a blog about travel literature
This author has been called the “grandfather of travel writing” – but is he really that good?
In the early 1920s, young American graduate Richard Halliburton feels bored. He decides to go traveling on a shoestring budget, so he hops on a ship to Europe and takes it from there…
Is this in any way comparable to the works of Ella Maillart?
remember Serge Roetheli, the guy who fabulously ran around the world and wrote a book about it? Well, Nicole Roetheli is his wife, and she kept him company on her motorcycle during the trip. This is the book she wrote, which is supposed to tell the story from her perspective. Obviously, we are reminded of Ella Maillart and Peter Fleming, both of whom were very good writers…
How can a book about a man running around the whole world be so… bad?
we’re in 1997, and Swiss Athlete Serge Roetheli has just returned from running all the way from South America to Alaska. He was accompanied by his wife on a motorcycle, and now that this “American Challenge” is now behind them, they decide to embark on a world tour…
If this guy writes so well and goes to so many cool places, then just why is this book he wrote so bad?
in the early 2000s, Xiaopeng is a young Chinese white-collar worker who decides to see the world. He travels around China, then ends up as an exchange student in the Netherlands. From there, he sets out to do the Grand Tour of Europe…
Bono sucks.
In the early 2000s, Gregor Sieböck, a banker from Austria, decides to walk around the world in order to promote environmentalism…
Poetic, but…
In the early 1930s, Laurie Lee is a man of just about twenty who he steps out of his door in Southwest England and decides to walk to London…
Funny, but…
In the early 2000s, British travel writer Tim Moore decides to purchase a donkey and take him on a trip along the Camino de Santiago, from Southern France all the way to Santiago de Compostela…
A wagging finger.
In 1325, young Moroccan scholar Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta embarks on his hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca. But he doesn’t stop there…
The honest comedian.
In the mid 2000s, Hape Kerkeling, German comedian, actor, and TV host, finds himself in some sort of personal crisis. He decides to walk the Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain…
Too much bull.
In 1994, American actress Shirley MacLaine, who is around sixty years old at the time, decides to walk the Camino de Santiago through Northern Spain…
A surprisingly likeable dreamer.
In August 1492, forty-something Christopher Columbus from Genua sets sail in Spain, aiming at the Canary Islands and then West from there on…
A pile of dung.
During the mid-eighties, Paulo Coelho wants a ceremonial sword from some kind of spiritual cult, but they won’t give it to him…