My name is James Owen Colley, I was born in Oshawa Ontario, Canada in 1957.On March 1, 1972, when I was 14, I flew across the Atlantic Ocean to spend six months and seven days with my Great Uncle Hugh. This is the story of our adventures as we travelled through 17 countries in Europe, Africa and Asia. It’s the story of a naïve Southern Ontario teenager, travelling with his eccentric Great Uncle Hugh who was a well-educated university professor, architect and a social worker. We had many crazy adventures, troubles and experiences that I think you will enjoy hearing about.A little background on myself and Uncle Hugh will set the stage as to how we teamed up and the circumstances that led to this hilarious story.My parents, Muriel and John, were hard-working, middle-class folk, and did their best with five children. We never had a lot of money but lived a comfortable typical lifestyle in Southern Ontario. As kids growing up in the 60s we experienced life as all kids of this generation. We lived outside, riding our bikes everywhere, playing hide and seek, road hockey, red rover and hopscotch. We stayed outside all day unless we were called or it got dark. Our lives were confined to a 4-block radius and our only connection to the outside world was T.V. where the Ed Sullivan Show and Walt Disney were the highlight of the week.When I was 10, we moved from Oshawa to Cobourg Ontario, a small town on the north shore of Lake Ontario. This was a bit of a culture shock to me as things were a lot more relaxed in school and kids’ lives. All the kids seemed wild and free-spirited, a sharp contrast to the very disciplined school system in Oshawa. When I was 13 my mother received a phone call from my grandfather’s 60-year-old brother, Hugh, my great uncle. Uncle Hugh was planning a 6-month tour of Europe and had a proposition for my mother. He wondered if my brother Dave, who was 16 and driving, would like to accompany him and help out with the driving and navigating. If he was willing to do this, Uncle Hugh would finance the whole trip . Great Uncle Hugh had suffered a broken neck years before which resulted in him having a fused spine, preventing him from turning his neck. He didn’t think he would manage the narrow roads and busy traffic of Europe by himself.Well Dave wanted no part of it, partially because neither he nor I knew this great uncle at all. He lived in Oregon and we had maybe met him once. Besides, Dave had a girlfriend and other friends who he was reluctant to leave. Dave was also very introverted and wasn’t too keen on taking on an adventure of this magnitude.Unable to change his mind, my mother broke the news to Uncle Hugh, but she had an alternative solution for him to consider. She suggested that he take me, Jim, the 14-year-old. She laid countless praises of me on him, of how outgoing I was, how quick to learn and I’d be an excellent navigator and map reader. Hugh was disappointed that Dave wouldn’t come on the trip of a lifetime and was very skeptical about having a 14-year-old, a mere child, accompany him. Hugh had never married and had no experience with children, so he was extremely cautious. My mother was relentless and very convincing and finally Uncle Hugh agreed.So off to Europe I went, and spent 6 months touring Europe, learning so much about history, architecture, art, cultures, people and myself.After our amazing trip, I settled back into family and small-town life. I finished high school and soon after I married my high-school sweetheart, Heather. Heather and I never looked back, we got jobs, bought a house, had three children and lived our lives to the fullest with many friends and family around us. I worked as a labourer in a factory making automotive parts for the big three automakers. I became supervisor at age 20 and then materials and distribution manager and finally manufacturing manager, a position I held for over 20 years, until I retired after 38 years of employment.Heather and I sold our home of 29 years and built a home on a Canadian Shield lake north of Kingston, Ontario. Our children and nine grandchildren, visit often. We live a dream life with many friends and family around us.I write this book after over 50 years, the stories and adventures we experienced have always been popular with friends and family, who all encouraged me to write this book. My storytelling has always been very good, while my writing skills are limited, making me hesitant about taking on such a large project. I asked my good friend Adam Berkelmans (The Intrepid Eater), who is an amazing writer, chef and a very creative person, if he would help. He agreed and his contribution has been fantastic. I wrote the story and Adam over-wrote the story with great descriptive additions and his fine writing skills turned my story into a fun reading book that I think everyone will enjoy.While this was over fifty years ago, my memories are vivid and I’ve told many of the stories over the years. I did keep a diary while we travelled which helped remind me of our daily travel route. I didn’t put too much effort in correcting errors in place names and locations. I’ve probably exaggerated some points and I’m certain that there are discrepancies and errors, but they are all mine and I make no apologies for them. It’s taken me fifty years to finally write this, and I wrote it as I remember it.​I hope you enjoy it!Read more about this authorRead less about this author