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Adventures of a Continental Drifter: An Around-the-World Excursion into Weirdness, Danger, Lust, and the Perils of Street Food
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Product Description
In October 2002, Elliott Hester sold his car, abandoned his apartment, and took off alone on a trip around the world, during which he drifted to more than fifty destinations. Elliott’s tales about his travels range from the bizarre to the hilarious to the flat-out shocking. Travel with him as he:
* Chases off transvestites in the South Pacific
Only an around-the-world excursion could produce such outlandish, hair-raising, hysterical adventures. And only Elliott Hester could make such vivid observations and write such vibrant insights about life---and people---on the road.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #327546 in Books
- Published on: 2006-09-19
- Released on: 2006-09-19
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 320 pages
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
After suffering cuts in pay and benefits as a flight attendant after 9/11, Hester turned in his wings and became a travel writer. This follow-up to his industry tell-all, Plane Insanity, is based on his syndicated column, "Continental Drifter," and details his experiences traveling across six continents in the space of a year, spending just $60 a day. Although Hester manages to land on couches as often as he rents hotel rooms, this isn't a guide to frugal travel tricks. Instead, it's a romp with an adventurer who rarely becomes jaded or travel weary, and has a way of falling into amusing situations. For example, Hester's affection for Kangol hats has people mistaking him for Samuel L. Jackson at a film festival in eastern Europe; true to his jaunty nature, he doesn't correct them. Hester's writing is lively, and he keeps his observations light. However, the travelogue does have serious moments, as when the author describes being stared at unrelentingly in Argentina because, he says, 97% of the inhabitants are of white European origin. But the seriousness, like Hester's stay in each country, never lasts long.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
At the end of 2001, the author, a flight attendant with 20 years' experience (and author of the witty and revealing Plane Insanity, 2002), realized he was fed up, burnt out, at his wits' end. The events of September 11 had devastated the airline industry, and when his own company offered leaves of absence to its employees, he took them up on it. Then he sold nearly everything he owned and bought himself a ticket around the world. This sparkling book recounts his exploits as a "continental drifter" (also the name of his syndicated newspaper column, which he files from far-flung locales). It's an over-the-top travelogue that's both informative (what to do when diarrhea strikes at the Taj Mahal) and very funny (how to impersonate Samuel Jackson at the Czech International Film Festival). This is perfect for armchair travelers, but it can also be used as a blueprint for readers with a yen for a little continental drifting of their own. David Pitt
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
--Chicago Tribune
“A romp . . . Hester’s writing is lively.”
--Publishers Weekly
Customer Reviews
Stay single, stay liquid, and travel as much as possible
Former flight attendent Elliott Hester takes a leave of absence after the events of 9-11 and opts to take his own journey around the world. We are taken along on the trip with him in an assortment of amusing and embarassing anecdotes. He starts in Miami going to Argentina, South Pacific, Australia, SE Asia, India, North Africa, and into the European countries before landing back home. He regals us with stories of topless Scrabble addicts, Dehli Belly, transvestite islanders, the dangers of driving in other countries, sauna in Finland, impersonating Samuel L Jackson in Czech, and other great stories. He runs continual risks of intenstinal problems and is not above humiliating himself. All in all, this is a splendid book showing you how you too can go across the globe on $60 a day. As with most travelogues, it loses a star because the book would have been benefitted by the inclusion of photos he took on the journey. Fast and easy read, I'll be picking up future books of his.
great storytelling
I really liked this book, it's one of my favorite in the genre of travel writing, with some very funny stories from the author's travels. I do wish he took more of a postive approach though, it seems nine out of ten stories show the negative side of travel, though I guess it's good to tell it like it is. Highly reccomended for a good laugh!
Very fun read
A very entertaining travel essay, showing how accessible many areas of the world are to if you willing to take that first leap. Definatly don't miss his story on the topless-scrabble playing Australian seductress.
