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A review by cozyesther
It's on the Meter: Traveling the World by London Taxi by Paul Archer, Johno Ellison
5.0
I got this book from Goodread’s first-read giveaway. Thank you for the amazing read. I am one to buy a million books from BN and they just sit on the bookshelf as soon as I get home. Not that I hate the book, just a case of “Grass is greener on the other side” ordeal. I feel like I owe this book a review though, for more than one reason. I got this book in exchange for a good and honest review and honestly, it was so good that I couldn’t NOT give it a review. Maybe it’s because my bookcase has been almost mostly all fiction (mysteries and fantasy too) and this was my first non-fiction in a LONG while. Maybe that contributed to why I gobbled it down.
Three college kids ready to graduate college crowd around a drunk idea. Most drunk ideas are lost in the drain the next day. We all know that, but not this one. World-breaking sounds fancy the night before and it isn’t until a good few months afterwards that they finalize the idea and hit the road. Those months were firstly filled with getting their hand on a twenty year old black cab, dearly named Hannah who sticks true to her name-sake, repairs, and landing the actual money to make the journey come true.
I loved the book and it’s one of the few books that gets me excited now. Like the blank faced “LoL” everyone does, it’s rare that I actually bust out a laugh from a book like I did as a kid. Three boys on the road involves so much adventure and laughs. Every country they hit brings them more adventure and adventure to the readers as well. There’s trouble along the way, there’s a LOT of alcohol on the way, there’s even the threats of deportation and arrests! Every few chapters comes a new country and it’s almost like you’re there with them. Without giving too much of it away with spoilers I will quote a few favorites:
There were plenty of Laughs
“From what I could tell, the troublemaker party guest had suddenly ripped off his shirt and pulled down his trousers before grabbing the quintessential Dutch flower, a tulip, from a vase on the glass coffee table. He then proceeded to shove the tulip where no tulip should go and dance around, completely naked, trying to whack other quests in the face with the pretty end.” (Amsterdam)
That was just the beginning of it all, one of their first stops and first countries on their journey.
Miracles after miracles of the goodness of stranger passerbyers
"Miraculously, the first guy I came across recognized the broken parts immediately and had just written down the address of a place that would be able to help us, when the fuming guards caught up with me."
"Our savior appeared in the form of an excitable young man who promised that he knew of the home of a local Englishman who would be sure to accommodate us."
By the time I finished the book, there was an overwhelming sense of pride and happiness. I had so much fun with the book and the adventures, reading about all the difference culture, how Paul, Johno, and Leigh met so many different and very colorful new friends, new languages, coming across miracles, so so many repairs and hassles from Hannah and borders, illnesses along the trip, hilarious moments...I cheered when they broke the record they set out for (I won't tell the country for spoilers), and then their final leg of the journey headed back home. Through the book I learned about so much, "saw" so much, and "met" with what I could describe as "people of kindness I long thought had died out."It was a fantastic book and I'm more than somewhat sad that it's finished, gobbled through. The writing was smooth and the storytelling was pristine and amazing. If I were more bold, I would run down the street about how amazing this book was and how everyone should read it. For that, sadly, I am not bold and therefore this review will have to suffice.
"It was a road trip with three best friends, parties, mistakes, mischief, breakdowns, jokes and everything you would expect from three 20-something males on the road. Except ours went on for almost a year and a half, and involved a cast of hundreds of some of the most amazing, kind and unique people I will ever have the pleasure of meeting." -Paul
Three college kids ready to graduate college crowd around a drunk idea. Most drunk ideas are lost in the drain the next day. We all know that, but not this one. World-breaking sounds fancy the night before and it isn’t until a good few months afterwards that they finalize the idea and hit the road. Those months were firstly filled with getting their hand on a twenty year old black cab, dearly named Hannah who sticks true to her name-sake, repairs, and landing the actual money to make the journey come true.
I loved the book and it’s one of the few books that gets me excited now. Like the blank faced “LoL” everyone does, it’s rare that I actually bust out a laugh from a book like I did as a kid. Three boys on the road involves so much adventure and laughs. Every country they hit brings them more adventure and adventure to the readers as well. There’s trouble along the way, there’s a LOT of alcohol on the way, there’s even the threats of deportation and arrests! Every few chapters comes a new country and it’s almost like you’re there with them. Without giving too much of it away with spoilers I will quote a few favorites:
There were plenty of Laughs
“From what I could tell, the troublemaker party guest had suddenly ripped off his shirt and pulled down his trousers before grabbing the quintessential Dutch flower, a tulip, from a vase on the glass coffee table. He then proceeded to shove the tulip where no tulip should go and dance around, completely naked, trying to whack other quests in the face with the pretty end.” (Amsterdam)
That was just the beginning of it all, one of their first stops and first countries on their journey.
Miracles after miracles of the goodness of stranger passerbyers
"Miraculously, the first guy I came across recognized the broken parts immediately and had just written down the address of a place that would be able to help us, when the fuming guards caught up with me."
"Our savior appeared in the form of an excitable young man who promised that he knew of the home of a local Englishman who would be sure to accommodate us."
By the time I finished the book, there was an overwhelming sense of pride and happiness. I had so much fun with the book and the adventures, reading about all the difference culture, how Paul, Johno, and Leigh met so many different and very colorful new friends, new languages, coming across miracles, so so many repairs and hassles from Hannah and borders, illnesses along the trip, hilarious moments...I cheered when they broke the record they set out for (I won't tell the country for spoilers), and then their final leg of the journey headed back home. Through the book I learned about so much, "saw" so much, and "met" with what I could describe as "people of kindness I long thought had died out."It was a fantastic book and I'm more than somewhat sad that it's finished, gobbled through. The writing was smooth and the storytelling was pristine and amazing. If I were more bold, I would run down the street about how amazing this book was and how everyone should read it. For that, sadly, I am not bold and therefore this review will have to suffice.
"It was a road trip with three best friends, parties, mistakes, mischief, breakdowns, jokes and everything you would expect from three 20-something males on the road. Except ours went on for almost a year and a half, and involved a cast of hundreds of some of the most amazing, kind and unique people I will ever have the pleasure of meeting." -Paul