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Reviewed by Stephen Christopher for Readers' Favorite
The memoir opens with Jim Jensen in a dangerous hitchhiking incident; if he’d said or done one wrong thing, he could have been killed. This hitchhiking mishap sets the reader up for the type of adventures he has on his six-year adventure around the world. In the first year, he travels from Miami, Florida, to Sydney, Australia, via the Caribbean, the Panama Canal, and the Pacific Ocean. He spent his next year in Sydney before taking 8 months to cross Australia from the southeast to Darwin in the central north, followed by a 3-month trip from Bali to my current hometown of Bangkok, where he spent the rest of his third year. And just like I did at first, he taught English to make enough money to live. Planning to travel overland to Europe, he began in India, went through Nepal and the Middle East to Turkey, and spent time in Germany and Italy, where his mum flew in for a visit (in the second-to-last chapter, you find out why this is so significant). Alone again, he headed to Egypt and Israel. Finally, he went back to Germany to make enough money to get him home. Along the way, he falls in and out of love, almost dies multiple times, and has some of the most incredible adventures imaginable. Intrigued? Read Around the World on a Dime and a Prayer.
Despite being well-travelled myself, what I enjoyed most were the destinations that Jim Jensen visited that are still on my bucket list. For each destination, Jim gives you the history of the place, its current social and economic status, and what he knows of it now, 40–50 years later. Jim has a wonderful way of telling a story, so even though he’s (at times) fighting for his life, the reader can’t help but chuckle at the way the events unfold. Part travel memoir, part world and religious history, there’s a lot to learn from Around the World on a Dime and a Prayer, and I feel more educated for having read it. And thank you, Jim, for explaining to me what the Australian song 'Waltzing Matilda' is really about. This book is for anyone who yearns to travel, and others who are keen to get some compact world history. A reader who has philosophical questions about any of the world’s religions may find the answers to those between these pages, too.
