With his travel epic Skimming the Surface, author Justin Grinstead establishes him as the Bill Bryson of Millenials.
Grinstead's predicament at the start of his narrative is an all too familiar one for members of our generation--after four high flying years (literally in the case of this former hurdles champion) studying for an undergraduate degree in history, he's found crushing disillusionment in his first tentative steps in the Real World. Apparently, even a Harvard degree isn't enough to secure gainful employment in a post-financial crisis job market. After two years of underemployment--which occurred despite making his resume rain all over the US and Canada--he decides to pull himself out of the life rut he's found himself in by planning a round-the-world adventure, but faces three constraints: he has little savings; his mom made an emotional plea to be home in time for next Christmas; and in the spirit of explorers past, he wants to visit five continents without resorting to air travel.
Grinstead taps into his network of international connections from home and Harvard, and charts a course that proves to be equal parts masochistic, harrowing, and utter bliss. Through adventures and misadventures alike, the young author captures the zeitgeist of the international backpacker scene, familiar to all those who've stayed in a hostel or know the term 'couchsurfing' can be a proper noun. His playful, sarcastic, and often self-effacing humor adds the Bryson-esque flair to time spent as a migrant laborer in New Zealand, hitchhiking through rain storms in Eastern Europe, and suffering through multi-day, bottom-tier economy class rides on overstuffed Indonesian ferries.
It was a book that I couldn't put down and having finished it I'm sure my daydreaming in 2018 will be largely mapping out a transcontinental traverse of my own. While the book does an admirable job exploring new takes on travel-relevant themes from relying on the kindness of strangers in the 21st century to the impacts of mass cross-continental tourism, my only wish is that he devoted a few more pages to these ruminations. That and an epilogue discussing the gainful employment he eventually found at journey's end!
Nonetheless, Skimming the Surface is a monument to youthful explorations and Type II fun. A copy should sit on the shelf of every backpacker's book exchange from Uruguay to Uluru!
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Archie M
Endless entertaining tales, highly enjoyable
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 1, 2018