Travel has become the great American past time. Everyone loves to travel, visit exotic destinations, eat strange foods and check those destinations off their bucket list. So although they should be easy and enjoyable, travel can be stressful. The Happy Traveler is a book about preparing for your next vacation, but instead of dealing with all the practical matters of planning for a trip like packing or buying tickets, Kurtz deals with the psychological element of travel. What are your expectations? Who are your travel companions? How to figure out what is YOUR ideal vacation. Whether you're a globetrotter or an armchair traveler, you'll enjoy reading this book. Lots of insights on human nature -- I'll definitely be thinking about this for my next vacation. ( )

I'm really enjoying this audiobook, received via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers scheme. The narrator seems to be an excellent fit for the content: she convinces listeners of the author's excitement for and interest in the topic at hand (travel). Granted, some of the processes that involve itemized steps seem to be read too quickly: lists on the page are easier to parse than lists read aloud; but that point just signifies that the book was written to be read, not listened to and is thus not a demerit of the content. Kurtz's book has made me more aware of how to maximize my enjoyment of a vacation, and I'm grateful to have been exposed to her work.

This was not a fit for me. I was disappointed that it felt more like a loose dissertation than a readable book, and that the over-written text was matched by the slow, over-enunciated reading of it (with no ability to alter the play speed). And, contrary to its being highlighted as “iPod Ready,” I was frustrated that I couldn't upload it directly into iTunes. Rather, it took lots of googling and a couple of hours (!) to get the CD files loaded onto my PC, transferred to iTunes and then synced to my device. :( ( )

Jaime Kurtz gives the reader (in this case listener for the audio book) a very insightful guide to travel- and life. This audio-book was both entertaining and informative as Kurtz uses her first hand experiences, peer-review literature citations, and amusing anecdotes to equip the seasoned and novice traveler alike with the tools for maximizing the happiness of traveling. Her scope ranges from international travel of all genres to local travel and even the "stay-cation". She provides simple distillations in the form of lists of do's and don'ts, entertaining the reader with travelers tales of the good, the bad and the ugly sides of travel. As I was on a short road trip while I listened to this charming book, I was able to apply many of Kurtzes guidelines immediately both during and after the trip. Yes the advice was sound and the trip went far more smoothly than I had anticipated. Finally she advises us to use the numerous insights for our daily life, learning to garner fuller and more meaningful experiences in our mundane daily routines. For travelers - a must have book. For the rest of you - remember that no matter where you live - you are at a travel destination. ( )

I must say that as a mom, I was just a little bit excited to snag this audiobook through the Early Reviewers Program. This is not a particularly great book to "read" on audio. BUT this had all sorts of practical "A-HA!" tips that will make even the most arduous trip a little easier and more enjoyable. ( )