Customer Reviews

There's No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled: The Best Travel Humor and Misadventure (Travelers' Tales Guides)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Subtitled, "...on the Road Less Traveled," this collection of short stories about the trials and tribulations of the somewhat unwitting, somewhat unknowing, and very amusing writers in odd moments is indeed a very enjoyable read.  I roared through Bill Bryson's (see RQP reviews dated in March 1999) attempts to buy a train ticket for Stockholm, and wept through his "walk" through Paris.  Dave Barry's attempts to "learn japanese in five minutes" will also leave most readers in tears of laughter.  We accompany David Foster Wallace on a Celebrity Cruise in the Carribean and are eternally grateful that we have never and now, WILL never take one ourselves.  We find out what Lara Naaman cooks up in Cuzco when the boyfriend's daliances are exposed, and we find ourselves with P.J. O'Rourke and his friend, Dorothy on a "holy" holiday from hell at a religious themepark called, Heritage USA (of Jim and Tammy Faye Baker infamy).  Called the 'best of travel humor and misadventure', this is the type of book that should be read on metros and airplanes; where bemused strangers, unable to contain their curiosity any further will beg you what you are reading.  A book to be shared with friends who have traveled and know that, while giggly funny, these stories DO happen, and they happen to all of us!   A fun gift for a traveler as well.

After the September 11th attacks on America, humor and laughter is both most needed and welcome, especially when traveling. To complain about your bum travel experiences is both expected and natural. To laugh at the your daunting faux pas is even chic; and, to get others to laugh at your inconveniences, discomfort and even down right dangerous experiences are cathartic. This book will not disappoint those who need a good laugh.

This is a collection of humorous stories for those who have been there, done that and deserve a `hell of a` of a lot more than a T-shirt. If you ever have been on a third world bus then Doug Lansky's piece is a must read. For you that have eaten everything that walks or crawls, Richard Sterling goes one further. And for you `Dave Berry' afficionados his "Failing to Learn Japanese" is a delight. Oh, yea, Bill Bryson's "Stroll Through Paris" is truely hilarious.

Like a third world road these twenty eight stories are not all level reading, there is the occasional rough and uneven story, but the majority are engaging and giddy. You will find this book a great read on the road. Recommended

Editor/compiler Doug Lansky says that "the object of this book was to put together a collection of stories by travelers who share a knack for finding the humor in their misadventures and pointing out the absurdities of travel." This is an anthology of different authors, so it's somewhat uneven. And what one reader thinks is hysterically funny, another could view as totally un-amusing..

Prior reviewers have complained of some bathroom humor. There is the cautionary Antarctic tale: "Blinded By the White" by Mary Roach: "Another reason to be wary of ice-sheet outhouses: seals occasionally use the opening in the ice as a blowhole. While there's nothing inherently dangerous about a suppositorial blast of hot seal breath, it is, in the words of one shaken veteran, `a disquieting way to start your day.'"

If you don't want to read about close encounters of the seal kind, what about The Life Everlasting? .P.J. O'Rourk's "Holy Holiday in Hell" tour of Jim & TammyFaye Land a/k/a Heritage USA is well work the price of admission.

Or here's Dave Barry's warning about London traffic: "Another cultural activity we frequently engaged in was looking the wrong way before attempting to cross the streets. ... The best way to handle this, as a tourist, is to remain on one side of the street for your entire visit, and see the other side on another trip."

Overall, the book is a humorous journey.

I bought this book in anticipation of a long and arduous car trip through the Canadian Rockies. The roads in that area are absolutely deadly to a car and more so to drivers. Hence, I was looking for something to read when my spouse took over the wheel, something amusing that would take my mind away from the 400 foot drop and the avalanches. This book is it. Sorta. A lot of these stories are of the "American Abroad" school: nope, it ain't like back home at all. This can be funny for awhile, but soon one starts asking why, if they hated not being able to order a Cheeseburger in English in Katmandu so much, did they bother going at all? Then there's those humorists who simply use travel as a hook for their funny stories. Simply put, these stories are the traveller's edition of "three guys go into a bar..." Humor has to be about more than cheap laughs, otherwise it becomes very stale very quickly. Simply put, this book is amusing for a while, but don't expect more than a fast, shallow read and then back to negotiating those hairpin turns

This relatively brief volume (184 pages in paperback) is the perfect departure-to-arrival gate light read - and I do mean light - for any plane prisoner wishing to isolate him/herself from the petty annoyances of modern day air travel, and harvest a few chuckles in the process. The travel misadventures described therein brought to my recollection the time I locked myself INSIDE my car in Portsmouth, England, the time I was grandly fleeced by gypsy pickpockets in Rome, and the experience of donating blood in Leningrad (St. Petersburg). I found the most amusing of the 28 stories to be Sterling's "The Deep Fried Potato Bug", Mayle's "The Great Goat Race", and Wallace's "Shipping Out". So, unless you're so unfortunate as to have never journeyed outside of you own neighborhood, you're sure to find something here that strikes a cord of sympathy or remembrance, or an outright funny-bone.

This collection of travel stories and essays by established writers is exactly what you would expect. A handful of the stories are real gems, but I found too many of them to be a little boring, and I'm not sure that the common thread of adventurous travel really comes through in some of the selections.

Highlights include two stories by the incomparable Bill Bryson, who has written several well-received books of his own, a story by editor Doug Lansky, and a bizarre story by Nigel Barley entitled "A Simian in the Cinema," which is about exactly that.

Other famous people whose writings were either less entertaining, or just didn't fit as well with the overall theme of the book, include Dave Barry, Steve Martin, P.J. O'Rourke, Margo Kaufman, Dennis Miller, and David Letterman. It should be noted that while all of these people and many more are cited on the back cover, the contribution of many of them is in the form of quotes and quips rather than actual stories.

As a big Bryson fan, I would say that his writings alone are worth the price of this paperback, but if you're looking for a consistent level of quality that truly represents the best in this genre, look elsewhere.

This is a collection of humourous travel stories by some pretty capable authors. They write from different perspectives and about places all over the world. I found them all amusing in one way or another, whether due to turn of phrase, comical circumstances or just flat-out ridiculousness of the moment. However, I like MAD Magazine, too, so this should be considered when deciding whether you would like the book.

Marked down a star only because it's moderately expensive for a book that's not especially thick. If you read a lot of travel essay books that are quite serious about it all, this will offer you a bit of amusing diversion.

This is a VERY funny collection of true stories. Many passages caused me to laugh out loud over the absurdity of situations that can occur on anyone's travels to unknown lands. When I wasn't laughing out loud, I was continually chuckling inside. These stories hit my funnybone in the way that only true misadventures can. And they strike a familiar chord for anyone who has spent even a short time traveling internationally, giving this book the welcome appeal of one big inside joke.

The collection spans the spectrum from everyday tales of language difficulties that we all face (these stories include encounters in London, Italy, India, and others) to zany stories of taking a monkey to the movies in Cameroon, meeting a "General" in Italy, and an alien abductee policeman in Peru. We hear of an Irishman's hardship in Virginia. P.J. O'Rourke tells of a vacation to Heritage USA. And a few of the unfortunate story-tellers have the honor of reliving their humiliation as the locals repeatedly retell the story for the amusement of all comers.

The writers range from the famous (e.g. Dave Barry) to the lesser-known. We are also treated to short tidbits scattered throughout the book, including a few "Deep Thoughts" from Saturday Night Live's Jack Handey.

An extremely entertaining book that I can whole-heartedly recommend to anyone who enjoys travel and humor.

Great humor infuses these widely different but generally very enjoyable tales of travel travail.

Right from the start, the introduction sets the mood with one tiny vignette: how did one person deal with a public toilet in the Amsterdam library? It's a side-splitting tale that succeeds brilliantly when read aloud.

There are many wonderful tidbits in this collection (by some acclaimed writers), a few odd losers, but on balance this is a great book to infuse a little humor into the ever-unpredictable realm of travel.

Absolutely first rate as a travel companion. I laughed aloud often.

Here is a colletion of travelers tales many of which will at least force a grin on your face. Most of the stories are short thereby offering you an opportunity to get a quick read while on a fifteen minute break at work. While there won't be any great revelations made, people who regularly travel ought to be able to relate.

The book is comprised of republished stories of known authors (e.g. P.J. O'Rourke, Art Buchwald, Dave Barry). Therefore if you are a fan of a particular author you won't see anything new here. Barry's work, for example, comes form Dave Barry does Japan. That is not to say it is less funny, it just isn't new if you've read his other works.

Granted there are a some boring ones in here. O'Rourke's tale and the Duck of Peace, however, make up for those few which cause you to wonder why you are reading this. If you do find yourself wondering why you are reading the book though, take heart in the words from the hilarious introduction. "In short, if there's a story in here you don't find particularly funny, rest assured that our careful, mind-numbing research found that several people nearly wet themselves while reading it."