Book Review SMILE WHEN YOU’RE LYING

Book Review SMILE WHEN YOU’RE LYING
Chuck Thompson wrote a book, a man Jason sent me a burp, maybe this is blurp, I blogged it, Smile When Your Lying Then Jason sends me a the real paper book… Thank You, however, wish this guy Chuck had signed it so when I go trade it with Travis, Bob or Jeroen and say goodbye as a real travelers do with books. Maybe for a signed book, they would trade two for one. Books are too heavy and we do take them home, we do not have a home, we are at home already, we are traveling.
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Bangkok Thailand - Southeast Asia
Khao San Road
Friday, December 21, 2007
Andy of HoboTraveler.com --- Submit Hotel URL
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ChuckThompsonBooks.Com
He admits he was involved in travel writing,
“Trips taken largely written about, to create stories where none existed before.” Page 3

Ergo
“Smile when you’re lying.”

Chuck Thompson hovers he does not sit, and the pain, possibly pressure, binging on rage has forced him to the toilet, a.k.a restroom in the USA. I think Chuck is trying to sit down with this book, enough of the hover crap, real men do not hover or lie and the pressure has built up over the years. I think he needed to find a squat toilet to expunge these stories, and now he has told them. The story about Shanghai Bob, asking the question, do you want to find a sleazier place was what travel stories are all about.

I think this is how this book should be rated, according to how many days it may takes you to read.

- Two Day book if you are a wanna be travel writer.

- Three or Four Day if you do read travel writing. However, be careful, his writing pendulum has swung towards the bad boy style. I am always told to read this internet page, however I just cannot do so more than one or two page, then click away, however what I have read from Chuck could go here as he tells it in not-for-prime-time language.
http://www.stickmanbangkok.com/

- It will take a week or two if you do not read non-fiction and do not like travel books.

It took me four days, and that was pretty fast, I liked the book, there is some real funny travel quotes collected here. Chuck has read them all, and has recall memory, he can tell all the good one liners of travel. I fell over laughing when I read,

“Thais are the nicest people money can buy.” Page 14

I disagree, it is the Philippines, but nonetheless both are in the running for short-term rentals, or long-term take away. (Carry-out in America)

Notice how many travel writers start their theme paragraphs with a quote, I think it is a great way to stop hate mail, blame it on the quote, I did not say that, it was a quote.

I had to think, am I a person who does not like travel books, or travel magazine? Chuck says his goal or their goal of publishing the Travelocity Magazine, that is now defunct was, to,
“A travel magazine for people who didn’t like travel Magazine.” Page 184

I have to admit, I had no opinion on travel magazines, I cannot say I like or do not like, I just cannot be bothered to read them, so no way to form an opinion
.
I liked the book, it is a good read, and the four small stories toward the end of the book, wel, … I want to borrow, steal, and pay no tribute, put on my site. There are four stories, and after your read, he instructs you to pick. Choose which story is matched with which country, was it a German, French, India, or American person in the story? This is classic and clarifies in a way that only a professional writer does. Chuck know all the go-Pro toys, and uses them all, he has not forgotten the tradecraft. Writer or Traveler?

I have to ask myself, is Chuck Thompson a Traveler or a Tourist? Is he a Tourist Travel Writer or a Traveller or is it Traveler… Travel Writer?
Are you a Traveler or a Tourist?

If you want to learn how to be a travel writer, this book will tell you what the travel industry wants you to write, Chuck makes fun, sarcastically tries to destroys, but by saying what is bad, he tells you how to write for this industry. Personally to be called a Travel Writer is an insult, on the other hand, I also travel and I write about it.

I am now waiting for his next book, I have to request Chuck, now you are a tell all, stop hovering person, I hope your stay off the Travel Industry Nipple. Now, I think the wanna be Travel Writers, not me, (it is an insult) however, there are people on planet who want to know, if it is possible, can a person make money without lying, and in your opinion how does a wanna be do it?

This book is after you stopped lying, cold turkey, no 12-step programs, however I am sure still with a publisher or two in your pocket. Give up the map, tell us the path, share as a traveler would share.



Note, in the fashion of a true traveler, I will scrounge around for your next book on Khao San Road and buy a used copy, trade for it, or again beg to be sent a free one. Next time, sign it.

If I was the Professor of Travel, I would say,
Chuck go write three books.

1. Your rant and rave and the Shanghai Bob type stories that you have been aching to tell.

2. One on how to not write and how to write, this is the one where you outline why you smiled or are not smiling, and how to lie or not lie, up to you.

3. Then your Secret History to avoid hate mail, pretend it is fiction, then tell all, and we will pretend it was not true.

As a side note, to prove you ditched the lying smiler nipple, you have to go after Conde Nast, National Geographic because complaining about Lonely Planet is Cliché.

Then go travel for hmm, I think minimal of 3 years continuously, and remember, teaching English in Japan is not traveling, it is living in Japan. This book is five times better than Michael Crichton book Travel and I read anything he writes, and wish Michael had not written that book. Why does everyone think they travel, and what qualifies them to know how to travel.

Thanks, Andy the HoboTraveler.com in real time, on Khao San Road, the Center of the Backpacker Universe.

Book Review SMILE WHEN YOU’RE LYING

Smile When You're Lying

Smile When You're Lying
A book called - - - Smile When You're Lying- Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer. An email was not sent to me explaining this book title and author.

I think one of them public relations type people, no he has a title, ok the Marketing Coordinator sent me this ready to go written statement, I call these Public Relations Releases. I think it was a compliment and the book does sound interesting. I for sure do not like Travel Writers. Hmm, is this guy a travel writer?

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Manila, Philippines - Ermita Southeast Asia
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Andy of HoboTraveler.com --- Submit Hotel URL
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Sending me good book information is funny, it is almost impossible for me to read a new book published, so... Maybe if I am nice, publish this, they will send me a paper copy by UPS or Fedex... I would love a PDF file.

The book is about something I say or allude to all the time, and one of the reason I consider when a person calls me a travel writer an insult.

Chuck Thompson, travel writer, editor, and photographer, has finally decided to come clean about the travel industry. After more than a decade in the industry he had enough of the half truths that were demanded by his editors and was especially annoyed that the best stories didn’t make it into the articles.

In Smile When You’re Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer Thompson recounts his career as a travel writer and dishes the dirt on what really happened while he was abroad. From getting swindled in Thailand to running into trouble with customs inspectors in Belarus and media junkets in the Caribbean to experiencing the penis Olympics in Japan. Chuck’s work has appeared in Maxim, The Atlantic, Esquire, National Geographic Adventure, and Escape, among many others, but the stories you’ll read in this book never made it to the pages of those magazines.

While debunking the myths that the travel industry forces down our throats, Thompson also dispenses some brutally honest advice. His tips include how to get the best accommodations (you pay for it), how to get bulkhead seats (bribe the departure-gate agent with chocolate), why you must always hang up on morons (100 percent annual turnover at call centers means you most likely aren’t gonna get a dedicated helper), and that spicy is never as spicy as you expect (unless it’s in Thailand where “when they tell you it’s spicy, it’s going to taste like someone shoving a blowtorch down your throat for the next twenty-five minutes”).

Smile When You’re Lying is a laugh out loud behind the scenes look at the travel industry. If you would like a review copy of this book, please reply to this message with your preferred mailing address. Please visit
http://www.chuckthompsonbooks.com/
for more information.

STOP

Ok, that was nice, I am a traveler, I travel, a little difficult to say if this book is good or bad, or the truth is this, for a traveler it is almost impossible to buy these books. Then again I am a traveler... not a travel writer.

Thanks
Andy in Manila, Philippines

Smile When You're Lying

Movies About Travel

Movies About Travel
Atakpame, Togo West Africa

http://www.travelhubradio.com/listtravelmovie.htm

A person wrote, and sent a link with a list of movies related to Travel. I find this interesting, and would love to have a country by country breakdown. It is both good and bad, however movies are the education to the world of about countries. The bad part, movies are the imagination of a producer, writer, and is fiction. However, movies are more correct than BBC or CNN or the news.

I sometimes say to other travelers, you saw that in this movie about the USA, please try to focus, it was a movie, it was fiction.

However, on the good, movies do show us views of other countries, still normally some form or either romantic or tragic, but nonetheless normally a small part is true, not much.

The world as a whole is normally boring on a day to day basis, nothing like the movies.

http://www.travelhubradio.com/listtravelmovie.htm

Andy in Atakpame, Togo

WROTE:

Hello Rochelle,

I think you may be inspiring a new category for the HoboTraveler.com site.

Books is semi the same idea, but for book. But you have made a list of movies, very good, Note, the reason I have never done the movies, is because I needed to make a page like yours to start people thinking. This page is excellent, I am not sure why some are up there.

It would be nice to have a small blurp or the reason why it a travel movie.

http://www.hobotraveler.com/books.php

YOU WROTE:

Name: Rochelle
Country: USA

Message:
Hey there. We have an extensive list of Movies that inspire or are about travel but nothing in category yet and don\-t know how to submit our list.
http://www.travelhubradio.com/listtravelmovie.htm

Happy Travels,
Rochelle

Movies About Travel

Militant Geography

Militant Geography
Kpalime, Togo West Africa

I just read an article by Joseph Conrad, the writer of the book Lord Jim.
“Geography and Some Explorers.” National Geographic, March 1924.

I would say this man has a grasp of
- How things work. -
I read this in the Encyclopedia Encarta on my computer.

I download the ebook Lord Jim from the Gutenberg.org site, and seems I should try attain all his work.
http://www.gutenberg.org

Militant Geography

Michael Crichton Travels

Michael Crichton Travels
Lome, Togo West Africa
Sunday, March 4, 2007

I finished this book by Michael Crichton called Travels. It is sort of relief to be finished.



If I see a very tall, close to 7 foot tall man walking in the Hotel, I will have someone I can try to convince to clean the fan and change the light bulb. There is no way this guy would fit into a chicken bus in Guatemala.

Autobiography, Auras, and Adventures, interesting collection of essays or ideas, gives me a better understanding of how he writes or creates his other books. I do not like to read travel books, and my natural desire to think as this as a travel book, interferes with my thoughts of the book, I would not call this a travel book. On the other hand, I have not read enough travel books to say what a travel book is, and hope I never become an expert on them.

Michael is insightful, he can see the value of intuition, unexplainable experiences, and probably travel.

I hope some publisher talked him into this and he did come up with the idea himself.

Advice for Michael on travel, leave the girls at home, do not take a tour, fly to a strange country, get on a bus at 6:30 am in the morning going anywhere. About 2-4 hours into the ride start you intuitive engine. When it says get off, get off, however if you make a logical choice, stay on the bus, until you trust you instincts. It is ok to get off any time after 2:00 pm for safety reasons. The inner journey is done alone, where there is no path.

I promise to make no jokes about being tall or hurting small Filipino girls, I think you could fly into Cameroon easy. I am quite sure Afrique is big enough for toi.

By the way, when you get off a the bus, you are supposed to go look for a room for the night, that is what we do, it is an algorithmic process. Bring Shakira with you, it would be good for me.

Michael Crichton Travels

Writing Books

Writing Books
Katmandu, Nepal Asia
January 1, 2007

I saw a very mediocre book on travel in Amazon.com about 5 times, it kept recommending it to me, a very annoying experience. Simple format, easy to write, just annoying book, however, the worst part, and I tried to read the book, it is just a bunch of crap.

I will not say the name, as the book is harmless, as are most travel books, they are just fantasy writers and normally should be thought of as fiction, about like CNN and BBC, however for sure as I read the travel writers, I see about an 80 percent fantasy.

However, this is it, I watched a show about Stephen King writing 1500 words a day, I can easily do this, however my skills sucks to say the least. But, I am more an idea man, and someone else can fix the writing.

Just me dwelling on whether to write a book or not write a book or books. Just thoughts, however it is obviously another way to add to my money. I want a pile of money, then I can travel easier into the Heart of Darkness... they always seem to say this when talking about Africa. Nonetheless, DOLLARS, is the only true protection when being a traveler. I can dollar my way out of most danger. Sometimes, it is just so expensive to buy the knowledge I need to travel safely.

Example, I could find a perfect map of Africa, WHILE I am in Africa. I want this, I need a good road map of East and West Africa. They normally suck, so if I had a PILE, I could buy them all and have them all sent to me, then carry the one that is good and dump the rest.

My ideal map of Africa would be in both French and English at the same time, and have every little small road on the map, and come in a few PDF files for my computer, and accompanied by a paper version.

The research, the shipping, the ideas I just said would cost close to 400 dollars, and I would need a person at home that would ship it to me, probably the bigger problem.

Well, on writing a book, there are too many, however maybes someday I can find someone who is a proficient traveler, hopefully a woman, and they can travel along while we pump out some books for fun. Note, I see most writers going home to write books, the bottom line is this is not going to happen. I like to travel more than I like to write.

Writing Books

Crichton Travel

Crichton Travel
Kathmandu Nepal Asia
February 1, 2007

Discovered a new backpacker term, and now I want to see if Michael Crichton deserves this usage of his name. Brad and Megan commented on a blog, then I looked at the their profile, then I looked at their blog, then I read the quote. Note, I can almost never do this, I really love have a GPRS internet connection in my Hotel room!

Now, I am helping Brad and Megan to coin the term: Crichton Travel
Knapp Adventure Blog

I would sometime think it could be James Michener Travel or I guess Michener Travel as I am also a fan of James Michener and amazed at his trips.

I will be in the USA from February 14 to the 22, therefore I am arranging my best to have UPS drop off all my dreams. I got on Amazon.com and purchased the book by Michael Crichton called TRAVELS a book by Michael Crichton.

QUOTE by Brad and Megan

In Travels, Crichton describes trips so remote and inaccessible that it created an entirely new baseline for adventure in my mind. His trips to Hunza and New Guinea remain far off dreams for me--heck, Hunza, as such, does not even exist anymore. He trotted around the globe on journeys that had to be outrageous logistical nightmares, code for excellent, unspoiled fun. After Clayton and I had finished the book, we had a new phrase for serious travel: "Crichton travel." After visiting Africa, I would call Crichton travel a modern version of traveling like David Livingstone except that Crichton travel, because his trips were so recent, teases us with the thought that a journey like that might still be possible.

END QUOTE

Crichton Travel
Now, the only problem with this is, I can never remember how to spell his last name, I have to copy and paste it to be close to correct. -Crichton -

I will read the book, I would say I normally like anything Michael writes. I do have one problem here, I can only carry so much weight, about 70-100 pounds, then I have to start make love choices. Do I love this more than this, or do I heave this item, do I need this, or is it just a want, can I buy in Africa or do I need to carry.

I cannot buy all the books I want to read, I really like the PDF file books, I am also cheap, I am not going to pay more than about 4 dollars max for a used book, or for digital.

I made an angry purchase, as I was so disappointed in the Lonely Planet West Africa last time, the recommendations for hotels were written for persons driving a car. Therefore, I left my normal guidebook path and purchased the -The Rough Guide to West Africa 4 - and will see if they can help me save money, or also recommend the most expensive.

To break Africa open, there needs to be backpacker rooms for less than 8 dollars or lower.

Crichton Travel