Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman by Alice Steinbach

Oh, a surprise! I loved it! I’ve been in the *I want to join the Peace Corps* mood lately and I think this book helped to nurture my sense of adventure.

“A lesson I hoped to learn in the months ahead: how to stop rushing from place to place, always looking ahead to the next thing while the moment in front of me slipped away unnoticed.”

“What adds up to a life is nothing more than the accumulation of small daily moments.”

“Always in the big woods when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place there will be, along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the Unknown, and it is your first bond with the wilderness you are going into.”

“The unexpectedness of life, waiting round every corner, catches even wise women unawares. To avoid corners altogether is, after all, to refuse to live.”

“All serious daring starts from within.” Eudora Welty