Lonely Planet by the Seat of My Pants

July 11, 2005
Although the essays in this anthology of travel pieces are by an unusual mix of veteran travel writers and beginners, common threads run throughout: travel is surprising; it often tries your patience; and it teaches life lessons. Selected from entries in a competition on the Lonely Planet Web site, these tales of global journeys are almost uniformly funny. In "Blackout in Ushuaia," novelist and editor Michelle Richmond takes advantage of the lights going out on vacation at a South American ski resort with her husband by seizing the moment for a little lovemaking. Getting locked inside a Dutch men's room has travel writer Doug Lansky feeling like he's doing time in a solitary jail cell. In "The Afghan Tourist Office," first-time writer Alexander Ludwick tries to extend his visa with a nutty singing and dancing official who does a manic jog before applying his rubber stamp to the author's documents. Although a few stories in this book are too short to elicit a belly laugh, others will provide a riotous howl and a yen to wander.