Through Travel and Error: Confessions of an asylum-seeking Canadian by Matt Hamilton (IUniverse Publishers) 277 pp photo: courtesy Matt Hamilton

"I'm off to Switzerland on Monday to see my girlfriend," admits Hamilton. "As soon as the weather changes, I'm out of here."

Hamilton did what hordes of people in the Cap (and across Canada) must surely dream of every day. He left it all behind, chucked the rat race, and found romance and adventure in the globe's farthest corners. On the flip side, he also found exiled British gangsters in Tenerife and bloodied corpses at a bus crash in Malawi; a bus he had narrowly avoided boarding an hour earlier. Oh, and he is also the only Canadian currently on record for seeking asylum in South Africa from this patriot land, glorious and free, O Canada - anything to avoid cubicle culture. He wrote the whole thing down and has launched his first book, Through Travel and Error, at local Chapters and through his Internet publishers www.iuniverse.com" target="_blank">www.iUniverse.com. Completing the second book will be his objective in Switzerland.

"One of my literary heroes is Bill Bryson," discloses Hamilton. "Just travelling and writing about it. I'm not very employable - I never really agreed with the whole 'the customer's always right' philosophy. But [with writing] I get up every morning and flip open the laptop for 60-, 70-, 80-hour weeks."

In 2006, after coming back from South Africa's Transkei region, where he attended his brother's wedding, Hamilton thought he'd have another go at the professional life, taking a job as a travel agent "specializing in Africa."

"I absolutely hated it," adds Hamilton, laughing gleefully. "I was used to going barefoot in Africa and here I was wearing suits and everything. It drains you and then you need to go back to the beach to unwind."

Although Matt Hamilton has left the country for the warmer climes of, um, Switzerland, his book can still be purchased or ordered through local Chapters or at www.iuniverse.com.
 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

I had the pleasure of reading this book when visiting Canada this summer. It was a fantastic read...I couldn't put it down. Unfortunately, I have been unable to find it in book stores here in Florida, I was going to buy several and give them as Christmas gifts. It was extremely well written, funny and certain parts made me cry. This young man has figured out, at an early age, what life is about or should be about. I really enjoyed his adventures, both good and bad, but he obviously survived to tell the tale. I can hardly wait for his second book which picks up after he leaves Ottawa and returns to the "dark continent" and places beyond. I am sure that if his parents knew what was happening they would have tracked him down and brought him home to Ottawa but fortunately for the readers that didn't happen. Well done Mr. Hamilton!
Jane Bradbury		October 17th, 2008

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