Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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author
Gary Orleck
In 1965, Gary Orleck graduated from Babson College—a small but outstanding business college with students from around the world—in Wellesley, Massachusetts and set out along Route ...view moreIn 1965, Gary Orleck graduated from Babson College—a small but outstanding business college with students from around the world—in Wellesley, Massachusetts and set out along Route 66 working his way around the US for four months. For a young boy from Rhode Island, this was a life-changing experience. Gary was present for the Watts Riots and the world Premiere of Fantastic Voyage with Rachael Walsh and Fernando Lamas at Gruman’s Chinese Theater. He arrived in San Francisco the day Topless was approved. The four-month trip wet Gary’s appetite for more traveling. While driving home from California, he made a promise to himself: to drive around all of Europe the next year. Gary ended up working, nose to the grindstone, for three years before he bumped into a college student who graduated with him. The student was from Iran, a country most Americans had never heard of at the time. Gary didn’t know it at the time, but his friend was from the wealthiest family in the world at that time. His friend had lived in Switzerland for four years of boarding school, four years of college in London, and seven summers in the South of France for summer school. He asked Gary to join him that following summer to drive through Europe—his friend offering to be his tour guide since he knew Europe like the back of his hand. At first, Gary was hesitant because of his friend’s perceived reputation, but he was very persuasive, promising to be the best tour guide ever. Reluctantly, Gary agreed which led to the most mind-blowing experience—a ten-week trip through 12 countries and 19,920 miles of earth-shattering adventures that include turning a ship around in the middle of an ocean, dining with the King and Queen of Denmark and the King and Queen of Belgium, meeting The Who backstage, being entertained by the Empress of Iran Empress Farah in Paris, gambling with the Shah of Iran in Monte Carlo, and even being rescued by Shirley Temple Black after being arrested during the Czechoslovakian Revolution in the summer of 1968. Gary says, “It took ten years for me to process that trip—five years of research plus five years of writing—because I wished to share with the world the greatest adventure a young naive boy from Rhode Island could ever imagine happening. So, fasten your seat belts for a ride inside the elite world of the rich and famous and join me on a trip of the lifetime. A trip you will never forget. I promise you that!”view less