- Paperback: 200 pages
- Publisher: Avalon Travel Publishing (31 Dec 1996)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1566910765
- ISBN-13: 978-1566910767
- Product Dimensions: 20.8 x 13.5 x 2.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 4,126,029 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
"The Practical Nomad is the most useful and comprehensive book available for planning an extended international trip."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
With experience helping thousands of his globetrotting clients plan their trips around the world, travel industry insider Edward Hasbrouck provides the secrets that can save you money and valuable travel time. An indispensable complement to destination-specific travel guides, "The Practical Nomad" Essential information on airfare strategies, ticket discounts, and the inner workings of the airline reservation system--all in plain EnglishGuidance on travel documents, border crossings, and entry requirementsAn international perspective, making the book equally useful to travelers embarking from anywhere in the worldPointers to a wide variety of information sources, including local publications from throughout the world, government offices and publications, Human-rights organizations, and Internet resources for travel planning
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I liked the sound of this book as we are considering travelling the world and have done a bit of travelling already. I wasn't impressed, it is a purely factual book stating the obvious and written for the American market, 85% of Americans don't hold a passport, need I say more?
It may be worth a cursory glance in a library shelf but not one to own.
It may be worth a cursory glance in a library shelf but not one to own.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
38 reviews
105 of 109 people found the following review helpful
Good but not great
26 Mar 2002
Format:Paperback
I bought this book expecting to find something other than what it is. Instead of the subtitle "How to travel around the world" maybe it should have been subtitled "What you need to know before you travel around the world." The author is very knowledgable and the book offers a lot of valuable insight. It's been helpful for me planning my own global crossing. But not helpful in a pragmatic "here's what you need to do" kind of way. It was helpful in educating me about travel industry practices, paperwork preparation, and conditions in certain areas of the world.
However, I'm a bit dismayed by two aspects of the book. Hasbrouck seems to tout train travel on almost every page. He has a real love of trains I guess. He even said on one page that given the same distance (up to about 600 miles) he'd take the train over flying because, he says, they're more comfortable, the food is better, and you meet interesting people. Maybe my travel experience is vastly different than his, but I don't hold the same romantic fondness of trains. My experience has been they're a crowded, hot, time-consuming confinement with people that looked a bit sketchy. And I consider myself an adventurous traveler. I'm not one to watch the world from the bay window of a luxury cruise liner.
It also becomes annoying how the author seems to inject his political opinion into every page, almost every paragraph. He seems to editorialize on everything - capitalism, socialism, class bias, feminism, health and disease, food distribution, etc. I happen to agree with a lot of his opinion but to have it be so ubiquitous is droning.
Overall, this is a helpful book, probably one of the better ones out there for general around-the-world information. But if you're looking for the nuts and bolts "how to" information, find something else.
However, I'm a bit dismayed by two aspects of the book. Hasbrouck seems to tout train travel on almost every page. He has a real love of trains I guess. He even said on one page that given the same distance (up to about 600 miles) he'd take the train over flying because, he says, they're more comfortable, the food is better, and you meet interesting people. Maybe my travel experience is vastly different than his, but I don't hold the same romantic fondness of trains. My experience has been they're a crowded, hot, time-consuming confinement with people that looked a bit sketchy. And I consider myself an adventurous traveler. I'm not one to watch the world from the bay window of a luxury cruise liner.
It also becomes annoying how the author seems to inject his political opinion into every page, almost every paragraph. He seems to editorialize on everything - capitalism, socialism, class bias, feminism, health and disease, food distribution, etc. I happen to agree with a lot of his opinion but to have it be so ubiquitous is droning.
Overall, this is a helpful book, probably one of the better ones out there for general around-the-world information. But if you're looking for the nuts and bolts "how to" information, find something else.
39 of 41 people found the following review helpful
Fascinating but problematic
1 Jun 2001
Format:Paperback
This book really intrigued me. I was hoping it would be just the thing for offbeat solo travelers such as myself. To some extent, it is: it contains much useful information and pithy anecdotes, and it's an enjoyable read. However, I can't help but feel that the research and editing are a bit slipshod -- pages and pages are devoted to relatively simple issues, while other topics that are at least as important get glossed over with a couple of sentences.
I question the quality of the information that's in the book, too. In the section on North American road travel, Hasbrouck states that the American Automobile Association's TourBooks are generally poor, while their CampBooks are generally excellent. In my own experience (including a 7-week, 12 000-mile trip from New York to Alaska), the reverse is so. Hasbrouck further claims that AAA's CampBooks are the only series of camping directories that cover all of the United States, when in fact there are several others (notably Woodall's). On my trip to Alaska, I had both AAA's and Woodall's directories with me, and Woodall's was more comprehensive almost everywhere.
I could cite other examples, but you get the idea. I really wanted to like this book, but it needs some more work before it lives up to its potential. Hasbrouck seems to know a lot about travel; if his research and editing skills were on a par with his knowledge, this would be a five-star book.
A final thought: judging from the anecdotes in the book, Hasbrouck has been all over the globe. Yet he himself says, "People who seem to have been everywhere generally haven't been anywhere long." Makes one wonder.
40 of 44 people found the following review helpful
buy it for the airfare advice, but nothing else
27 July 1999
Format:Paperback
I went ahead and bought both this book and World Stompers, and I think where one lacks, the other picks up. This book is incredibly boring and at times repetitive, but the travel agent's insight and explanation of how the international and domestic airline ticketing systems work is well worth the cost of the book. Also, I found some of the country information a bit outdated. For more nuts and bolts advice on how to get by as a backpacker on an RTW trip, as well as some helpfl and humorous anecdotes, read World Stompers instead.
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