[.ca] The Practical Nomad: How to Travel Around the World (ISBN 1566918286)

From Amazon.com:
Many dream of traveling the world, but few actually do so. If you've decided to put your money where your fantasy is and save for the trip of trips, Edward Hasbrouck is your travel guru. He's circumnavigated the world twice, and coordinates a travel agent's around-the-world department. He explains why you ought to chose (and stick to) your route in advance but needn't start and finish in the same city, and above all why you ought to take the travel plunge. He shares hard-won truths about saving money--and in Thailand or Bali $100 saved earns an extra month of freedom.

Good but not great:
I bought this book expecting to find something other than what it is. Instead of the subtitle "How to travel around the world" maybe it should have been subtitled "What you need to know before you travel around the world." The author is very knowledgable and the book offers a lot of valuable insight. It's been helpful for me planning my own global crossing. But not helpful in a pragmatic "here's what you need to do" kind of way. It was helpful in educating me about travel industry practices, paperwork preparation, and conditions in certain areas of the world. However, I'm a bit dismayed by two aspects of the book. Hasbrouck seems to tout train travel on almost every page. He has a real love of trains I guess. He even said on one page that given the same distance (up to about 600 miles) he'd take the train over flying because, he says, they're more comfortable, the food is better, and you meet interesting people. Maybe my travel experience is vastly different than his, but I don't hold the same romantic fondness of trains. My experience has been they're a crowded, hot, time-consuming confinement with people that looked a bit sketchy. And I consider myself an adventurous traveler. I'm not one to watch the world from the bay window of a luxury cruise liner. It also becomes annoying how the author seems to inject his political opinion into every page, almost every paragraph. He seems to editorialize on everything - capitalism, socialism, class bias, feminism, health and disease, food distribution, etc. I happen to agree with a lot of his opinion but to have it be so ubiquitous is droning. Overall, this is a helpful book, probably one of the better ones out there for general around-the-world information. But if you're looking for the nuts and bolts "how to" information, find something else.

The "How To" for world travel:
Planning an independent trip, this book is quickly becoming our "bible". It is packed full of useful, neccessary information that will save us a lot of grief and headaches once we are on the road. I am very glad to have stumbled across this very valuable resource.

Mixed Feelings:
I had read some essays by Hasbrouck before and I enjoyed them. So I thought I'd read his book. The information he provides is helpful and fascinating...and fairly well organized considering the details that go into planning a trip. However, he fails to address about a quarter of his target audience, "Women traveling alone made up 24 percent of all our customers." He states this at the beginning of the book, but ignores the needs of that 24%. I even checked the index and table of contents for advice for women travelers, only to find three, brief resources, about which he says, "On the whole, most of these resources are more oriented toward tours..." In the preface, Hasbrouck says he collected all of his information from "experiences of thousands of travelers..." Were they all men? Even if he can't address issue that female travelers might face, at least he could have drawn on those "experiences of thousands of travelers."

Likes to hear himself talk:
While this book had a few good travel suggestions, I found it annoying that the author kept interjecting his personal opinions about every and all subjects. His accusations and conclusions were never supported with actual facts. He seems to view himself as a concerned citizen of the world with a strong social conscience, but he comes off as didactic and offensive. Very distasteful. There are many better books out there.

"Must Have" for serious travellers:
If you are planning, or dreaming of planning, an extensive trip - if you yearn to explore other countries and cultures in a way that just does not seem to happen on a one or two week tour, you must have this book. I read it before travelling for 14 weeks through Asia, and it was full of very practical, invaluable advice. Actually, I bought it after hearing Edward speak - without this talk and book, I might never have left the secure confines of American life for such an adventure. Now I am ready to go again. Reading this book could change your life!