Prepare to get lost on the beaten path
Enough with the road less traveled. This is the story of straight-up, cliché-ridden tourism, a funny, thoughtful remix of the standard travel memoir formula, a journey firmly on the beaten path and an exploration of how, exactly, the path got so beaten in the first place.
When Doug Mack picked up a 1963 edition of Europe on Five Dollars a Day, he stumbled on an inspired idea: to boldly go where millions have gone before, relying only on the advice of a travel guide that's nearly a half century out-of-date. Add to the mix his mother's much-documented grand tour through Europe in the late 1960s, and the result is a funny and fascinating journey into a new (old) world, and a disarming look at the ways the classic tourist experience has changed- and has not-in the last generation.
After a whirlwind adventure spanning eight countries-and costing way more than five dollars a day-Mack's endearing account is part time travel, part paean to Arthur Frommer's much-loved guide, and a celebration of the modern traveler's grand (and not-so-grand) tour. Read more ...
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“Refreshing in its intelligence, candor, good-humored self-deprecation, and insightful redemption of the much-maligned tourist, Mack’s account is a trail-reblazing testament to the transformative power of travel in the modern world, and to the enduring richness of those well-trod places where authenticity, history, culture, and fame compose their own never-ending narratives.” - National Geographic Traveler
FIG. 1
1967. It starts here, with
my mother. Hippie Grand
Tourist and letter-writer
extraordinaire.
FIG. 2
2009. It leads here. Yours truly, mildly inept traveler, using those letters and that guidebook for my own Not-So-Grand Tour.
LATEST NEWS
Europe on Five Wrong Turns a Day is here as of April 2012!
Doug just got back from book tour. Read his updates over at the book's Facebook page. (He'll post some photos here, too ... once he catches his breath.)
For all the latest praise and press, from the likes of National Geographic Traveler, the Bostong Herald, the Detroit Free, Press, Minnesota Public Radio, and many more, please head over to the Press & Praise page.
For upcoming events, check out the Events & News section.
BOOK TRAILER as seen on BoingBoing
COMMENTARY TRACK
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