Customer Reviews

Are We There Yet?: Perfect Family Vacations and Other Fantasies

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The premise of Scott Haas' book is not catchy or thrilling but I bought it anyway after scanning a few excerpts. He writes about several vacations he has taken with his family over a period of 14 years.

There are three things that Haas brings out in his book that make it irresistable: 1) travel descriptions about places and adventures that sound wonderful (or so horrible we are grateful NOT to be there), 2) "watching" his family grow, and 3) his personality that comes through the pages.

Scott Haas is self-deprecating, humble, funny, confident, funny and honest. Although the book is mainly about traveling with his family, when he writes about them it is not sweeteningly obnoxious. Nor is he arrogant and smug when describing his travels and family.

His anecdotes, observations and descriptions are wonderful and sometimes hilarious - I definitely recommend this book!

I found Scott Haas's book to be an original account of one's adventures nd mishaps with a family. Too often books about traveling with a family take us to amusement parks, fast food spots, and arcades. In Are We There Yet? we learn of the exciting possibilties of staying on a farm in Switzerland, walking the streets of Venice early in the morning, and exploring the Greek Islands. True, thre are mishaps and arguments along the way, but there are also tender moments between loved ones. The dialoque is crisp and bittersweet. I found myself laughing aloud as I read this thinking it would be fun to see this family live on stage.

If, like me, you've daydreamed about your family swapping houses with other families in foreign countries, this funny, informative travel memoir may help you make that dream a reality. The account of one family's travel adventures over the course of a decade confirms my sense that living for a month or so like a local in another country would be much more culturally interesting than hotel travel - and definitely more affordable. Not to say that this family does things on the cheap. Their food expenditures in particular are hardly in the "affordable" category. Evidently the author is primarily a food writer and critic and his tastes reflect that. I can't say I know much about that topic. But all you "foodies" out there should enjoy his sensual description of some of his peak dining experiences.

Thoroughly enjoyable. Didn't want the book to end. As a result of both his keen and sometimes quirky sense of humor, sensitivity and sensibilities, Dr. Haas was able to draw me in to the point where I felt that I was present with him and his family as they travelled around the world. I found myself out of breath as I hiked with them, visualized the sites, experienced the smells, tastes and emotions. His brutal honesty about his experience of the world, about his family and their interactions and disclosure of the inner workings of his mind are refreshing. Almost nothing is sugar coated. I'm left wondering where they're off to next.

This book is all about the -- sometimes dark -- humor that can come out of family travel. Haas isn't perfect, and his family isn't, either, but they are a lot of fun to travel with. Pick this up for your next trip, or for some armchair travel of your own.

Thank goodness I only borrowed this book from the library, or I'd be mad at myself for throwing away $14! You would think this would be a very useful book right now, given as I'm about to go on vacation with my family of 5 for a week; if not at least useful, I was hoping for funny. NOT! Talk about poor taste. Unless you like reading re-creations of entire conversations where the rest of the authors obnoxious family is whining about the very idea of going to Switzerland (again!), skip this book and spend the time looking over travel websites with your family instead! :/

I don't usually review books I don't like - it seems a bit mean, after all someone does like these books and it doesn't seem right to be condemning something simply because I just didn't like it. But I have just been reading a whole lot of travel stuff by Bill Bryson, Peter Mayle etc, and this book was stuck in the pile by a friend who wondered what I would think of it.

I really didn't find it funny at all, I found the author to be almost arrogant, both in his ignorance and in his judgements. I also found that he didn't compare well to travel authors who I find genuinely funny (Bill Bryson, Peter Mayle, Tim Cahill for instance).

There were some things I found seemed like set up jokes - his belief that he and his wife had delivered a cone headed baby - a freak....I'm sorry but I just don't think there is anyone in this world who could possibly have been having a baby and not known or understood the process....it just didn't ring true.

And there were instances in it which I found just horrible, rude and unnecessary - leaving a pizza place without paying because the place was busy and their food hadn't arrived - then writing about it as though it was some kind of triumph to not pay. It just didn't seem right to me.

I think my problem is he didn't go through the landscape poking gentle fun at things and being self-deprecating. He just seemed to be brash - and that made him seem a rather ugly traveller to me.

I wouldn't recommend this book as a good read to anyone - it just didn't appeal at all. And I have to admit I gave up on it p166.

After reading about the book in a column by Bella English in The Boston Globe, I bought the book. It is extremely funny. As a teacher and parent, I recommend it highly for families.

I've had the black plague and let me assure you: it was not as much fun as reading this book. Also: most people in the world are very annoying, as the reader from southern NJ illustrates, albeit ironically. Haas simply documents observations of these annoying people. And to suggest Haas is a block of ice is inaccurate. A block of ice is frozen water. Haas is flesh and blood. The book does not read like a phone book at all. A phone book is not nearly as entertaining. Had Evelyn Waugh had a family and traveled with them and then written about that, the book would have been much like this one. It is not a travel book. It is a satire.

I found this book MOST obnoxious. Haas is your typical 60's Liberal - spending $700 for a meal, then moaning and groaning about capitalism while complaining about substandard food or accomodations in other countries, apologizing to "America Bashers" for our standards of living and ethics, and generally being ashamed of our country while abroad. Gad! Live somewhere else, then! And the way he's raised his kids - yikes! When small, he got them to badger his wife to remove her bathing suit on a French beach - "Look! Mommy's naked!". He doesn't hesitate to take them to vile Broadway productions but makes it a point to belittle and sneer at religious beliefs of others. His children continually sass him and show little or know respect for others - talk about Ugly Americans! "This place sucks!" charming little Nick tells the British owner of a house they're renting. Definitely a book written by a man with messed up values and priorities - and Haas? You're an old geezer - we aren't interested in where or how often you and your wife are intimate.