OUT NOW – the definitive written account of the Itchy Feet Overland project.
A new memoir, jam packed with the rip-roaring tales of the dramatic birth and development of our project to drive around the world!
Order here ….
‘Blood, Sweat and Gears’.
An unreliable record of a 21st Century midlife crisis
Have you every wondered what it would be like to leave the chaos and anxiety of modern life behind, jump into your Land Rover, and head off into the sunset? A life permanently spent on the road, as free as a bird… Well, wonder no more, as you can now read this incredible and inspirational new memoir from Nigel Betts, the man behind Itchy Feet Overland. One of the few to attempt to live a life that so many can only dream of.
A rollercoaster ride of Formula One, fractured mental health and overlanding, with a bit of Buddhism thrown in for good measure. A Blueprint for a different way of living.
Set against the backdrop of the devastating fallout of a global pandemic, the main theme of the book is the complex practicalities of making the largest life change imaginable, interwoven with the vitally important issue of men’s mental health. This book appeals to this zeitgeist, in that it seeks to present the possibility of a very different way of living, as a potential antidote to the modern plague of overwork and male anxiety.
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Premise of the book
Can spiritual enlightenment be found behind the wheel of a very old Land Rover Defender?
This is the extraordinary story of a very ordinary man, who sets out to find out, in what soon becomes, one of the world’s longest midlife crises. Nigel Betts, burnt out Manager from the pressure cooker world of Formula One motor racing, is wracked with severe anxiety and depression. Spiritually and emotionally adrift, he finds solace in Buddhist teachings and within his wild, crazy dreams of a very different life. A whole new life as a full time overland traveller, endlessly circumnavigating the world in his Land Rover.
Can he convince his family to abandon everything, and sink it all into this crazy project to drive around the world?
The dream turns into 3 long years of blood, sweat and tears, to get to the starting line and their attempt to drive from Alaska to Argentina in their Land Rover Defender. Epic dramas and pandemics ensue. Calamities, both medical and mechanical. Bouts of crippling self-doubt and some bowel rotating anxiety… These years are vividly and self-deprecatingly retold within the chapters of the book. From what pressures drove the mental illness, to how it was ultimately overcome due to a life transforming change of direction. The book is a humorous, engaging, and ultimately inspirational true story, packed with all the drama and frustration of building an overland vehicle and battling mental illness, whilst the whole world seems to be conspiring against him.
This book delivers, in an accessible and entertaining way, the stark realities of an attempt to live a very different way of life. It details both the many practicalities of beginning a whole new life as a permanent vehicle-dependant overland traveller, whilst also interweaving many simple, practical steps that all men can take to improve their own day to day mental health. It’ll also appeal to dreamers and travel junkies alike, there is something for everyone inside these 300+ fully illustrated pages!
Either way, if you do intend on a life less ordinary, once you’ve read this rip-roaring story, you can’t say that I didn’t warn you!
A brief extract from the Book
