Alistair Barr

Alistair and Kimberly are busy professionals in London at the dawn of the new century. They are soul mates, but there's a tension in their lives. She wants globe-spanning adventure and escape. He prefers the familiar and dislikes change. Oh and he's really scared of bugs - spiders mostly. So what could go wrong when Kimberly proposes a year-long trip around the world to places where arachnids, snakes, wasps, beetles and other insects swarm, squirm, jump, crawl, buzz, slither and scuttle? Their tour takes them to the roof of the world in the Himalayas, the jungles of Asia, the steaming crowds of India and many other of the globe's most-interesting locations - all with their own special bugs for Alistair to enjoy. They meet an equally diverse cast of human characters, including Russell the Leopard Tamer, the Dal Bhat King and Essex girls Aime and Sarah. While traveling, the best and worst of the couple's characters and habits emerge and combine to amusing effect. But it's not all funny and things finally come to a head: What's the real reason for Alistair's insectophobia? Can Kimberly put up with it any longer, if she's going to satisfy her wanderlust?