"Some people don‘t think so, but I think that life has a purpose and if we are fortunate enough to hear that quiet voice within we can gain the direction we need to reach it. In Þormóður Símonarson‘s book, Around and back: A year and a day on the road, the author is on that journey, a journey that I believe must be taken by everyone that wishes to realize their potential and their dreams.
Something may have stopped you in the past from making this journey, delaying the inevitable on the path toward happiness, but like Þormóður you may finally make the plunge, leaving the security of your home, friends and stable income and venture into the unknown with your hopes and ambitions only to discover.......

If you have had such a desire, reading this book may give you the impetus take this path of self discovery and adventure but if you have already ventured out then, by reading this book, you maybe reminded of treasures you have already found in your own pursuit of your true self."

Paul Michael Herman




The sun was shining when I stopped my motorbike by an old tractor in rural Norway. 15 years earlier, I had worked on a machine just like it for my brother-in-law and I was looking forward to telling him about it at the kitchen table one evening in the future. At the same moment I remembered what I had seen and tried in Denmark, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France and England. My travelogue was getting too long for me to tell it over a single cup of tea. I was on my way to the northernmost tip of Norway, back south through Finland and to Ireland and it dawned on me that if I wanted to share this experience with others, I would have to write a book.

Many things happened to me when I left my girlfriend, my family, my job, my life....and ventured out in pursuit of my dream. Beautiful vistas, a broken guitar, a Buddhist monastery, new buddies, motorcycles and a chance to hone my skill as an artist are all a part of this story that spans a year in my life and gave me a chance to see myself in a whole new way.