On reflection Gloria realized she had some lucky escapes. She passed through Iran and Afghanistan just months before the troubles began and the murder of the odd Westerner went unnoticed. She came close to being raped in Morocco and in various other places where women are second class citizens. She puts it down to luck and the fact that she was good at ‘smelling a rat’.
The names of the countries visited are a magic carpet ride – Easter Island, Tahiti, Laos, Papua New Guinea. She has stroked tigers in Thailand and walked with the lions in Zimbabwe. Gloria keeps us on the run as she describes her journeys around the globe at a fast-moving pace, barely allowing us time to catch our breath before moving on to the next destination. Gloria will not die wondering about how other people live. As a nurse she has a lot of empathy with people from different parts of the globe. The descriptions of Russia in the 1970’s makes one realize how much life has changed over the years. She revisits several countries and is able to make the comparison, not always favourable.
Gloria believes that the fact that she speaks fluent French and Spanish and has a definite ear for languages has helped her more than anything to get into the other person’s skin and make friends easily. She claims that to speak another language is to become another person. Although Gloria has been to some faraway places with strange-sounding names, she keeps her feet firmly on the ground and takes us through her adventures with humour. A rollicking, rip-roaring adventure.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT GLORIA
gloriaburley@live.com