The Escape Committee

The chance discovery of his parent's journals was all it took to upset Matthew's plans for a sedate life. In 1967's Summer of Love, they had abandoned their jobs and set out across a Europe wrestling with post war confusion and new philosophies. Braving earthquakes, riots and juntas to explore their new frontier, they navigated through the ashes and optimism, learning that teabags are the only true currency. Miraculously, this was all achieved without mobile phones, satellite navigation or Facebook. But is there any of that raw adventure or romance left under the slick veneer of modern Europe, or has the innocence of travel forty years ago vanished amidst the proliferation of tourism? Snatching up their journals and photographs, Matt squeezes into an old Austin Cambridge, just as his parents had done decades previously, charting a course in their footsteps. Exploring countries that no longer exist and cities besieged by modern uniformity, he finds himself amongst 731 million people under an often uneasy 'union'. Trundling toward the Syrian border he finds charming eccentricities beneath the banality of globalisation, and finally learns how to fix a car. The Escape Committee is a truly unique voyage of one man's self-discovery, set to the backdrop of one of the most beautiful and varied continents on earth.