Travel Book Review ~ Do Travel Writers Go To Hell by Thomas Kohnstamm?

Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm. isbn 1741961114. Click here to see if we have a copy in stock right now.

Travel guide writers' wages are low because there's no shortage of willing replacements, and the job at hand is huge. Consider the task of trying to review every hotel, every restaurant, every attraction, and every bar in every town in every city with little money and a tight deadline. Consider trying to find out doing this with no experience, not enough money to support yourself throughout the trip, and a crumbling sense of reality from too much "bar research" and not enough sleep. Thomas Kohnstamm did exactly this.

My not-really-my-wife, Alison read this book before I did. She wasn't that fussed about it, she reckoned it was OK but she didn't like the protagonist. I on the other hand, a bloke, loved this book to bits. It took me back to my younger days when travelling was as much about declaring war on brain cells as it was to experience another culture.

But the book isn't all debauchery, I enjoyed by behind-the-scenes look at travel book writing, how the impossible task of travel guide writing is made possible with a little cheating, and being transported to Brazil from my couch.

As usual in our reviews, we offer some of our favourite passages from the book rather than blabbing on endlessly about it...

On the impossible task of travel book writing, how hard could it be to get the details of a grocery store?

I start with the easy stuff. I cruise through a couple of grocery stores to get information for the "self catering" section, a holdover for the original, diehard backpacker group that once constituted the main LP (Lonely Planet) readership. Grocery stores, as elsewhere, are easily identifiable -- they're big, well lit buildings with huge glowing signs out front, shining down on lots of shopping carts. You probably don't need a guidebook to find one, but it's what I'm told to do, so I'm going to do it.

I wander into a massive store book-ended by large parking lots. I am confused about the address of the store. The supermarket has main entrances that head out toward three different avenues. Also, I can't find the telephone number or opening hours listed anywhere. I ask one of the cashiers and she has no idea about the address or schedule and says that the store has about six phone numbers. I am directed to a manager who is dusting bottles of rum and whiskey in the liquor section. The manage looks me up and down after I ask the questions, probably wondering if I am casing the place for some sort of heist. Why the hell would some gringo care about these details that no locals know, and none of the employees (or the manager) care about? It opens when it opens and it closes when it closes. The store is here, where you're standing, and what kind of customer calls a grocery store on the telephone anyhow? He's eventually able to get me the hours, but mentions that is usually doesn't open on time and frequently stays open later if there are still customers. For the address, he just gives me the name of the street out front. I am not even going to bother to try and figure out which is the main telephone number.

Both Alison and I loved this piece about travel books:

The majority of travel books fall into three basic groups:

1. There are the earnest writers who become enlightened through contact with the simple, yet honest lives of Mexican peasants or the unparalleled tranquility of the Tuscan countryside. A more holistic approach to life is discovered and the universe is balanced. In order to properly enjoy such writing, one should be dressed in an eco-polar fleece, drinking fair-trade coffee and relaxing to a Putumayo world music CD.
2. On the opposite side of the spectrum are the smug writers who mock how backward plumbing and transportation anywhere outside North America. Those foreigners are whacky and their toilets are too! Isn't that hilarious? With a veneer of foreign exoticism, fourth grade bathroom humour and petty prejudices are given a new lease on their comedic lives. Such writers should give Orlando or Long Island a try for their next vacation, as both have abundant new cars and functional flush toilets with soft two-ply paper.
3. Last but not least are the Charlie Bronson guys who attempt solo ascents of mountains without telling anyone where they're going, are forced to amputate their appendages with a spork, and then expect us to appreciate their triumph of human spirit. They are so overcome by emotion that they must write a book about it.

A great piece on backpacking:

Though skipped over in the movie version of The Beach, much of Alex Garland's famed travel novel was about a young man's search for authenticity outside his own culture. The narrator, Richard, admits that he wanted to observe harsh poverty abroad. He wanted to see something raw and primal, something you can't experience in a culture of insurance, HMSs and welfare. The Beach was also a critique of modern "guidebook" travel, and the narrator seeks in vain to find a utopia, a place culturally uncontaminated by other tourists. However, Garland's narrator had almost no contact with Thai people beyond being offered "banan pancakes" during breakfast in hotels. He meets up with two French backpackers and heads off to a national park to immerse himself in a commune of like-minded Westerners whose idea of roughing it included a Nintendo Game Boy, an endless supply of weed, and a motorboat.

But I understand what happened to Richard and many other backpackers: it's an easy trap to fall into. You go to another country and rather than trying to understand the complex nuances and textures of that culture, you end up spending your time with a roving band of people like yourself. Fuck the whole backpacker scene. Even the people who consider themselves master travellers, who have been to hostels all over the world, are often just neocolonial naifs. They just want to find a destination where they can stretch their dollar, euro, yen or shekel into affordable hostels, more beers or easy-to-find drugs, or bragging rights for something they did more extreme or more intense or more authentic than their friends. That pretty much describes the scene here and I am glad to be making a quick exit.

Travel writer kickbacks explained...

I revisit the Publisher's Note, the hallowed constitution of guidebook writing in front of each book that claims that writers don't take freebies in exchange for positive coverage. On closer inspection, this is a carefully worded loophole, as it allows for acceptance of freebies, just not in exchange for positive coverage, as in "if you let me stay here for free, I'll give you a good review." Any hotel owner with an ounce of business-savvy would prefer the writer to stay, eat, or drink at their establishment rather than not come at all. By staying the night or enjoying a free meal, the writer can get to know the place better and write about it with a greater degree of detail.

So freebies are kosher it term of "if you let me stay here for free, I'll know your place a lot better." The ends are the same, even if the means are slightly more nuanced.

There is a huge gap between what is required of the author and what the author can realistically do with the allotted time and budget. Is this due to inane editorial direction, or wilful ignorance on the part of the travel publishers, who choose to ignore how underpaid and overstretched the writers are in order to keep production costs down? I cannot say. A little of both I guess. A successful guidebook writer must keep up appearances and play the game correctly behind the scenes. There is not enough time, and not enough cash to do otherwise. We are to get the book done and not expose the gory details to the folks in the office. It's a classic "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

Do Travel Writers Go to Hell? by Thomas Kohnstamm. isbn 1741961114. Click here to see if we have a copy in stock right now.