In 1962, Brawley told his friends in San Francisco that he was going to set out on a trip "around the world backwards." When they asked what he meant, he said, "When I return to my starting point I believe I will have found my true self." Penniless, Brawley hitchhiked and worked his way from San Francisco to the Southern tip of Argentina, across the Atlantic, North Africa, Europe, the Middle East, South and East Asia, and the entire Soviet Union. When he returned to his starting point five years later, his friends asked if he had achieved his purpose in traveling around the world backwards. He said, "Yes, I believe I have. I'm going to become a writer.".
