About the Book
Bestselling author Bill Arnott has done it again — he’s gone “viking”! — voyaging around the world by foot, bus, train, boat, and a couple of questionable planes.
Gone Viking II features a series of remarkable excursions occuring over a number of years — before, during, and after the voyages recounted in Gone Viking: A Travel Saga. All of these journeys are now reflected in a changed world in which travel restrictions have become our new normal and many adventurers find themselves retracing previous trips through the pages of their personal notebooks and travel diaries. From first-hand encounters, vividly shared experience, and well-worn personal journals, readers can travel alongside this fun-loving wanderer in the footsteps of history’s greatest explorers, make quirky new friends, find hidden treasures, and discover surprisingly familiar destinations from the comfort of their favourite armchair.
With an inquisitive eye, poetic prose, and a comedian’s take on nearly everything, Bill Arnott explores the world with insight and humour. Join this award-winning author for another travel saga, voyaging across the Americas, Europe, Asia, and Oceania by foot, bus, train, boat, and a couple of questionable planes.
Reviews
“A perfect book for the armchair explorer. A true delight from a talented travel writer.” —John MacFarlane, author of Around the World in a Dugout Canoe
“Gone Viking II is a tale so infused with adrenaline-charged exhilaration, it will leave the reader breathless. This book of travels is fuelled by action, humour and unbridled enthusiasm.” —Edythe Anstey Hanen, author of Nine Birds Singing
“Bill is a first-rate storyteller, and supremely funny. You won’t want to travel with anyone else.” —Lorette C. Luzajic, editor of The Ekphrastic Review
“An engaging, deliciously irreverent and encompassing read.” —Barbara Black, author of Music from a Strange Planet
“A multi-sensory trip with laugh-aloud moments and the soulful variety of insights and observations gained only from the road. A wholehearted delight!” —Linda Quennec, author of ABF Winner, Fishing for Birds
“Arnott’s latest saga transports us to other worlds with typical finesse, blending the philosophical, historical and geological with healthy doses of humour.” —Patricia Sandberg, award-winning author of Sun Dogs and Yellowcake
“Bill writes like a poet and dares like an adventurer: paddling white water, climbing mountains and enduring torrential rains and rough seas, and his ability to capture characters is uncanny.” —Jeanne Ainslie, author of Caribbean Moon
“In Gone Viking II, Bill Arnott takes the reader on an armchair odyssey literally across the map.” —Kate Bird, author of Vancouver in the Seventies
Gone Viking II is brimming with spirited characters, salty air, tidbits of trivia and a dose of mischief. Packed with red sand, shark sightings, volcanic eruptions and pub recommendations, Arnott’s writing is so vivid you’ll feel like a stowaway in his backpack.” —Anna Byrne, author of Seven Year Summer