In an inspirational tale of global adventure Ed Gillespie takes anything but a plane to circumnavigate the world. Cargo ships to camels, hitch-hiking to hovercrafts. Playing table tennis with heavyweight Ukrainian boxers. Border arrests and drug searches. Communing with a Costa Rican jungle sloth. Illustrated with dramatic photography, Ed's journey brings to vivid life the joys, and challenges, of slow, low-carbon, overland travel. En route Ed realises that staying grounded in an age of climate change may lead us to rediscover the pleasures of what real travel is all about. Through the journey and adventure he delves into the philosophy of sustainable travel, reconnecting with community and our one and only lonely planet.
Born in Norfolk and trained as a marine biologist Ed Gillespie concluded he was going to spend the rest of his life saying 'if you don't stop catching all the fish, there won't be any fish'. So he co-founded Futerra, a communications company with a mission to make sustainable development so desirable it becomes normal. Ed has worked all over the world, from Jamaica to New Caledonia. He is also a London Sustainable Development Commissioner and Chairman of specialist European rail booking business loco2.com.
"With a shaft or three of enlightenment, a healthy dose of irreverence, Only Planet inspires us to carry on living, loving and travelling well."
– Jonathon Porritt
"With wit, welly and wisdom, Ed reveals the fine-grained texture of the world at ground level. Required reading for the slow traveller"
– Carl Honoré, best-selling author of In Praise Of Slow
"An inspiring reminder of the adventures and experiences to be had, if you just avoid that airport security queue!"
– Mark Smith, The Man in Seat 61