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By Noraly Schoenmaker
I might be the only guy in the group of male motorcycle riders I know who doesn’t follow the Itchy Boots YouTube channel. I watched a little when Noraly was in the Antofagasta de la Sierra but nothing more. That’s not a negative review – I can’t watch any of the popular moto vloggers for very long.
I am also in a minority who dislikes the constant 155 degree GoPro FOV that pushes everything far away or the recent trend of panning from a 360 cam which is even worse. Generally I find all on bike footage boring except extreme stuff like the IOM TT and then I also dislike reality tv.
However I do like travel documentaries. I was a huge fan of Michael Palins travel shows. Actually his early series inspired me to start travelling and I do watch little bit of YouTube moto stuff with high production values like Fortnine but apart from that not much. But I digress.
I noticed Noraly’s book was being released so decided I would add it to my Kindle for the multi flight journey from Townsville to Munich and am writing this review whilst still in route at Doha having finished the book in about 6 hours.
I enjoyed reading it far more than I expected. It follows the story of Noraly’s decision to leave stable employment and try to make it as initially a traditional travel blogger/writer before setting her sights on being a full time moto vlogger.
Not being a follower I was unaware of the extensive non moto travel Noraly had completed prior to this in her professional career and those stories interested me as much as the moto ride she did from India to Malaysia then from Oman to Netherlands.
A common theme in many moto travel stories are chapters about being under equipped for the conditions and there are quite a few of those in this book. I don’t think any rider in any story I have read ever owned Gore-tex boots. I sometimes find myself saying out loud FFS please just buy some proper riding gear. But then I remember I never used to own any decent gear either until much later in my riding.
I found the writing well paced. Whilst I was not interested in reading anymore about riding Central Asia (because every single overland rider seems to write about there) I got through those chapters easy. The only criticism I can think of is Noraly brings up her ex and his affair more times than is necessary. I didn’t mind once but the rest felt like it was just out of spite.
Anyway you don’t need to be a fan or follower of the channel to enjoy this book. Highly recommended.
