When Clara Bensen arranged to meet Jeff Wilson on the steps of the Texas State Capitol, after just a few email exchanges on OK Cupid, it felt like something big was going to happen. Jeff is a wildly energetic university professor with a freewheeling spirit. Clara is a sensitive, reclusive writer recovering from a quarter-life existential breakdown. Within a few days of knowing one another, they decide to embark on a crazy experiment: a 21-day minimalist travel adventure, from Istanbul to London, with zero luggage, zero reservations, and zero plans. They want to test a simple question: what happens when you welcome the unknown instead of attempting to control it?
Donning a single green dress and a small purse containing a comb, a toothbrush, and a credit card, Clara travels through eight countries in three weeks. She finds herself on an old train chugging along the Turkish coast, taking a giant ferry across the Aegean, and on a cramped bus in the Balkans. Along the way, Clara ruminates on the challenges of traveling unencumbered: Though she gets better at facing her fears and navigating the unfamiliar, she knows that when it comes to falling in love, you can never really travel without baggage.
No Baggage is at once a romance, a travelogue, and a bright modern take on the classic questions: how does one find the courage to explore? And is it really possible to maintain love and personal freedom?
