All You Need Is Flights: How Kintsugai, Moai, and Volcano Pizza Helped Me Make More Solo Travel Magic

In this fizzy memoir, travel writer Ruiz (12 Trips in 12 Months) recounts the year she spent traveling after breaking up with her boyfriend at age 35. She writes of arriving in Egypt immediately after the split, where visits to the pyramids and the Valley of the Kings prompted reflections on grief and resilience, while conversations with a local tour guide who had problems with her ex reminded Ruiz “that love and heartbreak exist everywhere, no matter what language you speak.” Later, a trip to Japan introduced her to the concept of kintsugi—repairing broken pottery with gold—which served as a metaphor for embracing one’s emotional scars. Ruiz pairs these observations with lively travel writing, offering vivid descriptions of historical sites, foods, and local color. The narrative is most involving when Ruiz sticks to chronicling her post-breakup missteps and hurdles; less effective are her sometimes-clumsy efforts to extract advice from her experiences. (Of deciding to ride a horse up a volcano in Guatemala instead of walking, she writes, “Accepting help when you need it is a strength too. The most important thing is to keep finding a way forward.”) Still, readers seeking to start over should find some inspiration here. (June)