Travel Reads

Book Review: The Ridiculous Race

Disclaimer: As you probably guessed, Holt sent me this book. Steve Hely and Vali Chandrasekaran have a crazy idea. They are going to race each other around the world, one going east, the other west, and whoever makes it first wins a very expensive bottle of scotch. Oh, part of the challenge? No airplanes. They …


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My First Guidebook Credit

Well, I’d forgotten all about that. But in yesterday’s mail, I got two copies of Travellers Vancouver & British Columbia. The cover credit still goes to the original writer but whaddaya know? That’s my name on the flyleaf. And somehow, it’s even more fun to flip through the images and say, “Hey, I took that …


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Recent Reads: RuinAir and Dark Summit

Flying Ruinair in Germany is like shopping in Aldi but knowing there is a Marks and Spencer or a Sainsbury store nearby where the prices are also Lidl. I wasn’t sure what was bugging me about Ruinair until I came across that particular passage. The book is funny, snarky, self deprecating, all thing things I …


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Micro Travel Writer’s Workshop II

A quick review, in case you’re just in: Angela Nickerson as part of her virutal book tour, agreed to do a “micro workshop” on Nerd’s Eye View. She provided the prompt, you provided the work. Here’s here take on what you’ve done – and many, many thanks for your participation! I’ve linked to the posts below, but I’ve left the pictures on the “home” sites. Click through to see the original posts, with photos, and to meet some interesting travel bloggers.

I’ll hand it over to Angela, now.

First, many, many thanks to those of you who participated in today’s travel writing workshop. What a delight to read such good writing and to visit such interesting — and diverse — places. Your submissions are a testament to the richness that comes from diverging from the beaten path. Thank you!

Ok, to the task at hand…


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Book Review: A Voyage Long and Strange

It wasn’t just Columbus, you know. It was Cortez and DeSoto and Ponce de Leon and some French fop named Ribault and any number of other explorers and conquistadors. They sailed across the Atlantic fueled by lust for gold and their own obsessive convictions, landed on the North American continent, and proceeded to make life hell for anyone that was already there. Sometimes they started out okay, but instead of diplomacy and community building, they opted to steal food and supplies from the natives when their own imported supplies ran thin. In general, the lead up time to Columbus’s (equally messy) arrival in the “New World” was bad news for the locals.

You knew that, of course, but probably not in the exquisite detail that’s currently knocking around in my head. I’m reading “A Voyage Long and Strange” – a refresher course in pre-Columbus North American history. Yeesh, what a disastrous period for aboriginal populations. Yeesh.


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Book Contest: We Have a Winner!

First, thanks for sharing your stories. And also, (drum roll) meet celebrity judge, and writer of our prize, Chuck Thompson!

Seeing as how I know about half of the folks that entered, I didn’t think I would be able to pick my favorite without having personal stuff in the way. I asked the publicist if he’d ask Chuck Thompson if he’d pick my winner, and hey, he did. He might be cranky as hell about travel writing, but also, it seems he’s a Nice Guy. We’re probably not supposed to know that. Also, the publicist said he’d ship the prize, so I get to keep my copy – more nice guy stuff all around, and, let’s be real here, great marketing. Many thanks, guys!

Here’s a list of the entries:

From Chuck:

A word to all the non-winners: Through the years I’ve entered a number of contests (writing contests, song contests, NCAA bracket pools) and have never won a single one. It sucks not to be chosen, and I’m sorry for being part of the process of you not winning this time. I really am. I hate not winning, though since I’ve never won one of these things I’m not sure I’d handle victory any more graciously than defeat.


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