In life we are occasionally faced with detours.

Some of them are thrust upon us just when we think we have life all figured out. Sometimes, however, they are self-created. We choose to take them, driven by some inner desire or passion. Author Jason Thiessen's extraordinary adventure was just such a detour—borne of the dreams of a young boy with only an atlas as his guide to an unseen world.

Nearly thirty years after those dreams began, they became a reality. Thiessen, a man with a wife, a career, and a mortgage, set out on a journey of discovery to find purpose and meaning while attempting to answer lifelong questions. His detour from an otherwise traditional life path took him to South America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe, India, Southeast Asia, and Australia, ultimately traveling twice the distance of the circumference of the earth. Just as his adventure brought him from the heights of the Andes to the depths of the Dead Sea, so too did Thiessen take an emotional journey from feelings of excitement, fulfillment, and joy to those of anger, frustration, and despair.

Around My World: A Detour on Life's Journey tells a story for anyone who is on their own journey to reconcile modern-day pressures and realities with the insights that world travel can bring to one's life.