Synopses & Reviews
Ayun Halliday may not make for the most sensible travel companion, but she is certainly one of the zaniest, with a knack for inserting herself (and her unwitting cohorts) into bizarre situations around the globe.
Curator of kitsch and unabashed aficionada of pop culture, Halliday offers bemused, self-deprecating narration of events from guerilla theater in Romania to drug-induced Apocalypse Now reenactments in Vietnam to a perhaps more surreal collagen-implant demonstration at a Paris fashion show emceed by Lauren Bacall. From taming the wild dog packs of Bali to requiring the services of a bonesetter in Sumatra, Ayun Halliday offers up the best of her itinerant foibles as examples of how not to travel abroad. For instance, on layover in Amsterdam, Halliday finds unlikely trouble in the red-light district eliciting the ire of a tiny, violent madam and is forced to explain tampons, which she admits, "might have looked like white cotton bullets lined up in their box," to soldiers in Kashmir "Theyre for ladies. Bleeding ladies."
A self-admittedly bumbling vacationer, Halliday shareswith razorsharp wit and to hilarious effect the travel stories most are too self-conscious to tell.
Review
"An almost shamefully entertaining travelogue of backpacking mishaps, ill-placed trust, and gastric distress." Andi Zeisler, Bitch Magazine
Review
"I laughed hard on nearly every page of this shockingly intimate travel memoir and deeply funny book." Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show with John Stewart
Review
"Travelers beware! Written with spunk and fast flying wit, Ayun Halliday defines misadventure, and shows that getting dirty can be done with grace." Jennifer L. Leo, Editor of Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures
About the Author
Ayun Halliday is the author of The Big Rumpus and creator/author of the 'zine East Village Inky, which won a 2002 Firecracker Alternative Book Award. She lives with her family in Brooklyn.