Author Wendy Dale

Just when gainfully employed 20-something Wendy Dale thinks she can’t take another moment of corporate tedium, her parents impulsively sell everything they own and move to Honduras with no plan. And then things get interesting. What begins as a harmless family visit explodes into an around-the-world adventure that finds Dale navigating some of the world’s most dangerous corners, with no intention of running for cover.

But while her hair-raising trek through Beirut, or her black-market shopping spree in Cuba might be chalked up to wacky, worthwhile life experiences, it’s in Costa Rica that things begin to spin out of control — when Dale falls in love with a man imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. "I like to think that I’m a typical traveler, that my idea of a good trip is pretty much the same as the next guy’s," writes Dale. But as this edgy, honest and unforgettable narrative unfolds, she discovers that a successful "vacation" — much like that elusive thing, happiness — can be created in the most unlikely places on earth.

Wendy Dale is the co-writer of the Emmy-nominated television feature, The New Adventures of Mother Goose. She lives in Los Angeles.