Buying Options

Print List Price:	$12.35
Kindle Price:	$3.60 Save $8.75 (71%)

Promotions apply when you purchase

Deliver to your Kindle Library

You've subscribed to ! We will preorder your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships & Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

The Sat Nav Diaries by [Adrian Sturrock]

Follow the Author

Adrian Sturrock

The Sat Nav Diaries Kindle Edition

by Adrian Sturrock (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

41 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$3.60

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$12.35

$7.11

Kindle
$3.60 Read with Our Free App
Paperback
$12.35

1 Used from $7.11 1 New from $12.35

"I had an idea for a road trip; a sports car I shouldn't have bought; and a wife to point out that what looks entirely feasible on a scaled map can actually be quite a long way away."

This isn't a travelogue; it's much less than that. If you are looking for a font-of-all knowledge encyclopaedic guru that will help you plan your next European adventure, you'll hate this book. However, if you've ever sat in a restaurant and wondered what the life of the couple opposite is like, then this might just be what you've been after. And the locations are quite nice too.

Print length

307 pages
Language

English
Sticky notes

On Kindle Scribe
Publication date

November 11, 2017
File size

1333 KB
Page Flip

Enabled
Word Wise

Enabled
Enhanced typesetting

Enabled
See all details

liza grantham
450
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
liza grantham
334
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
Cynthia Royce
283
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $2.99
Craig Briggs
248
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
Craig Briggs
169
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99
Craig Briggs
166
Kindle Edition
1 offer from $3.99

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Adrian Sturrock is a writer, occasional musician, teacher and ethnic minority (except when in Wales), specialising mostly in observation and unconsidered opinion. He currently lives in Buckinghamshire UK with wife Natalie, his travel companion, best friend and the person responsible for keeping him out of trouble on social media. They have three children between them. --This text refers to the paperback edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B0764KC23N
Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 11, 2017
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1333 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 307 pages
Page numbers source ISBN ‏ : ‎ 1999839102

Best Sellers Rank: #1,181,602 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #204 in Western Europe Travel
- #343 in Auto & RV Travel
- #1,418 in Road Travel Reference

Customer Reviews:
41 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Videos

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload your video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Adrian Sturrock

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Adrian Sturrock is a writer, occasional musician, teacher, and ethnic minority (except when in Wales), specialising mostly in observation and unconsidered opinion. He currently lives in Buckinghamshire, UK, with wife, Natalie: his travel companion, best friend, and the person responsible for keeping him out of trouble on social media.

His first travelogue, THE SAT NAV DIARIES was well received on both sides of the Atlantic, gaining a string of 5-star reviews and culminating in a nomination for a 2018 Kindle Book Award. His follow up, THE SAT NAV DIARIES 2.0 (HEADING EAST…ISH) has been equally well received and has itself been nominated for a 2021 Kindle Book Award.

Adrian has also published two successful collections of humour articles through his RANDOM series, in which he considers a number of everyday pressing issues, from ‘how to get paid to fail a job interview’, to ‘why it is perfectly fine to blame French sociologists for one’s own first world problems’.

Beyond his own publications, Adrian Sturrock has contributed to a number of travel and lifestyle anthologies and online publications, as well as having had his poetry/lyrics displayed alongside those of Benjamin Zephaniah in Luton Town Hall (though it is unlikely that Benjamin is aware of this).

Other claims to fame include being smiled at by Madonna, and having once spent an afternoon watching Ace Ventura, Pet Detective in Barry Gibb’s living room, where Bee Gee’s manager, David English, remarked on his shoes.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5

41 global ratings

5 star		67%
4 star		16%
3 star		5%
2 star		6%
1 star		5%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Valmarp

Funny, heartwarming and entertaining

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 20, 2017

Verified Purchase

4.5 Stars. This book first came to my attention on the Facebook Memoirs group when I read a review someone else had written. It sounded like my kind of read, so I downloaded a sample to see if it would appeal to me. Well, I loved Adrian Sturrock’s humour from the first few pages, so I bought the whole book.

The Satnav Diaries is a driving travelogue, pure and simple. However, what makes it so compelling is the relationship between the author and his wife, which is portrayed with tremendous wit and self deprecating humour as they make their way in their Mazda Miata through some of Europe’s loveliest scenery and cities. Nat, Adrian’s wife is feisty and fun, but also kind and rather sweet. Adrian, the author, talks plenty of amusing nonsense, but it’s well peppered with smart remarks and the dialogue between the pair is sharp and entertaining. There is also a good balance between the personal, the historical and purely descriptive parts of the travelogue, so I had a great sense of being in the back seat (not that there is one in a Miata) listening to them banter, learning about the cities and watching the gorgeous scenery roll by.

Another aspect of the book I liked is that there are some great scenes involving the people they met along the way, which make lovely vignettes and add variety to what is otherwise a very personal account. The only slight disappointment was that I was expecting the Satnav (Bernice) to have a bit more say in the story. She pops up now and then to frustrate things, but I thought she would be still more of a divisive ‘personality’. Still, maybe that was just my expectations getting in the way.

All told, this is a very well written, funny and heart warming memoir. It could do with a bit of a spell check to smooth out some typos and errors in some of the place names, but while I couldn’t help noticing them, it didn’t spoil it for me. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys travel books with humour.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

Paul Thompson

Self-deprecating, funny, and smart travelogue about a road trip through Western Europe.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 2, 2018

Verified Purchase

Pleasant-seeming but sharply humorous British couple go on an extended road trip through Western Europe.

I was recommended this by a friend in England (I'm from there originally), and this isn't the type of book I usually buy.

The presumably well-to-do author, Adrian Sturrock, and his sarcastic wife go on an extended road trip (they clearly have a lot more money and vacation allowance than I have) and this is covered in the kind of style that you'd tell your friends your travel stories in the bar after work. Sturrock has an engaging, self-deprecating sense of humor which really does lift this out of the style I was expecting. I chuckled throughout the book, and when his wife starts with her subtly cutting remarks, I was laughing out loud. Along the way, I was informed about all sorts of things about various cities around Europe.

It's a light-hearted and fun read, and it doesn't outstay its welcome. Sturrock is writing another book for release in 2019. I must remember to look out for it, as I really enjoyed this.

Helpful

Anne L.

Now a bucket list item

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 15, 2020

Verified Purchase

I encountered this memoir on accident but thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed learning more about European geography (I knew where the countries were located but not how close they actually are *driving distance*). Side note: I followed from place to place using Google maps. My husband love road trips in our convertible in the states...now, I want to travel through Europe that way!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on March 21, 2018

Verified Purchase

If you need cheering up, read this book. I laughed out loud a lot. Adrian Sturrock gives a breezy, humorous account of 40 days of traveling through 4, 5? Countries of Europe in a two seater car with his wife Nat with their Sat nav or GPS as we call it in the US, to guide them. Sturrock’s self depreciating humor and appreciation for whatever situation he is in make this memoir an especially good read. Their choice of route makes anyone who watched movies of the 60’s envious. I think there is something for everyone here.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 15, 2017

Verified Purchase

This is an interesting travelogue of an English couple's automotive trip thru parts of Europe. It has some very funny parts as they deal with language barriers and an unreliable navigational system they name Beatrice. This is the author's first book.

Helpful

Jan Butterfield

An Engaging Look at Europe

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 5, 2020

Verified Purchase

Enjoyed following along as Adrian and his wife, Nat, drove through Europe, eating, drinking and enjoying life. Nicely written.

Helpful

Claire Hamlisch

Tongue-in-cheek Travel

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 7, 2017

I like the idea of traveling around Europe in a sports car.
I was shocked when the author celebrated his birthday, as I'd assumed he must be around 25.
Some of his conversations with his wife fade in and out of movies and somehow I associate that with young people, but I do the same with my husband and we are no longer spring chickens...
Some of the places they visit I know and it's fun to recognize them. Some we haven't visited yet and want to and the book has reinforced this desire.
The exchanges with his wife are often witty and cry out to be in a film.
The style of writing is very immediate and now - I almost felt like I was in the sports car with them.
Interesting that the author does't talk much about borders between countries.
There were lots of descriptions of cafés and restaurants and not many of museums or cultural visits. I suppose this was on purpose. But sometimes I found it strange - for instance - sitting on a beach, but no mention of actually swimming.
I was surprised that they traveled in August, but Sturrock didn't dwell on the heat and hoards of tourists.
There are lots of incorrect spellings of place names or foreign words. Perhaps these were left on purpose as the writer often mocks his awkwardness with foreign languages. If not, I'd gladly offer to help him edit the book if he republishes it.

One person found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Andy Hughes

Well written. Funny And Charming

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 12, 2017

Verified Purchase

Bought this book on a whim having not read anything by him before. Boy, am I glad I did. I read it over a damp and dreary in November and it cheered me no end. I forgot all about the hail drumming at the windows and instead was transported on a hilarious mega trip around Europe in a tiny sports car. This book is laugh out loud funny. He has the talent to not only drag you immediately along with the prose but feel you are there with him too. This is a book that will be read and re-read over and over. Not since Milligan’s War memoirs have I come across such natural wit and empathy. Buy this book. You will be so glad you did.

8 people found this helpful

Trekker Girl

Highly Entertaining!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on January 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

The tale of Nat and Adrian’s roadtrip in a Mazda Miata through parts of France, Italy and Switzerland is just funny! It is very entertaining to read, gives you a little about the places they visited and people they met and certainly whetted my appetite for getting in my own Mazda to do just that trip. Adrian’s ruminations and observations about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are laugh out loud funny at times and Nat’s responses, with her ascerbic wit, were priceless. An unusual vehicle for a roadtrip, there was no ‘roughing it’ and this book is more interesting and entertaining commentary than in depth travelogue. However, I’m ready to jump in my Mazda and get away to see more of the places they visited and drive, as they did, one or two of Europe’s most spectacular roads.

3 people found this helpful

Frances Dunn

I didn't want this journey to end!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 22, 2017

Verified Purchase

I am a soppy romantic, who loves nothing better than reading Chic Lit! Why then did I get drawn to this real life journey across France, Switzerland and Italy? Well, Amazon have a knack of drawing your attention to certain things...mostly I ignore them, but for this book I was somehow drawn to the cover notes and thought, why not just try it? So, it arrived, and as I opened it and read the Dedication I was absolutely sold! The Journey of Natalie and Adrian in their Mazda MX5 is not only extremely well written (Adrian has a way with words and the way he puts them all together), it is laugh out loud funny. Their relationship is obviously a very special one, they understand each other, they are soul mates. The places they visit and the clever, informative way Adrian describes them and their journey is so compulsive I found it really difficult to put down and would find myself waking at one in the morning with the book on my face!! I would recommend this book to anyone...everyone!! Genius! More please!!

3 people found this helpful

Diana D

Hooked

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 10, 2021

Verified Purchase

From the first page, I was hooked! Love the story telling with amusement. Also the banter between Adrian and Nat. Enjoyed visiting different areas of France and Italy. Did not like the toilet tale. Sorry they got fleeced in Venice, but love Nat's idea of what the bill should have included! Sad when the book finished, as I thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing. Book 2 is on my list to buy.

One person found this helpful

a m clegg

A topless adventure through stunning landscapes

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on March 19, 2020

Verified Purchase

It's witty, dry witty like a dry Martini, shaken not stirred, with a touch of sarcasm in place of an olive. I bought this book to pass the time on an Andalusian beach while I waited for a suntan to develop. Unfortunately, three days after I started it Spain was put into lockdown (Corona virus!) so it became a source of happiness in an otherwise quite gloomy situation.
It's a very enjoyable roadtrip diary of a tour through France, Switzerland and Italy and thereabouts in a Mazda MX-5. I've owned 5 MX-5s so I can relate to the journey in one respect and this book has inspired me to do a similar adventure in the not too distant, such is it's strength.
I enjoyed every chapter and every new destination and character as they unfolded, as well as the interaction between the author and his better half. They clearly get on pretty well. It makes you chuckle out loud, be it on a beach or in solitary confinement and not many books do that to me. I look forward to the Pan-American next.

Buying Options

Buy for others

Buying and sending eBooks to others

Follow the Author

The Sat Nav Diaries Kindle Edition

Customers who read this book also read

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Product details

Videos

About the author

Adrian Sturrock

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries