Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, and Amanda Pressner, 2010
I chose this book as a goodbye gift to give my two best friends at home before I left for Argentina, with the intention of each of us taking turns reading it and then sending it to the next person. However, in my rush to catch our goodbye sushi date, I left it at home and it became my responsibility to complete the first read-through.
The Lost Girls is a travel memoir written by three women in their late twenties who left everything–most importantly their careers and boyfriends–to put their lives on hold for a year and travel the world. They called themselves the "Lost Girls" because all three of them were searching for something: for career guidance, for love, or for adventure, and the things that they discover along the journey about themselves and about each other change their lives forever.
It's pretty cliché–I know–but it took me on an incredible journey and sparked so many new destination ideas for me. The memoir takes place throughout South America, Africa, Asia, and Australia, and documents the adventures and misadventures of these three career-driven young New Yorkers. Their year on the road takes them through a roller coaster of highs and lows, forcing them to roll with the punches and experience completely foreign places while also struggling to maintain jobs and relationships back home.
However, one main theme of the book that deterred me occasionally was love. It was always about finding a man, keeping a man… etc. Initially, the purpose of the trip appeared to be about female independence, but throughout the book undertones of "ulterior motives" emerged and I couldn't help but shake the feeling that the round-the-world trip wasn't for self-discovery as much as it was for the discovery of romance, and a heavy topic discussed amongst the girls was whether or not they would find a husband and start a family before the nearing 30th birthdays, and whether or not this trip was a bad idea by putting that aspect of their lives on hold. (Frequent eye-rolls occurred during these passages).
Overall, I really enjoyed this true story of adventure and of three female friends who remind me surprisingly of myself and my two best friends at home. It is a great book to lift your spirits, make you smile, and get you inspired for your next adventure with your amigas.