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Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories And Revelations From One Decade As A Postmodern Travel Writer (2008)

by Rolf Potts(Favorite Author)

3.89 of 5 Votes: 1

ISBN

1932361618 (ISBN13: 9781932361612)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Travelers' Tales

review 1: I really enjoy Rolf Potts. His writing is just so smart and interesting; he really is a master travel writer. I loved how he added endnotes to the end of each (previously published in some form or another) story to provide the reader with background and interesting facts, as well as to show how he shaped the story the way he did to fit the purpose of the assignment. It was an interesting glimpse behind the scenes of a travel writer. However he does sort of have that it's-not-really-travel-unless-you-get-off-the-beaten-path-and-really-experience-local-culture aspect to him that makes me feel a little inferior for my run of the mill travel experiences thus far.
review 2: He put a lot into this work, a lot of travel, a lot of thought. It reads very smoothly and... more for anyone who travels and/or writes about it, its inspiring."ecotourism is a response to information age yearning for uniqueness, isolation, and authenticity""In truth, i dont have any formal "credentials" to brandish; usually I just offer a business card, or mention my author website.""Oh neccesity! To do waht you are supposed to do, to be always, according to the circumstances and despite the aversion of the moment, what a young man, or a tourist, or an artist is supposed to be" quoting Flaubert in his travels to Cairo"For some reason, major media outlets see fit ot ridicule backpackers at regular intervals in the news cycle. Around the smae time my Sultan tale was published in Salon, one could find articels in Time and the new York Times bemoanign how watereddown independent travle had become. Teh template for these articles was quite predictable, foregin desk correspondent visits backpacker gehetto in Tahiland or india or guatemala and observsers information age ironeis and or party scen reporter then evokes supposed independt travel ideals of the 60s and notes how todays backpackers dont live up to said ideals repoerted procedds to quote Lonely planet found Tony Wheeler, cite tourism staicsk,summarize percieved backpacker hypocriseis and grandly declare indepnedtn travel to irreleavant or socnumerist, or stone cold dead.This kind of story is the traevel eauivlante of those perneail op edi peices that use the lastes deomgraphic survey to condlue that young pepole are stupid or maorally lacking or edestinted to dteryo civilization. And just as kids these days op eds are metna tot convine older gernetration of their own virtue death of ttraavle articles essentaily serve to resasrue working stiffs that they arent missing anything by staying at home.;Indepndent travlers distingusish tehmselves y btheri willinghness to travle solo, to go slowyl, to embrace the unexpected and break out form the comrort economy that isolates more well heeled vatcionaers and exptas. Sure backpackers are themselves a masnifestation of mass tourism, and they have their ow self satised cliches, but they are generally going through amore life affecting preocess than one would fin don a stander travel holdiay.All of which is to day that backpacker culture is far more diverse tand engaged than its layabout steroytype would imply.These american magazines donet evne tknow what eavdie3nt is, he said, they want tyou to werite about camping toays and sports vactionas. they want tyo to make poeple think adventure is smoething that costs 8000 dolalars and lasts as long as a Chrismtams holikday They want you to make rich epople feel good for geinb rich.I began to emoal my dietor pointed qutrestion s about how mone should feine the extrems of human experience, how was kayahing a remote c hines rive i asked more notable tahn survinbin on its hosres for a lifetimeDid nayone else think it was telling that bored British aristocrats not the epoles of the himalyas were the ones who first deemed it important to climb Mount Everestto a place where "avetntuer tralve was not a way o fgettingh b y in life but a whimislca self indeuced actrstacion , a ways of tesing our limits so that we acan more kenly fell our comofts.the kayak guides excude a perky enthousiasm that at times felt phohny and condescdningunfortnaulta donny turned out to be the most indiesice secatterbrained world weary perosn imve met in anym profestional context.how does one see the thing beter when others are absentive foudn that travler conversations invarily steter ther wway toward persumed dangers, guntoting slavadorans on teh beach at tnight, street grangs near the cities, leftover land mines in teh jungles, this talk is a sta ndard straveler sarfty ritualand an otherwise languaorus afternoon of surfign nad beer drinking acn areadily be apassed off asn eday adventure in el salvador.if as a vistor you bemona the prescend of these comforts, you may as well beoman the prescene of youtself.at times our adventure here carries a postmodern kind of pathos. becuase we havent spooted any of the amilas we hoped to see here, the jngle seems lisghtly worng somehow.a bsci contraciction of ecotourism, to truly immerse youself in nature you need time and poeateience, yet short term outrists raerly have much time to posrare, the proudout of ecotoursim afdter iall is experience, yet a meangiful gexpoerce of natue is not somethinging that can be sdeivloer in pqucik standerisd packages.were you writing a book about andoraa you might begin your story form a personal of meotnal premist, you might say for expmapoel that you lover has just left you and you resvoe.d to walk acors andora in an effort to heal your pain. or you might saty that your home was lacking in good teaste of wautehnicityciy and you walked across andoraa to diescover and older and more gneuineu way of life.i thought back to burma and the pride id felt in stryaing offf the beathen path hter, somehow the tirall of that juourned ycotnained a hitnt of naricssim, nad eogoistic desire to see ymyself vidid and unqigue in teh frelctino fo a land so unlkeik my own. less

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