Travelogger

We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.

Good Reads that Make It OK to Stay Home

By

I have not had a trip in 3 months and I have been feeling really bad about it. We were supposed to go to the beach last week but our circumstances prevented us from doing so and we had to cancel flights that we had booked in advance. The next trip we are planning isn’t due till the end of the year – not really too far in the future but far enough for me. Anyway, in order to find some solace, I looked up some books that would help me cope. To my delight, I discovered a couple that have great potential.

One is Don’t Go There! Written by Peter Greenberg, the book’s full title is “Don’t Go There! The Travel Detective’s Essential Guide to the Must-Miss Places of the World.” He lists “which cruise ships are cited most often for outbreaks of intestinal viruses; which highways have high accident rates; which hotels are known for bedbugs; and which cities and countries are the most polluted, dangerous and diseased.”

Another potential series, according to this article that I read:

Since 1994, a small Michigan-based publisher, RDR Books, has been publishing a series called “I Should Have Stayed Home.” Two new editions were added this year: “I Should Have Stayed Home Hotels: Hospitality Disasters at Home and Abroad” and “I Should Have Stayed Home Food: Tantalizing Tales of Extreme Cuisine” ($14.95 each). “Collectively these stories have become a national archive of trouble travel,” said Publisher Roger Rapoport.

I suppose schadenfraude (happiness in the misfortune of others) applies in this case. In simple English, entertaining myself while sour graping… 🙂

Gift Ideas: Best Travel Books

By

Still thinking of what to give your friends this Christmas? You can never go wrong with books, especially if your friends love to travel. The Guardian has a feature article today about the best travel books according to some of the leading travel authors today. You can’t get any better than that, can you? Here are some of the books in the list.

Empires of the Indus by Alice Albini
Chosen by William Dalrymple, this book is described as “a fabulously thoughtful, learned, perceptive and stereotype-breaking book which follows the Indus from its delta on the coast of Sindh up to its source in Chinese-occupied Tibet.” He got me at “stereotype-breaking.”

The Man in Seat 61 by Mark Smith
This was chosen by the author of the first book on the list, Alice Albini. Why did she choose this book? “The book is a straightforward guide to taking the train through Europe, and lays out all the cultural, environmental – and sometimes even economical – reasons for doing so. Skimming along the railroads of the world suddenly seems not just morally-superior (and thus off-putting) but also interesting, easy and fun. I am giving it for Christmas to all the short-haul flight addicts I know.” I have always wanted to travel by train so this book seems to be a logical choice for like minded people.

There are other books on the list which may catch your interest but for me, I think that I shall check the local bookstore for these two later on.