TRAVEL BOOKISH

WORLD HUM'S TOP 30

2006-05-02T06:50:00.000-07:00

So many blogs, so little time. I haven't been posting here or at Terry Cloth Bathrobes because I'm focusing on Travel Contests. That little blog'o'mine turns two months old this Sunday, an infant compared to World Hum, which turns five YEARS old this month. In blogosphere time, that's practically like your great-grandmother turning 100. Go, World Hum. Really, that's terrific. It's one of my favorite travel sites. I check it every day.

To celebrate, World Hum is going to publish a list of top travel books. These top-this and top-that lists are inherently complicated (remember the absolute avalanche of them at the turn of the millennium?), but always great fun to ponder, pick apart and, when warranted, slander. I have a feeling I'll have more praise than pan for this list.

BOOKS ON MY "TO READ" LIST

2006-03-30T20:53:00.000-08:00

A Tramp Abroad by Mark Twain

Local Color by Truman Capote

GET UP AND GO

2006-03-28T11:45:00.000-08:00

I blogged about this last summer, on a blog that never got off and running.

I thought I'd share, since this is a travel issue that will never go away.

I’m all for practical travel tips.

Here’s one from the legendary Arthur Frommer: The free booklet Where to Stop & Where to Go: A Guide to Traveling with Overactive Bladder in the United States. No, Frommer hasn’t started doing pro bono travel publishing. For this project, the grandfather of modern travel guides “partnered” with Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corporation, the manufacturer of Enablex, a top-selling OAB treatment.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t think you need to have a full-blown case of OAD to find this book useful. I will never forget when I was in midtown Manhattan, one day back in the 1980s, in desperate need of a place to go. I walked into a tiny coffee shop on Madison Avenue, and, thinking the facilities would be for customers only, ordered a cup of coffee. Well, they didn’t have any facilities, at least not for their customers. Increasingly desperate, I walked the few blocks to Bloomingdale's, and made a mad dash for the ladies' room. On the way, tall, lithe saleswomen spritzed me – yes, spritzed me, when the last thing I needed was someone introducing a liquid to my person, even a few dewy drops, which of course activated my full and pressing you-know-what – with a new perfume. “Obsession,” they called out over and over as I hot-trotted to the facilities. “Obsession. Calvin Klein's Obession.”

To get a copy of this gratis pamphlet, contact 1-877-STOP-GO-5 (1-877-786-7465) or log on www.WhereToStopWhereToGo.com.

COMING SOON!

2006-03-28T10:54:00.000-08:00

Reviews of travel books, past and present.