Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus: Confessions of a Tour Leader [Paperback]

Brian Thacker (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2002

Brian Thacker confesses all as he reveals the best (and worst) of 20 trips as a tour leader around Europe. He tells how he fed passengers horse meat spag bol, hamburgers made from breakfast cereal and roosters' testicles; how he left a passenger standing by the side of a motorway in France for 3 hours in his underwear clutching a purple toothbrush and how, along the way, he lost his driver, his cook, his bus, ten brightly coloured canal bikes, a large church and eventually his patience.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Hilarious observations about European travel" -- Travel & Leisure

"Takes readers along for a jolly ride" -- USA Today

About the Author

Brian Thacker has vast writing experience: he has written more than 1,000 postcards in his travels. He has worked as a tour leader, ski guide, advertising art director, silver service waiter, painter, barman, paper shredder, newspaper delivery boy, and butcher's assistant.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Allen & Unwin (April 28, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1865085537
• ISBN-13: 978-1865085531
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,130,295 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Thacker is a travel author based in Melbourne (when he's not gallivanting around the world). After many years working as an art director in advertising, Thacker worked as a tour leader escorting busloads of drunk Aussies around Europe. That 'experience' became his first best-selling book, Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus (2001). Since then, the author has written five other books including Planes, Trains and Elephants (2002), The Naked Man Festival (2004), I'm Not Eating Any of That Foreign Muck (2005), Where's Wallis? (2006) and Sleeping Around (2009). His books have been translated into German, Thai, Mandarin and Slovenian. Aside from being an author, Thacker is a regular speaker at writer's festivals around the country and overseas, and runs travel-writing workshops across Australia. Thacker's accolades include the Australian Society of Travel Writer's 2009 Travel Book of the Year for Sleeping Around and inclusion into the Top 10 Travel Books of All-Time in the 'Traveller Blog' of the Sydney Morning Herald/The Age for Rule No.5 No Sex on the Bus.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hysterical laughs from this retired road warrior, September 16, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus: Confessions of a Tour Leader (Paperback)

I spent 2 years traveling all over the globe, and Thacker's stories are some of the funniest I have ever heard. This is a non-stop laugh-a-page book, and your insides will hurt afterward from all the stories. True blue Aussie humor, and a great read over and over!!!!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Who Wouldn't Want a Sexy Romp?, September 10, 2002

By 

Alex Buonafortuna (Tampa, FL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus: Confessions of a Tour Leader (Paperback)

Brian Thacker joyfully recounts his adventures through Holland, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, and France in his compendium of tour-leader wisdom. He offers countless tidbits of advice (never leave your pasta unattended, head for the Macdonald's if you need a clean bathroom, include Bavaria on your German itinerary). He describes the perils of pretending to speak French (he ordered sixty baguettes instead of six) and advising his charges to "get lost." (He meant for them to wander through Venice without worrying about the map, but instead they missed the last vaporetto.) His only heartfelt complaint is that his passengers would ask him numerous ridiculous questions (Will my brother like this shirt?). Luckily, he was able to get revenge in many different ways. For example, he claimed that "Ausfahrt" was the name of a German town (it means "exit"), then delighted in watching the passengers' bewilderment as they kept passing towns of the same name! For would be tour-leaders, he offers tricks of the trade, such as re-Christening any church you can't remember the name of. As to Rule #5, perhaps it is impossible. On his tours, it was broken most often by his own bus driver!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very funny, enjoyable, quick read., August 1, 2002

By 

[e-mail] (San Jose, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rule No. 5: No Sex on the Bus: Confessions of a Tour Leader (Paperback)

Fun book about the adventures and misadventures of a European tour guide. Some really hilarious situations and some really unbelievably ignorant and shameless tourists. Some great tips on places to go and things to see. Enjoyed the book a lot! Four and 1/2 stars!