Lonely Planet’s Fast Talk Audio Books

by Erik Olsen on

When you arrive in a country where they don’t speak English and you haven’t yet picked up a word of the local tongue, it can be awfully hard to get by. Ordering food, finding a place to crash, picking up women, well all of these things can become painful tasks if you don’t know at least a few helpful phrases.

Of course, lots of guidebooks have handy guides in the back that give you some things to say, but only (as far as I know) the new Lonely Planet Fast Talk Audio series offers both a compact, put-in-your-back-pocket phrasebook AND a nifty little CD inside to hear the phrase you’re trying to speak ($6.99 on Amazon). I got my hands on a couple of these new edition phrase books and I highly recommend you check them out.

As I say, one of the best things about them is how small they are, no bigger than a deck of cards, in fact quite a bit thinner than that.They provide phrases for sightseeing, business, shopping eating, sleeping (how do you say “zzzzzzzzz” in French?) and getting around. There is also a wonderful new “Small Talk” Western Europe guide that has handy phrases in ten languages from Danish to Dutch to Turkish, so as you make your way across the continent, you only have to carry around one book. And again, a wee little book at that.

The Three Stooges Have a Museum

by Jamie Rhein on

I like collections. I have baskets from various countries, for example. My basket collection, frankly, is piddly. Gary Lassin’s collection of Three Stooges memorabilia is enormous. He has 3,000 items on display in the museum he opened in 2004 near Ambler, Pennsylvania. The museum called Stoogeum also has a 85 seat theater where he shows Three Stooges movies.

If you go here, you can find items you probably didn’t know existed. I know that I didn’t know about them. Of course, there’s the movie posters and photos you’d expect, but there’s also cans and bottles of Three Stooges Beer and a Three Stooges Talking Bottle Opener. My husband has a Homer Simpson talking bottle opener, but the battery is dead. I bought it for him a couple years ago and I wonder if the bottle openers were made during the same time period.The museum’s front door also talks. It says “hello, hello, hello,” in the Three Stooges voices.

If you decide to go here, email Gary Lassin at the address in this article. You do have to make an appointment. One person who visited is Entertainment Tonight‘s movie critic Leonard Maltin. For movie buffs, Maltin’s blog is a fun place to hang out for awhile. Maltin gives accounts of places he’s been that are related to movies including art exhibits.

The photo is of blogger Kansas Stooge in front of the Stoogeum. He’s a Three Stooges fan as well–obviously.

One for the Road: Down the Nile

by Kelly Amabile on

Publishers Weekly calls this one “travel writing at its most enjoyable.” Down the Nile: Along in a Fisherman’s Skiff is about a journey born from the simple love of rowing. Rosemary Mahoney decides to buy a small rowboat and make her way 120 miles along the Nile between the cities of Aswan and Qena.

What an awesome solo feat to attempt! Despite civil unrest and the fear of vexing local traditions, Mahoney sets out. She finds a seven-foot skiff with the help of a sympathetic Muslim sailor and proceeds to do what culture and history says she should not.

Egyptian women don’t row on the Nile, and tourists aren’t allowed to for safety’s sake. But Mahoney does it — she endures extreme heat, terrifying crocs and the challenging cultural encounters that confront issues of faith and sex. She also finds connections to past river travelers like Florence Nightingale and Gustave Flaubert. The reviews agree that Mahoney’s global curiosity and creative wit will surely captivate readers of this new release.

One for the Road: The No-Nonsense Guide to Tourism

by Kelly Amabile on

This pocket-sized softbound guide from the folks at The New Internationalist is not your typical travel book. It’s a toughie. The No-Nonsense Guide to Tourism takes a harsh look at the often invisible impacts of global tourism and challenges readers to think about some of the big picture effects that travel has on the world. It basically demystifies one of the biggest industries in the world by examining things like labor conditions, the role of travel and vacations in western cultures, and trends like the popular gap year.

In short, concise language, the book covers the history of tourism, the psychological forces that drive Westerners to travel to exotic destinations, and the economic, political and social impact of the tourism industry. Author Pamela Nowicka is a journalist and consultant who has working with organizations such as Tourism Concern, a charity that works with communities in destination countries to reduce social and environmental problems. She has written on numerous tourism and ethics subjects.

One for the Road: The Art of Rough Travel

by Kelly Amabile on

Here’s another book I found while browsing the stacks at Oblong: The Art of Rough Travel from Mountaineer Books was originally published in a much larger version way back in 1855. It soon became “a bible of self-sufficiency for a host of now famous explorers.” Written by Sir Francis Galton, a British anthropologist, inventor, statistician and geographer (among other things), Galton’s journal now provides modern travelers a historical look at the culture of outdoor recreation over 150 years ago.

Subtitled “From the Peculiar to the Practical, Advice from a 19th Century Explorer“, this 2006 condensed edition recounts Galton’s adventures as one of the first Europeans to explore the interior of southwestern Africa. As one reviewer claimed, this delightfully dated book will teach you a bit about how things used to be, but probably leave you feeling forever thankful that we live in a more advanced travel age.