or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
230 used & new from $0.01

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Express Checkout with PayPhrase
What's this? | Create PayPhrase
Sorry!
Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get your Kindle here.
 
  

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman (Paperback)

~ Alice Steinbach (Author) "Each morning I am awakened by the sound of a tinkling bell..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, Spanish Steps, Freya Stark (more...)
3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)

List Price: $15.00
Price: $10.20 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
You Save: $4.80 (32%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Tuesday, November 10? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
70 new from $0.99 159 used from $0.01 1 collectible from $14.95

Formats

Amazon Price New from Used from
  Hardcover -- $5.37 $0.01
  Paperback $10.20 $0.99 $0.01

Best Value

Buy Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman and get Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman at an additional 5% off Amazon.com's everyday low price.

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman + Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman
Buy Together Today: $19.86

Show availability and shipping details

  • This item: Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details

  • Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman

    In Stock.
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
    Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details


Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone

Nothing to Declare: Memoirs of a Woman Traveling Alone

by Mary Morris
Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World

by Rita Golden Gelman
3.9 out of 5 stars (133)  $10.17
The Miss Dennis School of Writing: And Other Lessons from a Woman's Life

The Miss Dennis School of Writing: And Other Lessons from a Woman's Life

by Alice Steinbach
4.7 out of 5 stars (3)  $18.36
East Toward Dawn: A Woman's Solo Journey Around the World (Adventura Books)

East Toward Dawn: A Woman's Solo Journey Around the World (Adventura Books)

by Nan Watkins
4.0 out of 5 stars (4)  $11.21
Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark (Modern Library Paperbacks)

Passionate Nomad: The Life of Freya Stark (Modern Library Paperbacks)

by Jane Geniesse
4.5 out of 5 stars (35)  $10.85
Explore similar items

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a travel-book-cum-memoir set against a glamorous background of European cities, Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Steinbach describes the months she spent traveling after she took a sabbatical from her job as columnist for the Baltimore Sun. For Steinbach, traveling is an exercise in reconnecting with a more independent and uninhibited side of her personality. Her not-quite-spontaneous adventure begins in Paris, where she finds a kindred spirit in a worldly Japanese businessman. From there she heads off to Oxford, where she takes a course in English village life, and on to Milan, where she meets the most charming of her fellow travelers, a young American girl soon to be married. The obstacles Steinbach faces on her journeys seem minor--overcoming a fear of ballroom dancing in Oxford and putting aside the habit of always doing "at least two things at once." Only in Milan, when she was nearly mugged, does Steinbach experience anything harrowing. Though the descriptions of each locale are thin, they are not really the purpose of this memoir; rather, the author's intent is to connect emotionally with each city and to learn "to take chances. To have adventures [and] to see if I could still hack it on my own, away from the security of work, friends and an established identity." Supplying more finely observed details might have made this a richer book, but the writing is generally optimistic, warm and genuine in a Chicken-Soup-for-Travelers kind of way. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


From Library Journal

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Steinbach took an extended leave from her newspaper job to travel around Europe in search of spontaneity. She started off in Paris, where she got romantically involved with a Japanese man and shopped; moved on to London, where she shopped some more; took a course at Oxford University; and headed to Italy, where she wandered through Milan, Venice, Rome, and the Tuscan countryside--and shopped a bit more. Chapters begin with postcards sent to Alice from Alice, each with a bit of advice or a lesson learned. Steinbach, divorced and with grown children, appears to be much at ease traveling alone, making new friends along the way. Her mental journey through the past and present and the reassessment of her life, rather than descriptions of the places visited or the people met, are at the heart of the narrative. This pleasant, slightly romantic, but unremarkable journey will find an audience in large public libraries. (Photographs not seen..
---Linda M. Kaufmann, Massachusetts Coll. of Liberal Arts Freel Lib., North Adams
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 295 pages
  • Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (March 12, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0375758453
  • ISBN-13: 978-0375758454
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 0.7 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (84 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #42,855 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

    #27 in  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Travel
    #98 in  Books > Outdoors & Nature > Travel > Adventure

Inside This Book (learn more)


What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman
74% buy the item featured on this page:
Without Reservations: The Travels of an Independent Woman 3.6 out of 5 stars (84)
$10.20
Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World
17% buy
Tales of a Female Nomad: Living at Large in the World 3.9 out of 5 stars (133)
$10.17
Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman
4% buy
Educating Alice: Adventures of a Curious Woman 3.5 out of 5 stars (22)
$10.17
Go Your Own Way: Women Travel the World Solo
3% buy
Go Your Own Way: Women Travel the World Solo 4.6 out of 5 stars (5)
$10.85

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
 

Your tags: Add your first tag
 

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

84 Reviews
5 star:
 (32)
4 star:
 (22)
3 star:
 (7)
2 star:
 (8)
1 star:
 (15)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (84 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
98 of 103 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars I loved this book but....., April 15, 2000
By Jean Brown (Falls of Rough, KY United States) - See all my reviews
As you can tell by the 5 Stars I loved this book and was loathe to reach the end, I was so involved in the life and travels of Alice Steinbach.Reaching the last words of the first section, Paris, I was sad knowing her other places of destination could never be so interesting, I was wrong, each had their own charm. The one *reservation* I have, I don't think she succeeded in finding her way as the independent woman she was seeking. She seemed to find at each stop along the way others to validate who she is. That said it takes nothing away from the book...One comes away knowing Alice and feeling she would be a wonderful friend. In fact I must have three more copies, two for friends I know will love it and one for myself..the copy I read I marked so many passages and made so many notes in the margins I want another copy in pristine condition not only wonderfully readable this book is lovely to look at, each chapter begins with the picture of a beautiful postcard...and the messages Alice wrote and mailed to herself, a wonderful idea! Another book by Alice Steinbach I read and enjoyed Miss Dennis School of Writing and Other Lessons from A Woman's Life, I saw no mention of this on the book jacket or in the book but I think after reading Without Reservations the reader will want to seek out more by this writer.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars With Many Reservations, January 10, 2005
By Annie M. "Annie M" (Concord, NH USA) - See all my reviews
A previous reviewer is right - the title of the book is utterly misleading. Steinbach left her home and job for a year abroad with tons of reservations - both figurative and literal! She stayed at cushy, touristy hotels, even went on a package tour in Italy. So much for the literal reservations. As for the figurative ones, she fretted the whole time about cutting loose and finding real adventure, but never really did so. She used her time and considerable resources to travel like a typical tourist, and the book seldom gets beneath the surface of any location. In Paris she stayed on the Left Bank where tourists chase the ghost of Hemingway and Picasso. She ate at over-priced, tourist-trap cafes and on her first day spent half a week's food budget on face creams. The descriptions are flat and lacking any nuance or vitality, but she goes on and on about some fake grass laid down for a tourist-ensnaring arts festival! This is travel writing for those who like to play it extremely safe.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
37 of 42 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A reader from Baltimore, MD, April 17, 2000
By A Customer
This book is beautifully illustrated with postcards the author wrote and sent to herself; and it is a wonderfully written account of her travels through Europe. But it is much more than a travelogue. Ms. Steinbach weaves details of her travels along with memories of the past and her hopes for the future.

This book is an inspiration to those women who have always been defined as someone's mother or wife and long to be recognized as their own person, undefined by relationships. So whether you yearn to become an independent traveler in the literal sense or desire to travel through life on an independent journey, this book is well worth reading.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Bland on the Loose
I was disappointed in this book, which I and my book club were looking forward to. What's the opposite of a tell-all memoir? Read more
Published 7 months ago by Arlene W. Weiner

4.0 out of 5 stars Dream Trip for a Real Woman
Alice Steinbach is a real woman who can write; in this pleasant memoir she takes us with her on her travels to Paris, Oxford, and Italy, and shares her inner conflicts along with... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Mary Lois Timbes

4.0 out of 5 stars Traveling with a Wise Woman
Now that summer is officially over, and I spend most of my waking hours sequestered in a classroom, I seek out travel books so that at least my mind can pretend it is somewhere... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Amy Greenhouse

3.0 out of 5 stars I think I would like this book more if I were 15 years older
Based on the summary the book sounded amazing for someone like me, who aspires to travel everywhere! Read more
Published 14 months ago by M.E.

1.0 out of 5 stars With Reservations
Without Reservations by Alice Steinbach looked like a good book as I strolled through Barnes n Noble bookstore one afternoon. Read more
Published 15 months ago by Ava Jones

4.0 out of 5 stars A very enjoyable journey
This was one of those books that I did not want to end. I enjoyed hearing about the author's travels and her experiences. Read more
Published 19 months ago by C. Kendall

2.0 out of 5 stars C-
There is a lot to say about Steinbach's travel memoir. Unfortunately, most of it isn't good. The author tries to use allusions (mostly of the literary kind) that stick out... Read more
Published 19 months ago by Lauren Magnussen

3.0 out of 5 stars With Reservations
I think the title is odd because Alice Steinbach definitely had reservations about going on the trip and she made most of her overnight reservations before she left... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Happeeface

3.0 out of 5 stars Mid grade
This writer did not grab me. I enjoyed her story, but did not feel befriended along the way. I listened to the tale and was entertained, but I did not have the anticipation you... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Sue

1.0 out of 5 stars The most unadventurous traveller ever
I cannot believe that in this day and age someone could write a breathless account of her travels with a bus package tour in Italy - and find a publisher for it! Read more
Published 22 months ago by The Laughing Kookaburra

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

This product's forum
Discussion Replies Latest Post
No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
 


Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
Search all Amazon discussions
   




Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)


Look for Similar Items by Category


Look for Similar Items by Subject

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Your Recent History

 (What's this?)

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.