Book excerpt: Lee Meriwether boards a steamer in Brooklyn for Italy in 1886 and begins a whirlwind tour of Europe, traveling through Germany, Turkey, Greece, Austria, England, Hungary, and more, all for just 50 cents a day. Meriwether is the original college-dropout whose adventures created a blueprint for generations of travelers from the hippies of the 1960s to today?s backpacking students. Among his many adventures, he describes escaping a jail sentence in Italy, climbing a volcano at midnight, and attending a?Free Ireland? rally in England. His keen observations and knack for traveling on the cheap make this is a hilarious memoir, a unique travel guide, and an irresistible look into the past.