Best and Worst Travels

Carver writes in a style not unlike Bill Bryson, candidly regaling readers with tales of his worst experiences (“Some of the worst were worse than others.”) as well as the best: “I enjoyed a great Abercrombie & Kent trip to China because it was a great adventure, a great itinerary, a great tour group with a great tour director, great hotels (except for a noisy Sheraton in Guilin), great weather, and great tour management. Seven greats out of seven ain’t bad.”

He says, “Great expectations when traveling are usually the source of my greatest disappointments! I’m like the guy in a New Yorker cartoon studying a brochure telling his travel agent: ‘I am so looking forward to this. I can’t wait to be disappointed.’” He writes “How to Survive Disasters like Theft, Accidents, etc.,” and at the risk of seeming disingenuously obvious, he provides an exhaustive list covering every possible thing that can go wrong (Getting Sick, Getting Killed, Getting Lost, etc.), offering suggestions for solving dilemmas. He concludes with “Did I fail to mention Getting Bored to Death.” He describes trips with Yale Exes and travels to Italy, China, and Romania where he taught English with Global Volunteers.