Spain from a Backpack. Mark Pearson

       Introduction

      Welcome to Spain, the Iberian Peninsula, the 12^th-century western border of the Moorish Empire, jump-off point to mysterious Africa. You hold the gateway in your hands: By opening Spain From a Backpack, you are transporting yourself for the next marvelous moments to the España of blocky Basque castles, intricate Moorish designs and fanciful Gaudi creations. And welcome to a different pace of life—a pace informed by centuries of artful and bloody history, where we rise and start work early, siesta in the afternoon, and stay up late. We shop for our food every few days in open-air markets, for olives and tapenade, crusty breads, cheeses, meats, fresh tomatoes and garlic, and we cook for the joy of it. We go out for tapas in the evening, then dine in leisure, never bothered by waiters repeatedly asking, “May I take your plate?”

      This is how our book series started: My co-editor, Mark Pearson, observed lots of Europe guidebooks on the market, all explaining where to go and what to do, but few books that tell what it’s like to actually be in Europe; and virtually none written by and for backpackers. These twenty- or thirty-somethings carry their worldly possessions on their backs, traveling on a shoestring budget. Backpackers decide each day where they will go and what they will do, and, often, they experience marvels that elude people who carry suitcases and make reservations. Every year, nearly two million American, and hundreds of thousands of British, Canadian and Australian, backpackers are drawn to Europe for travel, study and work.

      Fresh from studying in and backpacking around Europe himself, Mark put out the word for stories on the Web, and, to date, we have received more than 1,000 submissions from around the world. He approached me to edit the first collection, Europe From a Backpack: Real Stories from Young Travelers Abroad, and the more I read, the more I realized we had to do these books. We select the stories based on simple criteria: well-written, authentic, first-hand. And each one brings back wonderful memories for each of us.

      For me, it’s when I first knocked around Europe as a young man just out of the Coast Guard.