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

by Doug Lansky

Release Date: January, 2000

Edition: Paperback

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There's No Toilet Paper on the Road Less Traveled

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.

It's All Right, But...

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, 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 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