World Travel by Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever

Title: World Travel: An Irreverent Guide

Author: Anthony Bourdain and Laurie Woolever

Publisher: Ecco 2021

Genre: Travel Memoir

Pages: 480

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Modern Mrs. Darcy; Summer TBR

Anthony Bourdain saw more of the world than nearly anyone. His travels took him from the hidden pockets of his hometown of New York to a tribal longhouse in Borneo, from cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Paris, and Shanghai to Tanzania’s utter beauty and the stunning desert solitude of Oman’s Empty Quarter—and many places beyond.

In World Travel, a life of experience is collected into an entertaining, practical, fun and frank travel guide that gives readers an introduction to some of his favorite places—in his own words. Featuring essential advice on how to get there, what to eat, where to stay and, in some cases, what to avoid, World Travel provides essential context that will help readers further appreciate the reasons why Bourdain found a place enchanting and memorable.

Supplementing Bourdain’s words are a handful of essays by friends, colleagues, and family that tell even deeper stories about a place, including sardonic accounts of traveling with Bourdain by his brother, Christopher; a guide to Chicago’s best cheap eats by legendary music producer Steve Albini, and more. Additionally, each chapter includes illustrations by Wesley Allsbrook.

For veteran travelers, armchair enthusiasts, and those in between, World Travel offers a chance to experience the world like Anthony Bourdain.

I picked this up because Anne Bogel chose it for the Summer Reading Guide. I was intrigued by the prospect of reading the last work from Anthony Bourdain. Unfortunately the idea of this book far outweighed the actual execution of this book. The book is part travel guide and part rumination on the soul of countries. I enjoyed the ruminations. I enjoyed the essays written by those who new Bourdain. I just didn’t enjoy the parts that were more akin to a travel guide. Overall, the book really just made me want to watch No Reservations or Parts Unknown again.

Next up on the TBR pile:

A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson

Title: A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail

Author: Bill Bryson

Publisher: Broadway Books 2010

Genre: Nonfiction - Travel Memoir

Pages: 397

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: UnRead Shelf Project

Back in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native country by walking the 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail, which stretches from Georgia to Maine. The AT offers an astonishing landscape of silent forests and sparkling lakes—and to a writer with the comic genius of Bill Bryson, it also provides endless opportunities to witness the majestic silliness of his fellow human beings.

For a start there's the gloriously out-of-shape Stephen Katz, a buddy from Iowa along for the walk. Despite Katz's overwhelming desire to find cozy restaurants, he and Bryson eventually settle into their stride, and while on the trail they meet a bizarre assortment of hilarious characters. But A Walk in the Woods is more than just a laugh-out-loud hike. Bryson's acute eye is a wise witness to this beautiful but fragile trail, and as he tells its fascinating history, he makes a moving plea for the conservation of America's last great wilderness. An adventure, a comedy, and a celebration, A Walk in the Woods has become a modern classic of travel literature.

Our book club selection for May. We really wanted to get away from historical fiction specifically WWII historical fiction. This definitely delivered on that point. Instead of historical narrative, we get Bryson’s account of his attempt to walk the Appalachian Trail. At times I found Bryson and his various hiking companions to be insufferable but at least he can acknowledge that fact. I kept having flashbacks to reading Wild by Cheryl Strayed and how much I hated that book. I finally pinpointed that one of my issues with Strayed was her philosophy of life. Many times it cam across as “everyone should do this to live a fulfilled life.” I just didn’t get that from Bryson at all. He had more of an attitude of “I got this idea of walking the trail, I attempted it, I had some thoughts about my own life, but you do you.” In the end, I found that I really enjoyed this book and need to add some of his other books to my TBR list.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Four Seasons in Rome by Anthony Doerr

Title: Four Seasons in Rome: On Twins, Insomnia, and the Biggest Funeral in the History of the World

Author: Anthony Doerr

Publisher: Scribner 2007

Genre: Travel memoir

Pages: 210

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Perpetual (NonAd); Nonfiction

Exquisitely observed, Four Seasons in Rome describes Doerr's varied adventures in one of the most enchanting cities in the world. He reads Pliny, Dante, and Keats -- the chroniclers of Rome who came before him—and visits the piazzas, temples, and ancient cisterns they describe. He attends the vigil of a dying Pope John Paul II and takes his twins to the Pantheon in December to wait for snow to fall through the oculus. He and his family are embraced by the butchers, grocers, and bakers of the neighborhood, whose clamor of stories and idiosyncratic child-rearing advice is as compelling as the city itself.

I listen to a podcast called What Should I Read Next? This was a recommended read a few weeks back. I loved Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See so I was intrigued about his travel memoir based on part of the time that he wrote the novel. This slim volume is a love letter to Rome punctuated by musings of parenthood and insomnia. I loved getting to know Doerr and his family. I especially loved his descriptions of the fountains of Rome. Overall, I really enjoyed this memoir. It made me want to travel to Rome immediately.

So Long Warm Weather..

It's travel day! Arthur and I are leaving warm California for super-cold Indiana for the holidays. We're currently on a plane somewhere over the Rockies. Hopefully the traveling bit goes well. You never know with a toddler!

Top Ten Tuesday -- Featuring Travel

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.Each week we will post a new Top Ten list complete with one of our bloggers’ answers. Everyone is welcome to join.  If you can’t come up with ten, don’t worry about it—post as many as you can!

I love to travel.  I wish I could travel more.  Instead, I have read some great books that involve traveling.

Travel writing

1. No Touch Monkey by Ayun Holliday -- Hilarious lessons learned while traveling the far flung reaches of the world.  I feel like I need to reread this soon.

2. Under the Tuscan Sun by Frances Mayes -- I like the book fine, but I think I like the book even more.  Either way we get some great travel writing

3. Journals of Lewis and Clark -- Loving the historical discoveries made by Lewis and Clark.

4. Stephen Fry in America -- Who doesn't love Stephen Fry?  I certainly love him and his writing.

Nonfiction involving travel

5. Mayflower by Nathaniel Philbrick -- A great account of the travels of the Pilgrims across the Atlantic to their new home.

Fiction involving travel

6. Blades of the Rose series by Zoe Archer -- These action adventure novels take us to all kinds of exotic places.  I especially loved the travel to Greece.  I want to go there now!

7. Journey to the Center of the Earth by Jules Verne -- A classic action adventure travel book.  I know you can't travel to the center of the earth, but I do love the story.

8. The Odyssey by Homer -- Another classic travel story.

Into the West Day #4

We're on our way.  We're heading to California to start a slightly modified life.  Excited as it may be, we've got a lot of ground to cover.  I thought you would like to see the things we encounter on our ~2000 mile journey.  (I know it 's just what you have all wanted!).  Enjoy! Travel miles today: 561  miles

Travel miles total: 1831  miles

Places of interest: Another huge day of traveling.  I did get to see some awesome dino bones, though.  We didn't quite make it to Reno today, but we are about 3 hours away.  That should leave us with about 6:30 hours of driving tomorrow.  I think we can do it.  Just need to get up and going early.

First (and only) stop: Dinosaur National Monument.  We arrived right as it opened and got on the first tour of the day.  The ranger takes you up to the Quarry Fossil Center and from there you can explore.  Of course, we got to enjoy it with about 50 elementary students there on a field trip.  The center is basically a building covering a giant wall of dinosaur fossils.  It's huge!  And really cool.  The original building was built in the 1950s, but closed in 2006 because it was structurally unsound.  It was literally falling apart.  It took the NPS five years to replace it.  Thankfully the new building opened last year, so we could see the wonder that is the Quarry.  Very neat place!

In passing: We passed the Great Salt Lake.  Man is that thing huge!  and the Bonneville Salt Flats.  J didn't want to risk the car, so no offroading.

Tomorrow: Donner Party Memorial in Truckee CA, Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield CA, and finally Sunnyvale CA!

Into the West Day #3

We're on our way.  We're heading to California to start a slightly modified life.  Excited as it may be, we've got a lot of ground to cover.  I thought you would like to see the things we encounter on our ~2000 mile journey.  (I know it 's just what you have all wanted!).  Enjoy! Travel miles today: 665 miles

Travel miles total: 1270  miles

Places of interest: A huge day of traveling.  We didn't really stop at much, but passed through South Dakota, all of Wyoming, a bit of Colorado, and into Utah.  We got a phone call that the moving truck will be arriving on May 3rd, so we need to get moving.  Our plan is to get to Reno, NV tomorrow to be set for early evening arrival on the 2nd.  But before we get there, here's what we saw today:

First passing:  From Hill City, SD, we headed north passing through Deadwood and by Sundance on the way to...

First (and only) stop: Devil's Tower.  You know the giant rock from Close Encounters of the Third Kind.  Yeah! That giant rock.  It's even more impressive up close.  We paid the entrance fee to wind our way up to the tower.  The road passes through prairie dog town (literally next to the road) and up to the visitor's center.  We bought a few interesting photographs and postcards, but decided to skip the mile long hike around the tower.  We took more pics and then headed back to I-90.

Then: Headed south to Casper, WY and kept going.  Because of the push up on arrival, we kept driving into part of the night to get to Vernal, UT to stay the night.  After checking a few full hotels, we finally found on that had rooms and got one.  I don't know what is going on, but Vernal seems to be hopping tonight.

Tomorrow: Dinosaur National Monument, Utah, and Nevada.

Into the West Day #2

We're on our way.  We're heading to California to start a slightly modified life.  Excited as it may be, we've got a lot of ground to cover.  I thought you would like to see the things we encounter on our ~2000 mile journey.  (I know it 's just what you have all wanted!).  Enjoy! Travel miles today: 397 miles

Travel miles total: 605  miles

Places of interest: A huge day of sightseeing. Although I think I enjoyed it way more than J...

First stop: Sioux Falls downtown to see the reproduction of David in the park.  I found it pretty weird that Sioux Falls, SD, has a naked man statue in their downtown, but it was nice.  On our way out of town, we drove by the concrete outline of the USS South Dakota, but no pics.  It was pretty lame...  I want the real ship.

Next up: The Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.  The height of cheese.  Loved it!

Then: 1880 town outside Murdo, SD.  We originally had a 1880 town close to Sioux Falls on the list.  We drove past and it was like the set of Texas Chainsaw Massacre.  We passed that one up for the original.

On to: Wall Drug in Wall, SD.  The best part... J got a pic of me riding a jackalope.  We marveled at the cheese.  We were almost eaten by a T-Rex.  And we scored some fudge, red raspberry rubarb jam, pheasant jerky, huckleberry tea, and bison summer sausage.

Finally: Mount Rushmore.  I actually really enjoyed the monument.  It was also nice to visit on the off season with hardly any other tourists.  And for some reason, we didn't have to pay.  Score!  We finished with the mountain, Wove our way through the Black Hills, and ended up in Hill City (Comfort Inn) for the night.

Tomorrow: Devil's Tower and Wyoming!

Into the West Day #1

  We're on our way.  We're heading to California to start a slightly modified life.  Excited as it may be, we've got a lot of ground to cover.  I thought you would like to see the things we encounter on our ~2000 mile journey.  (I know it 's just what you have all wanted!).  Enjoy!

Travel miles today: 208 miles

Travel miles total: 208 miles

Places of interest:  No one place.  We got a late start, so no fun attractions along the way.  We did decide to take the Iowa Loess Hills Scenic Byway instead of just heading north on I-29.  Lots of great rolling hills, tiny towns, and bluffs.  We made it to Sioux Falls, SD, at dinner time, ate at Old Chicago, and checked into the Fairfield Inn.  Tomorrow we'll actually hit some great roadside attractions on the way to Mount Rushmore.

A New Adventure on the Horizon...

Big changes are coming! 

Seemingly out of the blue, J was offered a position with a company all the way across the country in San Jose, CA.  Last weekend we flew out for his indepth interviews and my house hunting.  I also got to spend some time driving around and hitting the Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum.  On Saturday we drove to Sonoma Valley to enjoy some great wine.  We flew back home on Sunday and then waited.

Today, he recieved the official offer and took the job.  So now the complicated prt of packing and moving begins.  I have to quit my job.  He has to official quit his current job.  We have to determine the logistics of moving.  We have to make some decisions about housing (have a few options we like).  I have to tell everyone about the move.  And we have to the hands-on packing (I feel like I'll be doing a huge amount of this). 

But we get to move to California!  Goodbye bitter winds and snow, hello palm trees, moderate temps, and sunny days.  Now I really need a pair of prescriptions sunglasses or laser eye surgery.  I'm sure I'll have more updates soon.  Wish us luck!