Travel Writing Book-of-the-Month Featured in past issues of The Traveler

2004 Sean Condon weaves an amusing, insightful, and self-deprecating story of his move with wife Sally from Australia to their new home in Amsterdam to work on a magazine that shut down shortly after their arrival. The travails of earning legal residency, finding gainful employment, and securing a decent place to live in this city of canals, cloudy weather, cannabis, and culture is a well told story of interest to all ex pats and ex pat wanna-be's. Condon is able to describe life in Amsterdam in intimate detail while giving the reader a look into his head as he ponders the meaning of his own life and his place in the world. My 'Dam Life: Three Years in Holland (Lonely Planet Journeys (Travel Literature)) Imagine driving 15,000 miles from Tierra del Fuego at the Southern tip of South America to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska; and doing it in less than twenty-five days fueled mostly on beef jerky and frozen milkshakes. Well, you don't have to imagine it because Tim Cahill has done it for you! Cahill's classic story of beating the Guinness Book of World Records for this drive with professional driver Gary Sowerby is a fun and humorous tale told by one of the masters of travel writing. This month's Travel Writing Pick is Road Fever (Vintage Departures) Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything. -Charles Kuralt It's Mike Marino's mission in life to stay off the interstate as much as possible and see everything. His insightful, informative, and lighthearted look on things has appeared in past Traveler issues and now are part of his new book. Mike's style embodies the best of the American Road, the pop culture that grew up around it, and what you'll find out there - off the interstate The Roadhead Chronicles: Popculture and Chrome Meet Asphalt and Art Travel is a learning experience, most times the lessons learned are learned the hard way. It always seems worth it in Ayun Halliday's account of her world travels; some would say her "bohemian" world travels and mean it as a high compliment - the only way to fly! Adventure is always best accompanied with a good laugh. Halliday delivers both with No Touch Monkey: And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late (Adventura Books Series). Read the account of famed travel writer - and Traveler favorite - Bill Bryson's account of journey to Africa as the guest of CARE International. Bryson arrived in Kenya with a set of mental images and expectations gleaned from television and low-budget Jungle Jim movies from his Iowa upbringing. All that was wiped away the instant he experienced the vibrant reality of Kenya and its people. This is a sometimes lighthearted, sometime serious, but always enlightening account of daily life in Africa. Bryson donates all proceeds of this book to CARE International. Africa is calling this month with Bill Bryson's African Diary Paul Theroux is on of the best travel writers ever to have trotted the globe and told the story of what he has discovered; both in himself and in the world. This is Theroux's first collection of essays and articles devoted entirely to travel writing. A Traveler favorite - Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings, 1985-2000 Our travel writing pick this month is a down-to-earth practical guide to traveling smart. Travel Wisdom is packed with useful information on things like packing like a pro, managing travel money, staying healthy while traveling, travel etiquette, dealing with setbacks, and much more. Humorous anecdotes are interspersed throughout. This book provides useful information for all travelers, especially those interested in group travel and cruising. Everyone will find something useful in Travel Wisdom: Tips, Tools, and Tactics for All Travelers Good travel writing is a window on the world. The best travel writing enlightens us and helps us to understand other places, people, and cultures. Sometimes it just helps us to understand ourselves and our own culture. The Best American Travel Writing series has been a regular Pick-of-the-Month for The Traveler, and this year is no different. The world is a funny, beautiful, dangerous, and sometimes tragic place. Explore it all in this collection of The Best American Travel Writing for 2003 Some people fancy themselves adventure travelers; Tim Cahill lives the life. In thirty entertaining essays, he takes us to the side of an active volcano in Ecuador, the vast salt mines of the Sahara, in search of of the Caspian Tiger in Turkey, giant centipedes in the Congo and a whloe lot more. There's even adventure to be found in a college writing class in Montana. Cahill's writing is self-effacing, humorous, and informative. If you can't live the life of an adventure traveler, then Tim Cahill is happy to do it for you - somebody's got to. Tim Cahill does it with Hold the Enlightenment Situated on little more than a shifting sand bar on the tip of Cape Cod. Incorporated in 1720, Provincetown is the actual landing site of the Pilgrims; having wintered here before crossing the bay to what is now Plymouth. Provincetown is a world set apart. A please of escape and rebirth, windswept and remote. Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer prize winner for his novel The Hours, takes us on a walk through Provincetown. The stark and compelling landscape, unique haunts, unusual denizens and their habits are shown in exquisite detail. Visit this most unique small American town with Land's End : A Walk In Provincetown Whimsical, humorous, entertaining, and informative. "The Shoes of Kilimanjaro" is a collection of "odd-ventures" experienced by the author. Cameron Burn's view of the world is just quirky enough to suggest to us that humor can be found in the most unlikely places. It can see us through our most vexing situations as we make our way in the world.. A good read and a lot of fun. The Shoes of Kilimanjaro & Other Oddventure Travel Stories back to the top 2003 We've had the opportunity to review an advance copy of a new book from first-time author Jeanine Lee Kitchel. Her tale is an engaging one that sparks everyone's imagination who has ever pondered the possibility of pulling up stakes and reinventing themselves in a new and exotic land. Follow Jeanine and her husband as they retire from the hustle and bustle of their silicon valley jobs and follow their quest to begin a new life in Puerto Morelos, a small fishing village on the Quintana Roo Coast, and to pursue the study of the Maya and the pyramids. This is an adventure that is fun to read, and an inspiration to anyone dreaming of the day when they can retire and live a quiet life in a new land. Where the Sky is Born: Living in the Land of the Maya This month we features Bryson's latest book "A Short History of Nearly Everything". Bryson takes us on the ultimate journey as he presents our current scientific understanding of the world around us. From the unimaginable vastness of the universe to the unbelievably infinitesimal and strange word of quarks and protons and all the tiny bits of matter that make up everything we see. It's a journey of discovery for the curious but scientifically untrained among us - which is most of us. Bill Bryson presents fascinating and complex ideas in his usual easy and humorous manner. Another highly recommended book for anyone the least bit curious about what makes our universe - and ourselves - tick. A Short History of Nearly Everything In keeping with our focus on autumn and fall color in North America, we offer as our pick this month one of the best guides to autumn with Autumn Leaves: A Guide to the Fall Colors of the Northwoods An anthology of travelers' tales from a most unique writing group known as Wild Writing Women. These twelve women travel the globe and bring their adventures to life in this collection of stories. From traveling through China on a motorcycle, to playing with fire on the edge of Volcano in Hawaii (a Traveler favorite), to experiencing the supernatural in Scotland and falling in love in Moscow, these women share their unique experience in a most entertaining and fascinating collection of stories. The Traveler Especially likes the fact that the Wild Writing Women are from his home town of San Francisco! A fine collection of stories from a great group of writers: Wild Writing Women, Stories of World Travel. Regular readers of TheTraveler know that I love Bill Bryson's writing. He makes you laugh and teaches you a thing or two in the process. He's just a joy to read! So what better pick this month than his highly acclaimed tale of walking the Appalachian Trail. It's great summer reading with A Walk in the Woods An inquiry into the human desire to travel and the ways in which the travel experience is affected by anticipation and memory presents a series of thought-provoking and humorous essays on airports, museums, landscapes, holiday romances, hotel mini-bars, and master artists, offering suggestions on how to render travel more fulfilling. The Traveler found this book a delight to read. The Art of Travel Critics either loved or hated Craig Nelson's account of his worldwide adventures; from exotic and remote Indonesia to the Amazon Jungle and deep inside east Africa. Nelson does occasionally leave the reader wondering just what he is trying to say, but this is mostly a humorous, entertaining, and informative traveler's tale. Let's Get Lost Travel to the South Seas, with tales of history and adventure. A look at the exploration of Captain James Cook in the South Seas in the late nineteenth century, and the irreversible impact that contact had on the native people living, until then, an existence in natural abundance, isolated from the rest of civilization. An interesting travel story and a great history lesson. Alan Moorehead's The Fatal Impact. A slight departure from the usual travel literature we feature at The Traveler but a departure well worth it. Learn of a quiet life on the Left Bank of Paris, the wonders of the piano, and the passion of those that care for them. The Piano Shop on the Left Bank. Bill Bryson is one of the premier travel writers of our time, his insightful humor brings a delightful and informative picture to wherever he is in the world. With In a Sunburned Country Bryson takes the reader through the history, culture, people, and awesome landscape of the land Down Under - Australia. Before you now it, you feel as if you've almost been there yourself. Bryson makes it look easy, and you always get a good laugh in the process. Highly recommended. In a Sunburned Country Think travel writers are always cool, always have it together when they journey to new places to write about? Not so! At least not all the time. This humorous and entertaining book tells of some travel disaster stories encountered by authors of the renowned Lonely Planet series of travel guides. Lonely Planet Unpacked An uplifting collect\ion to satisfy the wanderlust in those who travel for pleasure or business, as well as those who travel vicariously reading about the adventures of others - Chicken Soup for the Traveler's Soul. back to the top 2002 Hair-raising tales from of adventure! Travel memoirs from Robert Pelton, one of the world's foremost adventurists. The Adventurist - My Life in Dangerous Places Four essays about the wonders and mystery of New Mexico, with fifty full-color photos. Capture the spirit of New Mexico with New Mexico, Rio Grande & Other Essays Investigating the "green dreams", the well-intentioned but often misguided visions that inspire tourism in Central America. Green Dreams: Travels in Central America Paul Theroux travels (paddles, actually) the blue Pacific in The Happy Isles of Oceania Bill Bryson travels across Europe in Neither Here Nor There Mark Twain's classic, Letters From Hawaii A collection of the best in recent travel writing in the compilation issue of The Best American Travel Writing 2001 An insightful and humorous (downright hilarious at times) look at America, and a search for the perfect small town in Bill Bryson's The Lost Continent back to the top

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