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Book Synopsis
Table of ContentsI. GETTING STARTED Foreword by Rick Steves Preface About this Book I’ve Been in Your Hotel Room: A Day in the Life of a Guidebook Writer II. THE TEMPORARY EUROPEAN Hey! I’m in Europe! | Kraków, Poland The Permanent Residents of Vacationland | Croatia’s Dalmatian Coast The Artisanal Life | Tuscany, Italy My Travel Origin Story | Europe, 1999 Jams Are Fun: When Travel Plans Go Sideways III. DECONSTRUCTING CLICHÉS Velkomin til Íslands! | Reykjavík, Iceland The Soggy, Sunny Highland Games of Taynuilt | Scottish Highlands D’oh! A Deer! | Salzburg, Austria Loving the French (What’s Not to Love?) | France That Wonderful Language Barrier | Europe Jams Are Fun: How to Drive in Sicily: Just Go Numb Like All Things, This Tour Shall Pass: Confessions of a Tour Guide IV. FOOD IS CULTURE Come On, Have Some Guts | Palermo, Sicily These Pierogi Are Perfect | Kraków, Poland Seven Markets in Seven Days | Provence, France The Trouble with Tapas | Spain Where the World’s Food Comes to You | London, England Jams Are Fun: There’s a (Gastrointestinal) Bomb on the Bus! V. ALL ALONE; NEVER ALONE An Introvert in the Land of Extroverts | Italy High in the Mountains with Tina’s Dad | Slovenian Alps What Lies Beneath | Dartmoor, England Waiting for Luciano’s Knock | Val d’Orcia, Italy Acorns and Corncobs: A Semester Abroad | Salamanca, Spain, 1996 Jams Are Fun: It’s Gonna Be a Noisy Night | Europe In Romania, Everything Is (Not) Possible: Making Travel Television VI. MEANINGFUL HEDONISM Pistachio Gelato Never Lies | Florence, Italy Making Hay While the Sun Shines | Above Gimmelwald, Switzerland Up to My Earlobes in Hot Water | Budapest, Hungary Ghosts and Skeptics | Great Britain Jams Are Fun: A Rough Day on the North Sea The Merry Band of Travelers: The Cult of Rick Steves VII. CHANGES AND CHALLENGES The Sublime and the Ridiculous | Cinque Terre, Italy One Day I Met Some Refugees | Zagreb, Croatia Blood, Toil, Tears, Sweat, and Surrendering to Brexit | South England Hallstatt Never Changes...Except When It Does | Hallstatt, Austria Jams Are Fun: In Rome, You Can Never Get a Taxi When It Rains EPILOGUE: After the World Changed, a New Hope for Travel; Or: Shutterbugs Miss the Lion LUMPENSAMMLER: Favorites (and Least Favorites) Acknowledgments
