Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer | 
 enlarge | Author: Chuck Thompson
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $15.00
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Avg. Customer Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 48915
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.6
Dimensions (in): 7.8 x 5.2 x 1
ISBN: 0805082093
Dewey Decimal Number: 910.4
EAN: 9780805082098
ASIN: 0805082093
Publication Date: November 27, 2007
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Condition: Sound Copy. Mild Reading Wear.
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Product Description
From Bangkok to Bogota, a hilarious behind-the-brochures tour of picture-perfect locales, dangerous destinations, and overrated hellholes from a guy who knows the truth about travel Travel writer, editor, and photographer Chuck Thompson has spent more than a decade traipsing through thirty-five (and counting) countries across the globe, and he’s had enough. Enough of the half-truths demanded by magazine editors, enough of the endlessly recycled cliches regarded as good travel writing, and enough of the ugly secrets fiercely guarded by the travel industry. But mostly, he’s had enough of returning home from assignments and leaving the most interesting stories and the most provocative insights on the editing-room floor. From getting swindled in Thailand to running afoul of customs inspectors in Belarus, from defusing hostile Swedish rockers backstage in Germany to a closed-door meeting with travel execs telling him why he’s about to be fired once again, Thompson’s no-holds-barred style is refreshing, invigorating, and all those other adjectives travel writers use to describe spa vacations where the main attraction is a daily colonic.
Smile When You’re Lying takes readers on an irresistible series of adventures in Europe, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and beyond; details the effects of globalization on the casual traveler and ponders the future of travel as we know it; and offers up a treasure trove of travel-industry secrets collected throughout a decidedly speckled career.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 26 more reviews...
 Overcast In Thompson-Land September 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
How can you pass up a book that promises ". . . a hilarious behind-the-brochures tour of picture-perfect locales, dangerous destinations, and overrated hellholes from a guy who knows the truth about travel?" After reading the cover, and some of the quick reviews on the back of the book, I decided that it was time to read some stories that travel editors refused to run from a prolific travel writer.
Contents: Introduction: You Deserve Better; "Welcome to Thailand, Ulysses S. Grant!"; Baked Alaska: How Drugs, Tourism, and Petroleum Tamed the Last Frontier; Canned Hams, Kendo Beatdowns, and the Penis Olympics: The Education of an Accidental Ambassador in Japan; Lost Among Expats: The Shiftless, Debauched, Tedious, and Necessary Existence of Americans Abroad; Why Latin America Isn't the World's Number One Tourist Destination and Probably Never Will Be; Am I the Only One Who Can't Stand the Caribbean?; What Lazy Writers, Lonely Planet, and Your Favorite Travel Magazine Don't Want You to Know; The Curse of Chinatown: And Other Updated Wisdom for the Modern Traveler; Boys Gone WIld: How the Philippines Became the Friendliest Country in the World Despite/Because of the U.S. Military; Is It OK to Miss the Cold War? The Philosophical Dilemma of Eastern Europe; Not-So-Ugly Americans and the Road of Good Intentions; Acknowledgements
Chuck Thompson, author of Smile When You're Lying: Confessions of a Rogue Travel Writer, has found a place for the stories and anecdotes that his editors refused to run. And we all benefit. Starting with a story about being broke and alone (after beginning the adventure with four Thai college girls) on a small Thai island and ending with a look at American stereotypes abroad, Thompson provides the reader with an inside look at travel writing, tells you why travel reviews all seem to be the same, and a complete skewering of Lonely Planet. It is the latter, and those that worship those books, that take the brunt of his criticism. And provide quite a few laughs. Whether he is smuggling Russian flags, flashing back to his school days in Alaska, or providing his unvarnished view of the Caribbean, he uses his uncensored travel-writer opinion to provide you with a perspective that you rarely see. For example, when you get to the chapter on the Caribbean, he writes:
". . . I find myself wondering why anyone-much less the 35 million people who go to the Caribbean each year-would blow presumably limited vacation days and budgets on a place where the definition of "paradise" is fluid enough to include sullen service, neglected hotels, and restaurants where waiting forty-five minutes for a small mango juice is considered an immense honor."
Thought provoking comments like that are found throughout the book.
For the most part, Thompson delivers on the promise of ". . . a fierce and frank skewering of the travel business and media." Throughout the book, he lays waste to most of the business of travel writing. He provides a unblinking eye at many popular travel destinations and how editors, in bed with resort and hotel operators, manufacture the reviews that you read. Further, he adds frank anecdotes, some extremely embarrassing, to provide the reader with "color" not found anywhere else. But I was expecting more. Especially after reading the mini-reviews on the front and back covers. Don't get me wrong, this is a good book when he turns his focus on the business of travel and the travel media, but it was lacking . . . any sort of pleasant reviews (whether that is a destination or anecdote). For the most part, this is a dark book. As a travel veteran, I would have guessed that he would have found a couple of good destinations, but, other than the Philippines, I don't think that they exist for him. Either that or he is so jaded, he is unable to recognize them.
 Former Travel Agent - this book made me laugh out loud! September 2, 2008
I grew up in the same town Chuck did, so I thought his stories about Juneau were priceless and hysterical. As a former travel agent (8 years in the racket) I've been on many of the same kinds of schmooze fests he has. Anyone who's ever thought after too many daquiris that checking out a time share for the free **fill in the blank here** was a good idea, and let's face it we've all done it once, will relate! I still travel a lot, and find his observations to be spot on, at least in the destinations we've both been to. I found his writing style funny, irreverent, and interesting to read. I read this book in 2 days, and will definitely recommend it to all my traveling friends.
 A Painful Disappointment August 15, 2008
I had been looking forward to reading about this book since I first read about it in the NY Times. 300 words are not enough to describe how horrid this book actually was. Negativity, an inability to relate to people from other cultures, egomaniacal, and lacking any semblance of a sense of humor. And after all that, the best part was criticized Paul Theroux...
Absolutely too funny! June 27, 2008
As a "would-like-to-be" travelwriter this book was very helpful. Didn't make me feel like such a failure any more! Everyone trying to break into the field needs to read what s/he thought the industry was all about but was afraid to really think! Great and easy read.
If travel is about illicit sex and drugs, I guess you might like this book.... June 19, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
review: I did not enjoy this book and, therefore, would not recommend it. In fact, I gave up after three chapters. I guess the positive would be that the author had a nice conversational writing style that was easy to follow and flowed very quickly. He was frank and open and had a nice level of sarcasm that I found refreshing.
Unfortunately, I just didn't like the content at all. I'm a travel lover and have always loved reading travel narratives. Reading the back jacket of this book, I thought it would be a refreshing behind the scenes look at the travel industry and based on the cover, I figured he'd have some hilarious stories. I imagined there might be a few rated R moments, but I was fine with that.
Instead, he dove fairly quickly into his first encounters with the illicit sex traffic of Bangkok and his forays into taking cocaine as a teenager. Not what I was expecting, nor what I enjoy.
I made it through the first three chapters, but should have stopped after the introduction.
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