Being Amanda in Europe is the first in a planned series of self-labeled "reality travel" books authored and edited by the adventure-oriented Gilstrap family of Phoenix, Arizona. The emotional, yet consistently humorous, journal follows the family's attempts to remain actively involved in each other's lives during 19-year-old Amanda's colorful "study abroad" college travels. Based out of one the most beautiful college campus locations in the world (Gaming, Austria at the base of the Alps), Amanda eventually traveled with classmates to and through 12 countries. The book reveals her spirited determination to make the most out of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. During the journey, she goes cliff jumping on the Italian coast, bikes through rural Ireland, samples Guinness Beer in Dublin, eats crepes at the base of the Eifel Tower in Paris, and visits many Catholic shrines and historic sites.