Trials & Tea Ceremonies is here — and it became a bestseller
A love story disguised as a travel memoir. Or perhaps the other way around. It is the story of the year Basho and Cesca quit their jobs, packed two rucksacks, and set off across twelve countries to test the world, and each other. To our amazement, readers took it to the top of the Amazon charts.
Ever had that nagging “Is this it?” doubt? The job, the routine, the quiet erosion of evenings. Staring down thirty-something complacency, with our marriage fraying under unspoken strains, we did the mad thing. We quit, packed two rucksacks, and set off for a year, from the storms of Kangaroo Island to the temples of Kyoto, chasing the question of whether there might be a better way to live.
What follows is funny, honest, and quietly profound: alpacas and giant spiders, third-class trains and Zen gardens, food poisoning in Goa and fireworks in Vietnam. But the real journey was the one between the two of us, laid raw on the road and healing in unexpected ways. It is a book about leaving everything behind, only to find that what truly matters was sitting right next to you all along.
“This book reminded me why we travel: not for the postcard moments, but for the mishaps, characters, and revelations along the way.”
