Customer Reviews

Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dave Fox's stories had me laughing out loud. And any book that can do that is worth having.

I've done a lot of traveling myself and can appreciate Fox's take on it. Most often, visiting a foreign land is not a life and death experience although it can feel like one and certainly several times WAS for Fox. I loved traveling vicariously with him--all the pleasure without the personal pain!

Fox is a freelance writer and works for the Rick Steves travel organization. After zipping through his book, I might be more inclined to read more of his stories than to sign on his next trip!

If you're looking for a book to top off your summer reading, this is one to enjoy.

Please be careful which edition of this book you buy. The first edition (with sheep on the cover) was self-published and self-edited. The new edition (with a crazy-looking cow on the cover) went through a more thorough, professional editing process and was published by a more reputable publisher. The writing and editing are much better in the second (cow) edition.

If you are into collecting limited edition books, autographed copies of the first edition are available at davesbook.com, but if you are ordering from Amazon and want the most polished edition of this book, just say moo! Be sure to order the second edition, published by Inkwater Press. (On Amazon, there are links between the two editions on each edition's page.)

The best way to summarize my feelings about LETTING GO is to say that it is a totally enjoyable read. It's witty. It's clever. It's funny. And it's informative.

Dave Fox has a gift for sharing his travel adventures with the reader. His personal style combines with a warm and very active sense of humor to place the reader right alongside Dave as he explores, for example, the ancient and mysterious streets of Istanbul, allowing one to experience the sights, sounds, and smells of a foreign culture.

You laugh. You learn. You laugh some more. And you don't want it to end.

Many things can go wrong when traveling. Dave Fox seems to have a penchant for finding them, living through them, laughing about them, and then telling others about them. He's daring, foolhardy, and funny. I enjoyed his book but came away with a nagging question; how can anybody get so fouled up mentally and physically and go back for more? Play on, Dave.

Schuyler T. Wallace

This is the sort of book that - for me - is great to read just a few chapters right before sleep, in hopes of conjuring up travel dreams. "Getting Lost" brought back so many forgotten travel memories of my own, as well as inspired me to plan for some long-overdue travel this coming year. Read this book! And be ready for some good laughs. "Getting Lost" definitely goes on my top 10 list for this year!

Let me define my idea of a really good book.

In order for a book to be considered "really good," I must be so into reading it that I completely forget about all the work I should be doing instead of reading. While reading Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad, I sort of forgot to get out of bed until 11:30 in the morning. Unfortunately for me this was a Monday.

Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad is an honest, forthright account of the author's many travel adventures, from childhood to present day. It's easy to read, flows well, and the author did a marvelous job of leaving mundane details out of it. Every chapter tells a complete story of one of Dave's real life journeys and leaves you feeling like you went along for the ride. From age 8 to adulthood, you become part of this world traveler's apprehension as he throws himself into (or his parents throw him into) unfamiliar territory time and time again. His bravery is to be commended. Best of all, Dave unfolds his adventures using a subtle, witty sense of humor. The optimal way to describe it is to say he makes light of otherwise sticky situations in a way that will make you chuckle out loud, and at the same time, you as a reader, will never be offended.

What makes this book really unique is that there are some small drawings with handwritten sidebar notes, much like a real travel journal might be. Dave starts his book by taking you to England, where at age 8, he lived for a year with his family and was faced with wearing tights for the school play. Other highlights include: 1) an incredible exchange program experience he had in Norway, where he had his first experience consuming alcoholic beverages with other high school students; 2) meeting some strange characters in Iceland; and 3) an experience eating at a salad bar in Turkey that would change his life - not in a good way. And there are many others.

Dave wants you to know that "When you travel, things go wrong." And no one knows that better than he. (At this point I am wondering how many frequent flyer miles he has accumulated.)

If you should ever meet up with this world traveler on one of your overseas flights, rest assured - you will not likely see him enjoying a plate of salmon pasta. Hint: read the last chapter of Getting Lost: Mishaps of an Accidental Nomad.

Dave Fox is an award-winning humor and travel writer, and public speaker. He spends several months in Europe each year as a tour guide for Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door. A former news anchor for Wisconsin Public Radio, he has written for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and book publishers. He won the Erma Bombeck Writers' Workshop Book Proposal Contest in 2004, sponsored by the University of Dayton, Ohio. When he is not traveling, Dave teaches classes to those who want to learn more about journal writing. Dave also wrote Globetrotting: How to Write Extraordinary Travel Journeys (and Still Have Time to Enjoy Yourself) as well as the Fox that Quacked: Essays from Planet Earth. (I even interviewed the author on my blog.)

Getting Lost is a excellent book...I took a trip to Europe with my daughter in 2008 and ended up meeting Dave Fox, he was our tour guide for the trip. During the 2 weeks that we traveled around Europe with Dave he told some great stories and has a very good sense of humor. I ended up purchasing one of his books for my step-mother (I am not a book kinda guy). I ended up reading the first chapter and relized that Dave has had some pretty good adventures in traveling. I think that I have only read about 6 books since school and decided that on the long trip back to the U.S. that I was going to read as much of this book as possible. I ended up finishing the whole book and was able to honestly tell my step-mother how good the book was when I gave it to her. Dave Fox is a very good author and tour-guide and seems to be a great guy to hang with when out traveling.

Every spring I get the bug to travel to destinations far and wide. Of course, my travel in limited by budget and time, so it was such a delight to find this travel novel. Dave Fox certainly knows how to take you through travel mishaps and the world in a fun and informative way. Based on his entertaining style and engaging stories, I would sign up to travel with him anywhere in the world. Of course, I would be sure to bring with me enough money to fly home in case I, too started an international incident like Dave did. You can't go wrong with this book.

I was a bit disappointed that this was not a very humorous account of his travels. He is not to be compared with Bill Bryson or his peers. Fell short in a variety of ways, just not that interesting.