With Few Reservations: Travels at Home and Abroad

Forty-eight engaging commentaries by "a modern day Mark Twain," sociologist, photographer, and prize-winning travel journalist, Peter Rose. Included are accounts of excursions on land and sea and portraits of places and people from Cape Cod to Cape Horn. There are captivating photos, stories about playing gumshoe in Honolulu, tour guide in Amsterdam and taxonomist in China, descriptions of windjamming in Maine and on the Mediterranean, trekking in Tuscany, exploring Tierra del Fuego aboard the MV Via Australis and many other adventures, and intriguing revelations about travel writing itself.

9008544456?profile=original


Preview

From the Prologue: "Travel Writing"

This introduction is about the lives and not-so-hard times of travel writers. Its title is not a redux of grammar grinch Lynne Truss's attack on those who misplace commas. I may be many things, but I am not a Chinese panda who eats shoots and leaves -- nor is my wife. But we are members of a specialized subspecies of scribblers: journalists who spend short and very intense periods eating (and sleeping and sightseeing), shooting pictures, and then rushing away from domestic venues and foreign climes with notebooks and heads full of ideas for writing knowingly about what are, more often than not, very short experiences.

I wouldn't be surprised to learn that those who answer our queries, pose for our photos -- or, more often, observe us as we snap away -- then watch us fade into the sunset, scratch their heads and say, "What is it with those guys? They breeze into town, check out our restaurants, stay in our hotels, inns and B&Bs, take their pictures, and scoot."

Many who do know what we are really doing there often speculate about what will be written about them. Those most au courant, mainly people in the hospitality business, hope to read glowing reports of our visits that are given the widest possible circulation. It is not an unrealistic expectation for, while trying to maintain objectivity, travel journalists more than other writers who also depend on a norm of reciprocity, often have a special feeling for where their bread and butter and less prosaic fare is coming from. In many ways, those who "do" travel are like all other writers who fancy ourselves as wordsmiths but are also different from them.
Most journalists, especially investigative ones, like most social scientists (I'm one of those, too, and sometimes have difficulty keeping my roles sorted out), are extremely cautious when they pull together their stories, reports and analyses based on lengthy research. They are rarely given to taking strong stands unless they can undergird them with unimpeachable data. While not averse to influencing readers, it is rarely a primary goal. This is not so for travel writers. For them (us, when I wear that hat), punditry is expected.

"Take my word, this Indonesian island near Singapore is real find."

"While the brochures make it seem like paradise, I think it is a terribly over-rated place and I would look elsewhere before considering staying there. Trust me."

"Too touristy."

"Too isolated."

"If you want a challenging adventure while enjoying creature comforts back in camp, this trip is for you...."


Contents
PREFACE
 Permanent Sabbatical

PROLOGUE: TRAVEL WRITING
 1 Eats, Shoots, and Leaves

PART I: AMERICAN POTPOURRI


2 Sentimental Journey 
3 Alpine Ambiance in the Green Mountains
 4 Between Wintah and Mudtime
 5 Hot Rocks and Hedonism
 6 Down on the Farm
 7 Getting Ready for Prime Time 
8 Sooner Sophistication
 9 This Place is for the Birds
 10 Stoop-Shouldered in Sanibel
 11 White Sands, Red Sunsets, and Clear Water
 12 Southern Exposure
 13 Kiawah Then and Now 
14 Pearls of Newport
 15 At Home in Paradise


PART II: IN FOREIGN CLIMES

16 Tricks and Treatments in Cancun
 17 Moorish Arches and Other Spanish Delights 
18 Chianti Classico
19 Italian Culture in a Swiss Canton
 20 A Stint in Sweden 
21 Gateway to the Fjords 
22 Groetjes uit Amsterdam 
23 A Dutch Treat for Cape Cod Lovers 
24 An Old City and New College Town
 25 A Room with a View
 26 The New Ireland 
27 Sarajevo Today

PART III: DREAMER'S HOLIDAYS




28 Challenging Days, Star-Studded Nights
 29 Jammin' with JR
 30 Windjamming Plain and Fancy
31 Schooner Heritage 
32 Autumn in the Alps
 33 A Northwest Passage through Europe
 34 A Voyage of Discovery
 35 Liner Luxury
36 Cruising in Tierra del Fuego
 37 Patagonian Panoramas

PART IV: REVELATIONS


38 Waikiki Watch
 39 Malled in Suburbia
 40 Colonists and Coneheads
 41 Birds of a Feather
 42 The Guru of Gallivanting
 43 Rip van Winkle in Vermont 
44 Seafarer's Serendipity
 45 INNstitute in Napa
46 Behind the Scenes
 47 Hind Sights

EPILOGUE : ACADEMIC SOJOURNING


48 Guest Appearances: A Reprise

For further information www.theprosewriter.com

WITH FEW RESERVATIONS is available in bookstores, at Amazon.com, B&N.com,
iUniverse.com, Borders.com and the Triipatini Boutique

You need to be a member of Tripatini to add comments!

Join Tripatini

Comments

This reply was deleted.