About

Born for Adventure is the two-volume memoir of Gail Howard’s daring and often dangerous adventures as she roamed the world nonstop from 1957 through 1968. A journey to a bygone era, it tells of a time when each country was unique—before “fast food,” before the Americanization of global cultures through television.

Gail traveled the world during a time of great change in the global arena, and she frequently found herself witness to history in the making. From outrunning bullets in the streets of San Salvador during the coup of 1961 to her one-woman tour of combat zones during the Vietnam War, her unique firsthand perspectives are a rare insight into the history of the Sixties.

Neither earthquakes nor revolutions nor marriage proposals could keep Gail from fulfilling her “Life Plan.” Gail’s story is about personal growth, challenges and triumphs, entrepreneurship, and also about romantic love. Romance is woven throughout her twelve-year tale, as Gail falls in love with a wealthy aristocrat, an HRH Prince, and a poor struggling writer. Gail loves deeply and passionately. Hearts are broken, including hers.

Gail funded her travels as a performer but, always the entrepreneur, she bought and sold (and occasionally smuggled) jewels, art objects and antiquities. She even sold refrigeration in Vietnam. She stayed everywhere from first-class hotels to no-class hotels, ate food that ranged from exquisite to, well, “adventurous,” and spent time with millionaires, princes, poets, peasants, bullfighters, Egyptologists, moguls, artists, and healers.

Usually she traveled alone, although she was joined at various points by her sister, Terry, and her on-again, off-again boyfriend (and fellow adventurer) Steve. Born for Adventure is about one woman’s strength and resourcefulness in realizing her dreams.