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 New travel memoir about a three-month journey around the world explores identity and how one fits into history and the global landscape.

 Eva Rottenanger releases

Going Solo: A Travel Memoir in Search of Meaning, Belonging and Identity

    SYDNEY – “Every outward journey takes us inward to help us define who we are.” In this evocative journey around the world, Eva Rottenanger combines an up-close-and-personal familiarity with the day-to-day realities of traveling with insightful observations on expat living that will have readers itching to hit the road with new-found confidence. “By inviting a deeper contemplation of the social, historical and spiritual similarities and contrasts discovered along the way, the memoir shows travel adding meaning to life by helping us define our values and our place in the world.” 

    As a German-born Australian, the author is passionate about exploring how the stories of cultures, history, politics, and people’s self-knowledge contribute to their sense of belonging and influence their community engagement. In 40 years of traveling, she has hung her hat in 200 places on five continents and experienced living as an expatriate in China, France, Thailand, Vietnam, and the USA. Growing up as an immigrant, the author’s sense of belonging was ever challenged, making her question her national identity. Finding answers meant leaving home to explore the world. 

    She says, “I wrote “Going Solo: A Travel Memoir in Search of Meaning, Belonging and Identity to not only take readers by the hand to create a sense of familiarity with the travel experience, but also to periodically invite them to sit and contemplate the 'meaning' of what they observe through my eyes: what it means to be part of history, a global citizen and a searcher for belonging and identity.” The author shows how experiencing unfamiliar social and political environments — some with questionable interpretations of freedom, justice, and human rights — helped define her identity by bringing her beliefs and values into focus. The memoir ends in a series of meditations on lessons learnt on the road and the subsequent transformation travel encourages in the process of learning who one really is. “Decades of observations highlight the often-intangible rewards of exploring the unknown, and travel tips at the end of the book complete the story,” she says.

    When asked what she wants readers to take away from the book, she answers, “An exciting anticipation of traveling solo and the courage to do so. Readers will 'feel' as though they have made the journey with me, so the unknown will appear familiar and allay their fears. They will also have been invited to contemplate, agree or disagree with the memoir's interpretations of pertinent issues. Travelers, she found, share traits such as openness to new ideas, curiosity, tolerance, and compassion — she aims to belong to that tribe. Future travelers may engage more deeply, be more compassionate, inquire more deeply and notice more details around them because they have read this book.”

Available through the author’s website: https://www.evarottenanger.com

and at Amazon, Barnes & Noble and most online stores 

Hardcover | 6 x 9in | 466 pages | ISBN 9781669830733.   

Softcover | 6 x 9in | 466 pages | ISBN 9781669830726

E-Book | 466 pages | ISBN 9781669830719

 About the Author

    With a master’s degree in linguistics and diplomas in teaching and art, Eva Rottenanger has worked as a teacher at both tertiary and secondary level, copy editor, publicist, writer and artist. Since 2007, she has gone solo, traveling light; a laptop, camera, and water filter take priority over multiple outfits. She describes herself as “a globe-trotting boomer whose curiosity about the world rests only mid-afternoon – for good coffee and a chocolate brownie.”