do you read travel books & travelogues?

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Does anyone else ever read travel books about folks and their travel adventures?

I love reading books and essays about people's travel adventures - do others have this same addiction? ;-)

I love Bill Bryson - his books and adventures are so funny and of course Anthony Bourdain's books are always a good read. I am currently reading "Dark Star Safari" by Paul Theroux -his overland travel adventures from Cairo to Cape Town - only on page 77 of an over 400 page book but quite interesting already!

I find that reading these really fuels my desire to travel

[bonniejoy03]

I enjoy them. I had bought one that had short stories from different writers having different experiences in different countries...can't remember the name! I think I have become a little anti-Bourdain on his Nicaragua experience. I wasn't impressed....

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I missed Bourdain's Nicaragua experience - what did he do to make you a bit anit-Bourdain?

[bonniejoy03]

Just very strange and not a very accurate portrayal of the country. He seemed to make the country look like a danger zone. He didn't show the big influx of Americans building there. Just my perspective. You can still watch the show "on demand" if you have Comcast. I would like to see someone else's perspective of the show.

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I will have to catch it on demand - I did see a commercial for it and it says that Bourdain is trying to get to more off the beaten track places and see more local things. I miss An Idiot Abroad - it evidently went off the air or Comcast/BBC America is just not showing it anymore ;-(.

The Paul Theroux book I am reading has some interesting insights on Africa - he is really travelling off the beaten track on his journey and it is pretty recent - the copyright is 2003. His travel through Ethiopia makes me want to go there, however, when he reaches Kenya - does not make me want to go there!

[bonniejoy03]

I really enjoyed An Idiot Abroad also. I had to use the phrase "I just want to go home!" while I was hiking in the Atacama Desert. I was so scared of the heights and I really felt like "the idiot abroad!."

[alia_ll]

I really enjoyed An Idiot Abroad also. I had to use the phrase "I just want to go home!" while I was hiking in the Atacama Desert. I was so scared of the heights and I really felt like "the idiot abroad!."

Have you read Shantaram? It's what inspired my India trip!

[omegaet]

alia_ll....we want to continue reading your blog on your recent visit....should serve as our inspiration!

Also looking forward to any medical footnotes, if there were any!

And how about this Ayurveda spa treatments?

[alia_ll]

Hi Omegaet! Medical footnotes...here they come

I did get sick during the first weekend in India (but not from hotel food) we attended and Indian Wedding in Delhi and I believe that was the cause. My Indian friends warned me to obviously not drink the water and stay away from things that are not peeled. Anything cooked was fine - Although I was very cautious I still got sick.

Before I left for India my UCLA doctor advised me to just take a few Pepto's before I eat to kill any bad bacteria that may upset my stomach...unfortunately that did not work for me. By day 5 I had to turn to antibiotics. That said I have a weak stomach, and my husband who has traveled the world and lived in costa rica for a year (and drank out of the tap there) was absolutely fine!

My advice would be to do your best and make sure you have antibiotics on hand if you get "Delhi Belly" really bad...The food at the Oberoi and Leela was great I had fresh fruit there everyday and was fine... at the Oberoi they say you can drink the water, but I did not want to test my luck.. The only place we ran into mosquitoes was deep south in Kerala and the Delhi airport. For some reason there was a lot of mosquitoes at the Delhi domestic terminal - other than that we were fine. One warning if you do have bad allergies there is a lot of dust in Delhi it was helpful for me to have allergy medicine. If you have asthma I would definitely bring an inhaler.

As far as the Ayurveda spa treatments - they are really unique - I did not really enjoy the oil treatment -but it was fun to have someone analyze my "DOSHA" and tell me what types of treatments are best for me. It's a nice change from the average spa treatment.

I will put another blog post up today...