A sweet, lighthearted story that’s exactly as advertised - a guy cycling around with his rescue cat. I enjoyed and it was great as a light read. If I let myself think too much, though, I sometimes felt he made some big generalizations about how badly animals are treated in countries that weren’t his own without much consideration of what root causes of that might be and without any reflection on things like factory farming and other animal welfare issues in wealthier western countries.

Overall, a lovely read, plenty gripping and smoothly written. 

Pros: 

- The story was the main focus and the best part, with plenty of dramas and trails for Dean and Nala to overcome. It was nice to read about travelling Europe and to recognise some of the names, and hear about the areas. 

- The animal welfare parts also touched me and showed what an animal person Dean is, although he still eats meat, I assume. There were some poignant parts and Dean clearly feels strongly about the animals he cared for. He gives the general impression of someone who doesn’t judge too harshly and who gets on with things in a straight-forward way. 

- I found all the practicalities interesting, including the pet passport, him getting the kayaking job and working out his route, as well the details of being a tech nomad, which reminded me of Jackson. He also seemed very grounded and didn’t seem to come from a very privileged background, but raised his own money to travel. 

- The writing was fit for purpose, conveying the story in a way that made it easy to read. 

-  I loved the little doodles and the photographs showing Nala and Dean on their travels, they really added to the story. 

-  My favourite parts of the book were when he was hanging out in the wilds, which he didn’t do quite as much as expected but did seem to enjoy a lot. 

Cons: 

- The writing wasn’t always very vivid so I didn’t feel like I could perfectly see the places he went to. And although I certainly cared about the characters, including Dean and Nala, I never got so deeply invested in them as to fell genuinely concerned, like I had with ‘A street cat named Bob’, which is a more poignant tale. 

- I had a couple of political niggles, thinking it was a shame that Dean didn’t advocate more for the refugees and that he wasn’t veggie or vegan despite being an animal lover. He also talks about the environment and yet takes a plane multiple times and doesn’t seem too fussed about taking planes and cars too. 

- I was also just a bit jealous of his bravado with how he could sleep so carelessly outside, which someone who wasn’t a man likely wouldn’t be able to. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the book and would be interested to see how it works out for Dean after coronavirus gets better.