INTERVIEWS

ADVENTURES OF A CONTINENTAL DRIFTER

San Francisco Chronicle
Travel / September 4, 2005
by John Flinn

'Continental drifter' sells it all for a life on the road
At one time or another, perhaps on the bus ride from that heartbreakingly perfect beach bungalow to the airport, the thought must have tempted you: What if I didn't go home?

You probably started calculating: If I sold everything, I could stay out here on the road for years, drifting from one idyllic destination to the next, from one adventure to another, following my whims around the globe. And then, when the bus got to the airport, you snapped out of your reverie and boarded the plane for home.

Elliott Hester never let go of the fantasy. In the fall of 2002 he set off on an 18-month, around-the-world adventure. But instead of coming home, as he originally planned, he cashed in the return ticket and has been on the road ever since, living as, he calls it, a "continental drifter."

Full interview

Radar Online
September 21, 2005
by Emma Garman

FREQUENT FLYER
Elliott Hester quit his job, sold all his possessions and spent three years wandering around the world. Jealous?

When, like many airline employees after 9/11, Elliott Hester was offered a leave of absence from his job as a flight attendant, he happily accepted. Between cuts in pay and benefits and an increasing number of disgruntled passengers crammed onto every flight, the job was no longer much fun. So Hester turned in his wings, gave up his Miami apartment, sold his possessions, and took to the road. And that’s where he’s been ever since.

For the last few years Hester has been drifting from country to country, from the relative comfort and safety of Europe (where the Kangol-clad traveler is occasionally mistaken for Samuel L. Jackson) to more exotic locales, such as South America, where he discovered that, yes, eating coca leaves in the jungle does get you high. In his brand new book, Adventures of a Continental Drifter: An Around-the-World Excursion into Weirdness, Danger, Lust, and the Perils of Street Food, Hester describes his wild experiences visiting more than 50 destinations in 22 countries on six continents. Radar Online caught up with him in the middle of his national book tour.

Full interview

Sun Post (Miami)
September 22, 2005
By Omar Sommereyns
Staff Writer

Ex-Beach Resident Tells How He Left His Job, Ditched His Stuff and Traveled the World
Picture this: You’re a fairly trusting American on vacation in Bangkok and you’ve been lured into a grimy strip joint, where you sit at the bar, minding your own business, and order a beer. Within a few seconds, you’re thinking, you don’t belong here. You should know better. The dancers are emaciated and sleazy; the patrons and bartender all look slimy. When you order your bill after just one drink, a flagrantly inflated check arrives. You complain but, suddenly, you’ve got three Thai ex-boxers standing in front of you and ready to knock you out.
 
Another scenario: You’re on a bus in Tahiti – Michael Jackson is playing on the speakers; the driver up front is smoking a big fat spliff. The only other passengers are several enormous, 250-pound transvestites with “gargantuan butts,” resembling a twisted version of Gauguin’s Tahitian women. Problem is, one of them can’t get her (his?) eyes off you and seems to have an indomitable urge to jump your bones.
Full interview

The News & Observer
October 3, 2005
by Matt Ehlers, staff writer

Continental drifter
Look Who's Coming: Elliott Hester, vagabond
If you had the guts, you'd do it. But you don't, so you depend on people like former flight attendant Elliott Hester to make the leap for you. When American Airlines started offering leaves of absence after 9/11, Hester took a huge one, sold everything he owned and took off on a trip around the world.

He visited 22 countries on six continents in 18 months. Now he's back with a collection of travel stories, "Adventures of a Continental Drifter," and will be in Raleigh this week to talk about it.

Hester, 47, already will be familiar to readers of The News & Observer Sunday travel section, where his stories occasionally appear. He's since taken off on another globetrotting trip, with some time out for a book tour. He spoke from San Francisco.

Full interview

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Wednesday, Oct. 12 2005
By Joe Holleman

Five Questions for author Elliott Hester
We've all fantasized about quitting our job, selling our stuff and hopping on an ocean freighter to seek adventure. It's nice to think about, isn't it?

Three years ago, Elliott Hester did it.

Hester, a 47-year-old Chicago native, quit his flight attendant job after 20 years, sold his car, condo and other worldly possessions and began trotting the globe with not much more than a duffel bag and a laptop computer.

Today, still without a permanent address, Hester is a best-selling author and award-winning travel writer.

His first book, "Plane Insanity," came out in 2002 and chronicled his years as a flight attendant. Then, he went on the road and carved out his reporting career, writing articles for newspapers, magazines and Web sites.

He is still on the road, touting his latest effort: "Adventures of a Continental Drifter" (St. Martin's Press, $23.95, 301 pages), a collection of short stories about his travels. It carries the Hunter Thompson-esque subtitle of "an around-the-world-excursion into weirdness, danger, lust and the perils of street food."

Full interview