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September 2025: Around the World
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From Antarctica to Zimbabwe: How I Hit the Reset Button On My Life by Dr Quinta, 1 star
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Fun review to read, Jen. I give you kudos for finishing it. I don't think I could have done it. When you are done (positive thought and fingers crossed) with this nasty visitor of cancer, I hope you can plan a visit to the States and visit some of our country! Perhaps you have already done that?
I give your scathing review 5 stars, Jen!
Joanne wrote: "Fun review to read, Jen. I give you kudos for finishing it. I don't think I could have done it. When you are done (positive thought and fingers crossed) with this nasty visitor of cancer, I hope ..."
I have been to the US a fair few times but all around LA only so there is a lot left to see. I would really like to visit New York and Alaska as my top 2 spots in the US but it will be a while as other countries are higher on the list and a visit to my mother will be the first one after treatment is done (whichever way it goes). Theresa has been an excellent advert for New York and it wasn't really on my list until her stories.
I named my malignant tumor after my malignant narcissist (he checked all the criteria in the DSM 5 in hindsight) ex. Weirdly enough it has really helped motivate me to eat well and exercise as it is not to punish me but to keep him away and out of my life. Also helped with facing the surgery and the radiotherapy as that was directed at him not me. Not sure if anyone else has done anything similar but it worked for me.
Wow! The good thing is that you don't have to know this person in real life, can you imagine how horrible that would be? Sometimes it's fun to be able to really trash a book that deserves it!
Robin P wrote: "Wow! The good thing is that you don't have to know this person in real life, can you imagine how horrible that would be? Sometimes it's fun to be able to really trash a book that deserves it!"
That's true. Who needs enemies with friends like her?
This could have been a great book but unfortunately the author was awful and seems to have written the book mostly to promote how great she is and to throw her poor friend, Kibs, under the bus every few pages. The Dr included on a book cover for a book which is nothing to do with her qualifications should have clued me in. The fact she put all her travels on Instagram with photos of herself almost exclusively, and mentioning constantly how men were hitting on her, she's size 3 etc, rather than the people she met and the places she saw, was another warning of how shallow she is. She also keeps going on about how much money she spends on others and how great she is. At one point she says she prefers breadth of experience to depth of culture.....that pretty much sums her up. She says at one point "I chose my battles and went with the flow" yet that is not what came across at all. everything had to be what she wanted and when she wanted. She complains about the food almost everywhere, she throws the whole of Europe under the bus based on 1 or 2 experiences, she states that the accommodation in Zimbabwe was "not up to my standards", hotel rooms in Europe and Hong Kong were too small, and the houses of the people she descended on (who she didn't know personally) in Trinidad and Canada were described in horrid terms. She complains about others Dune Bashing in Namibia and disturbing the peace, then does it herself in Dubai.
As for her poor friend Kibs....every couple of pages she was complaining about Kibs' behaviour or Kibs not smiling. Kibs comes into the story right at the start as she is in Canada helping a friend who has cancer....All the Author does is complain about her attitude, say she is rubbish at her job (travel agent) and complain about the poor woman's house. Then when Kibs isn't answering all her messages after she tells her she has a bad attitude she complains more, yet still goes to stay with her in South Africa and bludge free accommodation. In the end Kibs goes on a bit of the trip with her (all her choices, not what Kibs chooses) and tries to help set things up. The author complains more about how rubbish she is at her job then gets angry that Kibs is on the phone trying to sort a hire car for them. She gets angry Kibs asks how long she will be at the embassy in SA after waiting several hours outside, she was the one who didn't check she had enough pages in her passport before she left. Then she has a go at Kibs, Kibs says sorry, and she ghosts and blocks her in response and says she is "too patient with people". I feel dreadfully sorry for poor Kibs! Not once did the author ask her what was wrong or care how she felt, just ghosted her (a friend since childhood) then wrote a book throwing her under a bus. A truly unforgivable thing to do. With friends like her who needs enemies?
In addition to all of the above she clearly hasn't done her research and has made a lot of factual errors. I don't know everything, but I have travelled a fair bit and do know some history so if I can pick up this many errors, I dread to think how many a real fact checker would find. The first issue I saw was Marmite. Marmite is originally British as of 1902. Yes NZ makes a version of it (Sanitarium) and has done since 1919 but it is not the same at all and not the original. The next issue was the most lazy and egregious one in the whole book. She described herself as being like the explorers Earnest Shackleton, Walter Scott and Robert Falcon.....Walter Scott possibly she is and equal explorer to him since he is a writer and poet not an explorer. At least get the names right, Walter Raleigh and Robert Falcon Scott. Then she complains that Stonehenge was built 5000 years ago based on bones found there and she doesn't believe it.....actually built in several stages from 5000 to 3500 years ago. Next she claims Bloukrans Bridge (216m) bungee jump is the highest in the world, nope it is 5th highest behind Zhangjiajie Grand Canyon (260m), Macau Tower (233m), Kushma Bridge (228m) and Contra Dam (220m). Next she claims that a quagga is an extinct species...it is not a species but a subspecies of Zebra. The last major error I saw was that she claimed that Namibia had the highest sand dune in the world. Again nope it has the 4th highest. Duna Frederico Kirbus is highest at 1230m, Cerro Blanco 824m next, then Badain Jaran 480m and then Namibia dune 7 at 383m. Lazy, lazy author.
The most insane comment is her complaining about food in Italy because she doesn't like cheese!!!!
OK rant over. This book made me furious mostly because of how she spoke about other people, even those who were meant to be her friends, and that made me more observant and wary of everything else she wrote.