It was 1969, the Vietnam War was raging, and only months away from the first moon landing when 19 year old Paul Gorman left home on a cross-country hitchhiking trip to Europe. As a harbinger of things to come, eighteen hours later he was a fugitive after a 120 mph car chase between cops and ex-convicts.Shortly after landing in Luxembourg, Gorman headed south to escape Northern Europe's winter. He settled in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria Spain. Not only were prices cheap there, but it was crawling with attractive bikini clad Scandinavian girls. What could be better if you were a teenage American boy. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before he was nearly broke.
Along came a young Canadian from Quebec, named Danny. Even more broke than Gorman was, he had a nefarious scheme to make money, all he needed was an investor. Gorman gave his last $20 to the auburn-haired stranger with a white mustache. The son of a wealthy ALCAN executive, Danny's plan worked, and the two lived off the proceeds for nearly six weeks. But after Danny left the island, Gorman found himself out of money again and resorted to a petty crime that landed him in notorious Prisión de Barranco Seco. Faced with up to six years and one day in one of Franco's detention centers, in stepped the U.S. State Department, with an intriguing plan to win his release. Their dealings worked, and a month later Gorman was released.
Since then, Gorman has only heard once from Danny. About a year after Gorman returned home, Danny called and left a message that he was passing through town and was at the airport. By the time Gorman got the message, Danny's flight had already departed. Now, Gorman hopes his book will reconnect him with his long lost friend.
Asked why he wrote the book, Gorman said, "The experiences I had there are forever etched in my memory. It feels like they happened yesterday. I still can't believe I actually did the things I did. That’s why I had to write the book. I had to put it into a context that fit the person I’ve become. The experience changed my life for the better."
Along the lines of "Catch Me If You Can, "Into The Wild" and "Midnight Express", Gorman's book, "Into Trouble" was edited by Barbara Noe Kennedy, previously a senior editor with National Geographic and currently editor of the best seller, “Bad Karma: A Trip to Mexico from Hell.”
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