Customer Reviews

I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of Great Writers (Travel Literature Series)

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

 

 

These stories are so incredible you just know they have got to be true. No one could ever make up the raining scorpians, rivers of vomit or very private events in very public places. This was one of the more hilarious and interesting books I have read in a loooong time. It's just like sitting down and sharing favorite international (and national) travel-stories-from-hell with some friends you just made at the airport while waiting for yet another adventure to begin.

The stories in this book fall into one of three catagories:1. Gross - vomit, cockroaches, excrement. A little of this goes a LONGway. And believe it or not, once you've read one fire ant story, you've pretty much read them all. 2. Dumb - Helen Gurley Brown's husband's shaving cream explodes in his suitcase. And then she has to stand in line in Madras, India to upgrade their flight from economy to first class. Oh the agony! 3. Irrelevant - stories that begin by saying something to the effect "Well, I never really had a bad experience but..." and they go on to describe a fairly mundane event. (Isabel Allende and Barbara Kingsolver in particular.)

I have more interesting travel stories than most of these people! The book was disappointingly dull. For a funny read, with some grim tales to tell, get a copy of "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson, who describes his and a friend's adventures on the Appalachian Trail.

The backcover text describes this book as a "...hilarious anthology...". However this is not a humorous book, let alone a hilarious one. The stories, written in the literary equivalent of a monotone, are simply dreary tales of other people's misfortunes, which after a few chapters become tedious. One particularly unmemorable story was entirely devoted to the author's encounters with human excrement in Nepal. The book's anthology format - a different "great writer" for each chapter - works against it. There is no consistent style, unless one considers bland writing a style. It _is_ possible to take travel misadventures and put a humorous spin on them (Carl Franz, "The People's Guide to Mexico", which is a great guide to boot) or even turn them into high comedy (Dave Barry "Dave Barry Does Japan"), but the authors of this book fell far short of the mark.

This is a must-read for anyone who has ever bought a ticket for the wrong bus, ordered a tractor on toast, or mistaken a brothel for a bargain pensione.

One hilarious, laugh-out-loud episode after another! A great companion reader to have along on your next vacation abroad. Good variety of locales, plots, and writing styles.

I keep giving this as gifts--partly because the short tales are managable for any reader, even those who read on a treadmill. Light-hearted, incredible but true, in good taste for the most part.

I'm surprised by how many people are down on this book. I found a copy of this book while winding up a trip to Honduras on the island of Roatan. It was in the lending library of the Sea Grape Plantation Inn, and with a title like that, I just had to look at it. Stories like the bus ride in central Mexico with the American hating passenger saying "I hate Keesenger(Kissinger)!" the whole way made me laugh.

It's not fine literature people, it's just for fun. :)

Some interesting stories here, and even some funny ones.

However, you're going to see highly-educated writers employing vulgar language from time to time. If you think it's trendy and counter-cultural to use the F-word in literature, then this book is for you.

Also, some writers are writing more to complain then they are to describe an actual horrible travel experience. Helen Gurley Brown whines about how shaving cream got on her husband's clothes in his suitcase and how she had to wait in line in India to upgrade the tickets on their flight. Ridiculous for someone who was all about creating an image of women years ago that was the opposite of her behavior in the India piece.

Another author complains of initially being denied admission to the Rainbow Room because she was under-dressed. She was allowed in, though. Things like this make it hard for the common reader to identify and relate to parts of this book - everyone travels, but not as pretentiously as others.

This is a very enjoyable anthology and I'm going to look for some of the others in the series. There is a spectrum of stories here ranging from hilarious through okay but overall 90% hit the spot. Anyone who travels has had these experiences, will relate, and make plane reservations for their next destination. We love the Tony Wheeler (Lonely Planet) finish - "There was the time I lost my 10 year old daughter on the Paris Metro, but that is for another story" - of course we had lost our 10 year old son on the Paris Metro 3 years ago.

Great fun. Very short tales of harrowing vacations and trips to exotic places that are funny, frightening, and exciting. Each is a great read. I found myself looking forward to the next chapter; each written by a different travel expert.

No one ever plans a bad trip. Getting stranded without a place to stay. Losing luggage. These are just normal mishaps. For those who've spent a lifetime writing and telling about it, to be a "worst trip" the disasters have to be of epic proportions. Thus, this anthology was born.
The story I end up telling about my latest trip is always of the unexpected. So, with these stories, the unexpected becomes the most memorable, the funniest, or saddest, or most uncomfortable, or dire.
While travel magazines and websites are filled with happy talk, I should have stayed home is believable. Jan Morris has the last word: "nothing bad ever happens to me." She puzzles as to why her experiences are unlike most in the book.
Roger Rapoport finds himself in a sea of couples and places made for coupling when he visits Maui right after he and his wife decide to divorce. Joe Gores has trouble getting out of Africa. Richard Harris is suspect at the Nogales border crossing because of something in his gear. Jeff Greenwald takes an electric bath in Japan. Isabel Allende remembers a European trip on $1 a day. And, how about Muriel Dobbin's round the world trip on Air Force One with President Johnson?
Each story is told with rueful humor by someone who has experienced something unexpected on a trip and realizes that's really what we travel for.
Rick Steves, Paul Theroux, Molly Giles, Georgia Hesse, and more entertain the readers often with their own discomfort, or errors, or mishap. It's well worth the read, And, keep it in mind the next time something doesn't go right on your trip.
RVing Solo Across America . . . without a cat, dog, man, or gun