, and worthy merely for the sheer scope of his travels. However, it was elevated to something more than that for me because I had been there. In so many of the places he described, I had a vision of my own time there. And generally they lined up. He traveled like the traveler I wished to be. Viewed life in the way I wished to view it.I read this pretty slowly, and found it enjoyable. I may not have enjoyed it so much if I had read it constantly and at my normal pace.

My appointment with destiny was approaching. Raj's father was getting ready to leave for his office in Patna. I wandered through supermarkets and along 'Shopping Malls' disgusted and obsessed by the naked drive to sell and consume frivolities. Ewen McGregor: Hi I'm multi award winning Actor about town Ewan McGregor. I've got a totally original idea for a TV show. We follow him through Europe and into north Africa, retracing his original route. Along the way, he looks for the characters who'd been cast in his first trip; the need for reunions seems great. Unsurprisingly, he finds them either gone or, more often, dead. Sometimes, he finds a link to them, only to learn of lives blighted by misfortune and dreams unfulfilled. In 2001, I decided to retrace my route from Jupiter’s Travels. I’d been told I would be mad to do it at 70, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Memories of people and places were floating through my mind, and I wanted to see how things had changed. The story of that second journey became the basis of my sixth book, Dreaming of Jupiter.

Reason for this review is I find some description of the places and people a little offensive and disrespectful, stereotyping a culture and objectifying women. Like do we really need to know he can see the breasts under the robe? Is that all he sees when he sees women? I mean the description of the women at one point was ‘they cover their mouths and he could see breasts’. I really don't know," I said. `Why? What's fascinating you?" She had asked about the triple jump once before, I remembered, in Rio. Action has freed me from self-consciousness, and I am becoming a stranger to my own appearance. It is a very satisfying feeling. I no longer think of people seeing me as I see myself in a mirror. Instead I imagine that people can see directly into my soul." p. 77 His mention of currencies has no meaning whatsoever, especially 40 years later. You should always describe something in the form of value. I learned this from Issac Asimov who wrote that a robot cost two weeks of pay. That will always have meaning. There is more to this man's journey than riding a motorcycle. This guy is a man of the mind. While riding atop his Triumph, he thinks a lot about the subconscious mind. On his journey on a ship through the Atlantic, from Africa, to Brazil, he mentions he read a book by Jung and his thinking got even more complex and dark as he rode through South and Central America. He shares his thoughts with his readers and takes them through the glories and turmoils of his own mind. I thought this book was good, he allowed me to get into his head and I thought about this book frequently when I wasn't reading it.