Due North: A Collection of Travel Observations, Reflections, And Snapshots Across Colo

by Lola Akinmade Åkerström

Due North is a collection of travel observations, reflections, and snapshots across colors, cultures, and continents by award-winning travel writer and photographer Lola Akinmade Åkerström.

EXCERPT:

I know what’s coming. I’d gone through this drill dozens of times. As many times as each of those vibrant and colorful visas in my little green book, my Nigerian passport. Even before the immigration officer pulls me aside, I instinctively pull myself aside. He glosses over my visa. A visa I’ve spent hundreds of dollars acquiring. He finds his government’s issued permission, but curiosity gets the better of him. He thumbs through the rest, looking through the two green passports stapled together because the visas had outnumbered the pages. “Why all these visas?” he asks. This scene was repeated in airport after airport across several continents. The more visa stamps in my passport, the more my motives for travel were deeply questioned. Why was I traveling?

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, Memoir

176 pages, Paperback

Published April 7, 2017

About the author

Award-winning Nigerian-American visual storyteller and international bestselling author based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Reviews

[Olga Mecking]

This is an absolutely gorgeous book, with beautiful writing and stunning photography.

In "Due North," acclaimed writer and photographer Lola Akinmade Akerstrom shares touching stories of the people she met while traveling, the countries she saw, and the places she has learned to call home.

My advice is: if you really want to enjoy this book, get the paper version, the e-book doesn't really do the stories (or the photos)

A great gift for everyone who loves traveling, or just enjoys beautiful books.

[Victoria]

Stunning photography.

Beautiful stories.

[Andi]

I loved everything about this book...and this author! I loved every word - the beautiful descriptions that painted the scenes in my mind; I loved the photographs that portrayed the people living their lives within their own cultures. I loved the author's humility and reverence for other cultures; she never disrupted, never made herself the center of attention, just quietly observed and looked for ways to connect with people all over the world. I can see why she is a successful National Geographic journalist and photographer and I will seek her out in the publications to which she contributes. This book was a complete joy to read!

[JoAnna]

Three-line review: Written by my friend and colleague, this coffee table book is a collection of stories and photographs from Lola's travels organized by compass direction. Each story transports readers to a distinct place and time, which has always been one of her strong strengths as a writer. A note of warning: The Kindle book is very difficult to read; invest in the hardcover.

[J]

“ But to me slow travel has never been about duration. It is about pace. It encourages us to relax and reconsider why we’re traveling. It inspires us to embrace seeing less, but going deeper into a culture - and how that can enrich and transform us much more than skimming its surface. I connect with a place through its local lifestyles, regardless of whether I’m spending 24 hours or 24 days there. In a city that could be lingering in a particular district certain group of people. I most like to hang out with butchers, fishmongers and fruit and vegetable vendors.”

Beautiful book with gorgeous photographs from around the world; part journalistic report, part personal diary. A Yoruban Nigerian woman goes to school in Maryland and marries a Swedish Laplander. But most importantly,she is a lover of world travel. Loved it.