I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of Great Writers edited by Roger Rapoport and Marguerita Castanera
This is a reread for me. I read it years ago, but brought it to a class I was teaching as a part of a Readers' Advisory exercise where the students had a few minutes to examine a book and then do a recommendation. The student who got this book said that she wouldn't recommend it as the stories were all white people complaining about other cultures. I certainly hadn't remembered it that way, but fair, it had been a while since I read it, and also, I, being white, might have missed that back then.
So I reread it.
The book was published in 1994 and contains 50 stories, an introduction, and an afterward. The money raised from sales of the book went towards Oxfam.
* The introduction is by American novelist and travel writer Mary Morris. She talks about a keynote address she gave that consisted of strange and amazing things that happened to her while travelling. She talks about the things you remember are the bad things that happen and that humour is the most important thing to keep with you, and how food can bring back memories better than most other things. Her anecdotes from unusual food to illness to police encounters.
* Sex and Coq au Vin by Chilean-American writer Isabel Allende tells of her first visit to Paris where she and her then-husband who cooked their own French meal while camping in the Bois de Boulogne.
* All the Way with LBJ by journalist and political writer Muriel Dobbin tells of a trip with President Johnson as part of the White House press corps which started as a trip to Australia for the funeral of the Prime Minister and turned into a multi-day tour of Asia just before Christmas, with the last stop being Rome, Italy on the way home.
* Into the Denki Furo by Jeff Greenwald, American writer, tells of his experience with a electric bath in Japan
* Night of the Army Ants by poet Mary Mackey recounts the time in Guatemala where she and her sister splurged for a good hotel only to wake in the middle of the night when army ants went through the building, including her bed.
* How I Became a Purveyor of Caviar and Champagne on the Trans-Siberian by Alev Lytle Croutier, Turkish-American playwright, tells of her 1960s era trip from Siberia to Europe, where she had naively changed all her money to rubles upon entering the USSR only to find out she had to spend them before leaving. She ended up spending it all on caviar, vodka, and champagne at the final stop before leaving the country, and selling it to her fellow passengers on the rest of the trip.
* A Winter's Night by Eric Hansen, travel writer, on his arrival back in New York City with hardly any money in the winter, and surviving a night in Grand Central Station.
* Non-Stop to London by Michael Dorris is about his flight misadventures on one trip.
* Entering Paradise by Judith Greber is about a much-anticipated trip to Bali that began with misplaced documents and a night with multitudes of insects.
* Enlightened Sahib by journalist Dominique Lapierre is about his first foray into the slums of Calcutta as the guest of a Catholic priest.
* Thousand and Two Nights by Pico Iyer is about his first trip to Egypt as a young man with his Swedish girlfriend and the endless sexual harassment she faced.
* The Dirt on Mudbaths by Alice Kahn has her remembering her very first trip ti an Illinois resort and the prank her and a friend pulled.
* Borderline Blues (with Herpetile) by Richard Harris is about the time he accidentally had a small lizard when he arrived at the US border coming back from Mexico.
* Not in Kansas Anymore by Joe Gores tells of his adventurous trip out of Africa after living in Kenya for three years.
* I Think Our Driver Is Stoned: The Slow Road from Istanbul to Herat by Rick Steves is a tale of a wild bus trip.
* Maddening Madagascar by Lisa Alpine tells of her family's encounters staying in hotels that turned out to be full of prostitutes.
* Tail End by Suzanne Lipsett is the story of an unpleasant experience when she tried to a fellow traveller a favour.
* Seeking the Mother of Immortal Bliss: The Temple at Vallickavu by Nami Mann tells of going after her daughter to the site of a religious guru.
* Chimgan by Claudia J. Martin is about travelling through eastern Russia as the only woman in a ski group tour.
* The First and Last Meal by Carole L Peccorini is about her experience as an Earthwatch volunteer in Borneo and an unexpected encounter with an orangutan.
* And There's the Rub by Stacy Ritz is about a strange massage in Belize.
* Sahafin American by Larry Collins tells of his adventure trying to get a scoop as a young journalist in the Middle East.
* Adrift by Joe Cummings tells of his impulsive and harrowing trip to see Krakatau.
* The Flight from Hell by Donald W. George is about a trip home from Jamaica that had several mishaps.
* Ai Yi by Molly Giles is about a stormy boat trip in Mexico.
* Rafting the Sewers of the Rhineland by Louis B. Jones tells of the crazy trip by inflatable boat he and a friend took down the Rhine.
* A Tourist in Haiti by Larry O'Connor tells of a strange tour he took there.
* Travels with Suna by Shirley Streshinsky is about a strange occurrence on an Air India flight.
* Lost and Found by Tony Wheeler has two stories, one about a stolen car and one about a stopover mix-up.
* Poles Apart by Georgia Hesse tells of an adventure to the North Pole.
* A Caribbean Tale by Abigail Wine is about her first adventure in Cuba and the hospitality of a local family.
* Camera Karma by Robert Holmes has three stories: one of rock-climbing in England's Peak District, one of a wedding in central Algeria, and one of his first major National Geographic assignment in Northern Pakistan.
* An African Christmas by Paul Theroux is about a time he made a getaway from a situation in Zambia.
* The Yi-Ching: A Yarrowing Experience by Katherine Neville tells of a prediction she was given that came true in an unexpected way.
* The Existential Washing Machine by Adrianne Marcus describes her encounter with a washing machine in a rented Paris apartment.
* Donner Party by Scott Christopher Green tells of a freshman trip with his gymnastics team in a traffic jam in a California heatwave.
* Somewhere Under the Rainbow by Barbara Kingsolver is the story of a dress code violation at the Rainbow Room in New York City.
* The "Daggy" Challenge by Christopher P. Baker is about his attempt at a shortcut in Costa Rica.
* Beltless in Bali by Burl Willes tells of a theft in the night.
* Getting Away from the Promised Land by Evelyn Kieran is about her trip to Egypt with other writers for an adventure magazine.
* Passage to India by Helen Gurley Brown is about exploding aerosols in suitcases, missing flight documents and (my take here) an annoying husband.
* First Date with Misadventure by Richard Bangs is about a secret experience on his first camping trip.
* Libidinous Finns by Linda Watanabe McFerrin tells of an overnight train trip to Paris.
* Salt Lake City by Nightfall by Susan Dunlap is of a disappointing motel.
* The Worst Bus Ride in All Mexico by Janet Fullwood is self-explanatory.
* The Best Restaurant in Town? by Marcia Muller and Bill Pronzini is of a bad eatery in Idaho.
* Puerto Plata: Just Say No by Barbara Ann Curcio gives us the combination of a bad hotel and bad weather.
* All Dressed Up and Nowhere to Go by Stan Sesser is the story of the lack of public washrooms in Nepal. This one does leave one feeling that he was culturally dismissive.
* Trouble in Terontola by William Petrocelli is about three different bad experiences that all involved this Italian town.
* Maui for One by Roger Rapoport tells of an assignment that took him to Maui right after his divorce.
* Bad Things Don't Happen to Me by Jan Morris says that she's had no bad travel experiences.
* The Afterward explains how this book came about.
So, the contents weren't exactly as I'd remembered them, but with the exception of one tale they didn't exhibit bad attitude towards local inhabitants.
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