The Paradise Chapter by Blake Salazar Blog Tour!

The Paradise Chapter: A Digital Nomad Adventures novel

Have you ever dreamed of leaving your job and humdrum life behind? Have you ever wanted your vacation to continue indefinitely?

Have you ever fantasized about dropping everything you know and boarding a plane to the other side of the world?

The Paradise Chapter follows a group of characters who answered YES to all those questions and have become DIGITAL NOMADS.

Lose yourself in a tropical paradise and experience the intoxicating freedom, fun and adventures of a diverse bunch of location independent workers who have decided that the office is wherever they can find Wi-Fi.

This is the debut novel from a real-life digital nomad.

If you like the wild adventures of The Beach combined with the thirst for life of Eat, Pray, Love, then you'll love The Paradise Chapter.

Purchase Links

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08VJKPM8J

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08VJKPM8J

 https://books2read.com/u/mqgPrv

Adrien is a brand new Digital Nomad just touching down in Thailand for his first remote-work adventure.

Adrien was catatonic when the plane bumped down to earth and jolted him awake. His glasses slipped off his face, and he managed to catch them by a temple tip just before they were lost to the narrow space under the seat. His long legs were wedged in an excruciating position that was now shooting pins and needles up and down his calves. It was a miracle that he’d managed to pass out.

He stepped off the plane and the blasting heat surprised him, snatching his breath. The feeling was akin to standing next to a searing-hot open oven. He walked onto the tarmac of the Panat Buri airport and could feel the heat radiating from underneath his feet. It was such that as he looked up, the terminal building shimmered in his gaze, like in those Western movies.

Where the fuck have I taken myself to? Adrien thought, as sweat immediately started trickling between his shoulder blades, chafing between his back and the heavy tech pack he was carrying.

At Arrivals, he navigated a throng of people all advertising hotels, cars, beaches, money changers, SIM cards. He was much taller than most of them, so he could keep his eyes on the prize: the exit. These hustlers were shouting in basic English, like “Hello madam!” or “Beautiful hotel,” but he noticed that they addressed him in what he presumed must be Thai. Oh, no. Here we go. He had been warned of this. Adrien had never even been to Asia, but others identified him as Asian almost everywhere he went. His parents were originally from Vietnam, but he’d been raised entirely as Canadian. He didn’t speak Vietnamese—he could understand a few expressions—and the closest thing he’d ever experienced of Asia was his mum’s delicious home-cooking. But that was it. And now everyone here would presume him to be “Asian.” On second thought though, this time he was being considered “one of them” instead of “other.” He was intrigued to see how this would pan out. But not now. Now he just needed to get out of this crush.

Once out of the small airport, he was bundled into a crammed minivan packed with other tourists. One of the seats was stacked with a teetering pile of luggage held together by a rope. Of course, Adrien was given the seat right next to that one. He looked up at the luggage stack, worried. But then again it turned out to be a plus, as his jet-lagged body slumped against it and he fell asleep for a few more hours. He didn’t even notice when the minivan boarded the ferry.

By the time they arrived on Koh Tanu, it was already night. His first impression of the island was of a dusty, dark road dotted with lights here and there, and that there were crazy scooter drivers. He still had no feeling that he was on an island, by the sea. He got dropped off at a little gate and used the code he’d been given to unlock it. Then he made his way to the bungalow assigned to him, one of about a dozen, strung out along a patchy grass field. A cute welcome package was waiting for him inside: water, a guide to the island, a little message giving him directions to the coworking space, the TribeHut.

Adrien gulped down one whole bottle of water, put the other one in the still-warm fridge, then threw himself on the bed. Sleep took him deeply, and it was only 7:00 p.m. 

Adrien was swimming, swimming through a treacle-thick substance, bags, people and debris bumping into him. Then one particularly big piece of debris—he couldn’t tell what—bowled into him and overwhelmed him, sending him into the gelatinous mess below. He couldn’t breathe…he couldn’t— He woke with a start. His body was completely wet from sweating, the bedding drenched. Of course, he had forgotten to turn on the air conditioner and the windows were closed. Damn. It was 1:15 a.m.

With the AC now running, he took a trip to the bathroom. Splashing his face with lukewarm water was a nice relief. He threw himself back onto the bed, hopeful sleep would take him as swiftly as before. No joy. He tossed and turned, then started playing on his phone. Candy Crush was sure to lull him to blessed sleep. But again, no joy. More water, more peeing, more tossing and turning. This is annoying.

He got up and peeked out the window. The street was identical to how it looked at 7:00 p.m. Only the very occasional scooter passing by. All was quiet. Then he saw one of those funny contraptions…he thought they were called tak-tak or something like that. It was a scooter with some sort of sidecar turned into a minicart/carriage, with a little roof, used as a cheap taxi. It was pulling in outside the bungalows, carrying two passengers. A woman and a man stumbled out, obviously intoxicated. She was an attractive young woman with long dark hair, and he was tall, older than her. He looked Scandinavian or similar. He paid the driver with some difficulty while the woman was pawing at him, hanging on to him as if she might fall. He turned and kissed her passionately—even from here Adrien could see his tongue glinting—while the driver counted the money. Then they continued their stumbled walk into the resort. They were obviously TribeHutters, or at least one of them was, as this resort was reserved for them.

Adrien went to the bed and sat upright, got his Mac out. He checked the usual news feeds. It was still afternoon for Americans on the West Coast. He read an article about two guys whose app was taking the tech world by storm. Their faces looked idiotic.

 To continue reading about Adrien’s adventures and those of other digital nomads, grab The Paradise Chapter by Blake Salazar, written by a real-life digital nomad.

Blake Salazar is a European writer who managed, a few years ago, to throw off the shackles of the rat-race and travel the world as one of a growing breed of "digital nomads". Blake has a remote day job that allows them to work from anywhere, so they have chosen to be EVERYwhere. Blake has ticked off all continents from their bucket list, and shows no signs of stopping. The Digital Nomad Adventure series is their first work of fiction: the inspiration from this nomadic lifestyle was too much of a temptation!

 https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100066429552703

Twitter https://twitter.com/BlakeSalazar_

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