While the label of 'pilgrim' is still mostly associated with devout persons leaving home with purely religious motives, young people taking to the road as 'backpackers' are generally perceived as adventure seeking globetrotters. Questioning these stereotypes, anthropologist and filmmaker Tommi Mendel followed two young women, one along the Way of St. James — a centuries old pilgrimage route — through France and Spain, and another backpacking through...

Two teenaged punk-rock girls hitchhike their way across Italy without a penny in their pockets. Set in 1984, Ulli Lust's Today is the last day of the rest of your life is an intimate, detailed, funny, touching, and dramatic chronicle of several eventful months in the life of the author as she and her new best friend Edi make their way from Vienna, Austria to Sicily. There is sex. There are drugs. There is rock 'n' roll. And there are stints in jail,...

"With so many hiking opportunities in major metropolitan areas, it takes a local expert to sort through them and find the best of the best. The 60 Hikes Within 60 Miles series profiles the top scenic day hikes within roughly an hour's drive of a given city. Profiling the best scenic day hikes, the hometown authors explore each trail, gathering data via state-of-the-art GPS technology. Expertly drawn trail maps and trail profiles complement the detailed...