Yesterday I got a $20 Criagslist rideshare from SF to LA from a very cool woman who is doing crazy amazing work as an assistant to biologist field researchers in Alaska. She picked me out of her many responses because I forgot to take my signature off my email and she found out I was a travel writer. But she didn’t want to pick my brain at all about travel writing. Instead we talked about travel and the people she knows that love it, too.
The last travel book she read was Facing the Congo : A Modern-Day Journey into the Heart of Darknessby Jeffrey Tayler. She loved it and recommended it to two other friends. I tried to tell her that he was my latest and most accomplished fan and that I couldn’t wait to tell him, but she just looked at me funny. I started talking about the book and brought up the whole he’s 33, Jesus was 33, right of passage thing, and again…just strange looks. But oh how she and her friend enjoyed it. That’s cool to hear. I let her know that his knew book, Angry Wind, would be coming out early next year. She asked me what it was about, but heck, I’m just not that good. Galley is still sitting on one of my nightstands.
She also loved Vagabonding : An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts. To which I said, I really know him. More strange looks. “I’m probably going to see him next week,” I said. But I could’ve said he was my brother and she still would’ve looked at me that way. She was already down the gush path about how inspirational the book is and how she carries it with her until it upsets her that she can’t really get out there. I think I’m going to have to start charging Rolf a beer for everytime I meet someone that raves about him.
Then she started telling me who she knows. Have you heard about Honeymoon with My Brother? Oh well you will. The story is that Franz gets dumped by his fiance a week before the wedding. So, he takes his brother on the honeymoon instead, and they have such a great time that shed their old lives and create new travel ones that lead them to adventures in more than 60 countries, a book deal with St Martin’s (Feb 2005), and a movie deal with Sony. (LP & Fodor’s guidebook writers read their essays with caution…same with soccer fans)
Or have I heard about the book Not Really an Alaskan Mountain Man by Doug Fine. Damn, I hadn’t. I hate not knowing about new travel books! This one came out in September and Doug was recently on tour. You might know him from his work on NPR. You can read some excerpts and listen to him on their website. It looks hilarious and we must get a copy to include in the next TT coed humor book. Oh and by all means go get your autographed copy from his page on The Well.
I think Doug just got bumped up to my list of living people I’d like to have at a dinner party. And in his honor I’ll have to start a new list of people I’d like to have a beer with. He sounds fun.