Finding Katya: How I Quit Everything to Backpack the Former Soviet States 

Finding Katya: How I Quit Everything to Backpack the Former Soviet States by Katie R. Aune

This is the memoir of Katie R. Aune, who spent a year backpacking in Russia and the former Soviet Union republics. Katie is a lawyer with a high-paying job and friends but she leaves it all behind to satisfy her desire to travel. The wanderlust she feels pushes her to meticulously plan out nearly every detail of the trip from flight schedules, housing, even down to her budget for food. Katie has always dreamed of visiting Russia since she was young. She understands the Russian language  because she majored in Russian Studies in college. She has planned this trip for years and knows the history of the country and customs. Katie arranges accomodations in various homes by enrolling in an overseas volunteer organization to teach English. She will sleep in people’s houses in exchange for room and board and teaching English to adults.

Katie experiences a rough awakening in her first residency at a couple’s home in Saint Petersburg. The woman wrote Katie that she had two teens but when she arrives, Katie finds five children. Outdoor showers are common in Russia which means an hour-long wait until the boiler heats the water. Katie is used to the comforts of her Chicago condominum, so she’s shocked by the toilet, which is essentially a wooden shed with a seatless toilet, a veritable hole in the ground. Strange food does not agree with Katie due to her digestive condition so she lives on candy bars until she finds food she can eat. Thin blankets, unheated rooms and broken window glass that lets in rain and cold, further greet Katie in her first month homesteading. That’s not what the volunteer organization advertised on their website when Katie signed up. If she has to stay in a hotel, that will make a dent in her finances and possibly cut her dream trip short. But Katie decides she will endure whatever cultural surprises she encounters in the next year.

The book is written in a diary format where Katie tells the story of her experiences in each place she visits. Her dream of going to Asia comes true as she travels to each of the “stans” as the former Soviet republics are named by travelers. She visits Afghanistan, Turkmenistan and more until she crosses all those countries off her wish list. Katie also writes about what happened in Mongolia and Siberia. Strange people, cultures and unfamiliar customs both delight and shock Katie. She even has a romantic relationship and makes friends.

I wanted to read Finding Katya because the topic intrigued me. Like Katie, I traveled alone to a foreign country. Lithuania is a Central European country where I didn’t know anyone. The language is very strange. Their alphabet is Cyrillic, not our familiar ABC alphabet. I couldn’t make out anything on street signs or menus. I was part of a month-long writing workshop so I had daily contact with a few people. When Katie feels alone and second-guesses her decision to travel alone, I felt sympathy for her since I had a similar episode.

I loved reading about her meeting new people. Her admission that she’s an introvert may confuse readers. How could an introvert go on a journey to Europe and Asia alone? Introverts have a gift of usually being comfortable with themselves. Traveling solo requires the ability to spend long periods of time alone with no companion or someone to share experiences. Katie had no one as a guide or protector on this journey, only herself. She communicated with people everywhere she went, yet she alone was responsible for her own self-care and to be her own travel guide.

I thought it was significant how Katie mentioned that others called her Katya. They renamed her and she kept the name. Making decisions of where to go next, the type of transportation to use, and who to speak to or not, showed her independence and inner strèngth. The episode where Katie finds herself in a sleeper car on a train with drunk passengers was amusing. Nothing bad happened to her. Her first instinct was to try to ignore them. Instead, she reached out to the travelers and accepted their invitation to share a drink and a bit of dancing. That will be something special to talk about in the future. Not everyone gets to take a train ride across Russia and Asia.

I liked the descriptions of historic places and the geography of each country. Her portrayals of people and their customs made the book interesting. I was able to visualize the characters she met. The time she spent with a family in Tajikistan was amazing. She taught them English and in turn they welcomed her. She described the family so well and told about her feelings for them, that I felt like I was there with them. Katie used games to teach them English and accepted a gift of a hand-sewn dress the young girls made for her. When she had to leave, I felt like I was leaving also.

Katie writes about her bad experiences, not just the happy and good times. When she writes about meeting a man who she dates for awhile, it shows how she was open to new social relationships. Even when their relationship ends, Katie doesn’t give up and run home to the United States. She continues on her journey. I’m glad I had the chance to read Katie’s story.

Finding Katya is a wonderful book. 5 Stars!

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About the Author

Katie R. Aune is a recovering tax attorney who has worked in nonprofit and higher ed fundraising for more than a decade while also dabbling in travel blogging and writing. Despite not traveling overseas for the first time until she was 25, she has been to nearly 70 countries and all seven continents. Born and raised in Minnesota, Katie is currently based in Washington, D.C. and has a habit of rooting for sports teams that find ways to lose in devastating fashion.