Eat the Wind

Travels with Dictators, Mercenaries and Queens

After graduating from Stanford, Dan Wake was on track for a lucrative partnership at a big Washington law firm until he gave it all up to put adventure over career in 1985. It wasn't the first time he'd rolled the dice to explore the world.

From hitchhiking in freewheeling Europe to riding buses through the Amazon jungle to roaming through Asia in the shadow of dictatorship, Wake embraced the unpredictability of the open road and developed a Forrest Gump-like knack for dropping into events making world headlines.

Whether he is charming his way through a royal jubilee in London, criss-crossing the Philippines during a bloody revolution, or simply finding remarkable people in remote places, Wake uses high adventure and keen humor to unveil the magic of unscripted travel before the internet changed the world. Eat the Wind vividly brings that enchantment alive and shows how it seduced a lifelong overachiever to risk his career for a chance to take the journey of a lifetime.

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Excerpt from Eat the Wind

“The narrow, choppy Strait of Malacca between Malaysia and the island of Sumatra has swallowed countless trading ships over the centuries. That was in the back of my mind as I flew over the Strait in one of those small seaplanes where they ask how much you weigh before you board. Just being asked that question makes you hope the other passengers are all skinny.

I certainly was. After quitting my job as a lawyer in a big firm and spending seven months traveling overland in Southeast Asia, I was at least ten pounds underweight, and I was thin to begin with. Occasionally I’d get sick for a few days and lose a few more pounds, making me cinch my belt even more. So when it came to making sure the propeller plane skimming the rough waters of the Strait of Malacca did not plunge into the sea, I carried my weight, so to speak, by not carrying much weight.”

So begins “A Night of Bahasa,” an excerpt from Eat the Wind: Travels with Dictators, Mercenaries and Queens that won Second Prize at the Book Passage Travel Writers & Photographers Conference 2024. You can find the story here.

Eat the Wind is a time capsule of memorable journeys spanning a decade across the ‘70s and ‘80s, when I often dropped into events that made world headlines at the time, like a real-life Forrest Gump. The dictators who play parts in these tales? They include Idi Amin, Francisco Franco, and especially Ferdinand Marcos of the Philippines, where I spent two months during the People Power Revolution that toppled that dictator. The queens who appear in these stories? Start with Her Royal Highness Queen Elizabeth II and a twenty-year-old hitchhiking into London during the height of her Silver Jubilee celebration. The mercenaries? Well, they first appear in Chapter 5 …  

Praise for Eat the Wind

  • “Wake sweeps readers into a journey overflowing with rich culture, enchanting landmarks, and once- in-a-lifetime adventure.”

    —Booklife by Publsher’s Weekly

  • “Dan Wake is a keen observer, and his sense of humor wins.”

    —Tim Cahill, Founding editor of Outside magazine and author of Jaguars Ripped My Flesh

  • "Eat the Wind is a literary time capsule and a terrific read for anyone who travels–or has even just thought about it."

    —Mark Orwoll, former international editor of Travel + Leisure, Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year (Silver Award) and author of Just One Little Hitch.

  • "Starting as a teenager who could afford only hitchhiking, Wake takes us on an improbable journey of high adventures and unusual encounters on four continents, all before smartphones changed the world of travel."

    —Simon Calder, Travel Journalist & Broadcaster

  • Eat the Wind is a testament to the generosity and acceptance travelers can experience when they journey with a curious mind and an open heart."

    —Elizabeth Harryman Lasley, former Travel Editor, Westways magazine

  • "Wake is a natural writer, evoking a bygone age of unpredictable and serendipitous travel. He is also a good traveller, journeying alone and ready to engage with the local people."

    —Hilary Bradt, Founder of Bradt Travel Guides

  • "A simply delightful [and] rollicking good read."

    —Midwest Book Review