travel with a smile

"Though happy enough with his lot, Michael Simkins has never truly shaken the nagging doubt - helpfully upheld by his partner Julia - that he somehow lacks worldly sophistication. So as he hits middle-age, Michael takes up the challenge of broadening his horizons. He decides to improve himself in the same way English gentlemen lacking refined edges have for centuries: by learning from their more cultured French neighbours. Michael, an English provincial ingenue, sets off to learn about living the good life with equal parts elan and savoir-faire."--Publisher description.

1st ed.;At head of title: Travelers' Tales.

Lonely Planet founder, Tony Wheeler, joins other authors in a collection of travel disaster stories. Mishaps include a rampaging elephant in Sri Lanka and a drunken shoot-out in Tibet.;Lonely Planet founder, Tony Wheeler, joins other authors in a collection of travel disaster stories. Mishaps include a rampaging elephant in Sri Lanka and a drunken shoot-out in Tibet.

"Having seen Europe with a rucksack on his back and a youthful spring in his step twenty years earlier, Bill Bryson decides to make a sentimental journey back to that familiar territory to savour once more the complexities of the Thomas Cook European timetable, to wander perilously through the minefields of linguistic confusion and through innumerable European cities in search of a room for the night and a good square meal."-- Container.

After almost two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson took the decision to move back to the States for a while, but before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire, Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain -a farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. His aim was to take stock of modern-day Britain.

Shamelessly freeloading his way around the world, cadging free food and accommodation wherever and however he can, Brian Thacker is a 'couch surfer' par excellence. This is extreme travel at its most 'out there'.

"Will Chaffey was eighteen when he boarded a plane in New York bound for Australia. Though he had recently graduated from one of Bostons most prestigious private schools, a disastrous senior year meant that he hadnt been accepted into college. Instead, he took what the college counsellors grimly called time off. Despite having no idea what he wanted to do with the rest of his life, Will had a plan for the next six months: to get as far away as possible from the dark New England winter and the stifling expectations of college and career. In Australia, Will met an enigmatic herpetologist and wanderer called Geoff. Together they formulated a plan to walk from the headwaters of the Prince Regent River to the falls of the King Cascade on the north-west coast of Western Australia a hazardous journey never before attempted by white men. Along the way they would look for Australias rarest python and document their experience for Australian Geographic. Trekking through a harsh and seductive landscape, their expedition turned into a life-and-death struggle when their supplies run low and the boat they expected to collect them at King Cascade never arrived."--From publisher description.

Edited extracts from the Radio New Zealand series How do you say in Greek, Your donkey has eaten my passport, together with additional chapters by Peter Bates.