I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of the Great Writers (1994)

by Roger Rapoport (Editor), Marguerita Castanera (Editor)

Other authors: Isabel Allende (Contributor), Richard Bangs (Contributor), Larry Collins (Contributor), Joe Cummings (Contributor), Barbara Ann Curcio (Contributor) — 41 more, Muriel Dobbin (Contributor), Michael Dorris (Contributor), Susan Dunlap (Contributor), Janet Fullwood (Contributor), Donald George (Contributor), Molly Giles (Contributor), Joe Gores (Contributor), Judith Greber (Contributor), Jeff Greenwald (Contributor), Helen Gurley Brown (Contributor), Eric Hansen (Contributor), Richard Harris (Contributor), Georgia Hesse (Contributor), Robert Holmes (Contributor), Louis B. Jones (Contributor), Alice Kahn (Contributor), Evelyn Kieran (Contributor), Barbara Kingsolver (Contributor), Dominique Lapierre (Contributor), Suzanne Lipsett (Contributor), Alev Lytle Croutier (Contributor), Mary Mackey (Contributor), Naomi Mann (Contributor), Adrianne Marcus (Contributor), Jan Morris (Introduction), Mary Morris (Introduction), Marcia Muller (Contributor), Katherine Neville (Contributor), Larry O'Connor (Contributor), Carole L. Peccorini (Contributor), William Petrocelli (Contributor), Bill Pronzini (Contributor), Stacy Ritz (Contributor), Stan Sesser (Contributor), Rick Steves (Contributor), Shirley Streshinsky (Contributor), Paul Theroux (Contributor), Linda Watanabe McFerrin (Contributor), Tony Wheeler (Contributor), Burl Willes (Contributor), Abigail Wine (Contributor)

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
179	5	153,409	(3.14)	7
An anthology of 50 travel writers, journalists and novelists who tell their worst travel nightmares. It includes stories from people such as Isabel Allende who froze in a battered camper in Paris, Richard Harris under suspicion of smuggling a reptile on the Mexican-US border, Paul Theroux running off a hangover in Zambia, and Jeff Greenwald dunking into an electric bath in Tokyo. Royalties from the book are being donated to Oxfam.… (more)

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Showing 5 of 5

I love travel and have had a few bad experiences, i.e. robbed by Gypsies in Dublin, two day flight delay in Iceland, pursued by a coconut carving junkie in Tobago, but nothing compares to the misadventures of these writers. Other reviewers have complained that the writing is uneven, but that’s ok. It’s like meeting strangers in a bar in a foreign country who are telling you the “Guess what happened to us” story. The tales are thrilling and you can suffer vicariously with those who have been stranded in war zones, assaulted by orangutans, had falling outs with their travel companions, and been forced to bribe border guards. It makes missed flights and lost luggage look like a cakewalk. Enjoy from the safety of your armchair or throw it in your bag as you hike the Andes. (

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varielle | May 29, 2022 |

With lots of different contributors, "I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of Great Writers" is really uneven. There are a couple of gems in the book... but most of the stories weren't terribly interesting. (

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amerynth | Jun 19, 2013 |

Entertaining, but the quality of the writing varies widely. Good beach read, and especially good read if you're stuck in an airport and feeling sorry for yourself. Others have had it a lot worse. (

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NellieMc | Aug 29, 2009 |

I don't know if there's a story about Indonesia in this book.

Alhickey1 | Oct 22, 2017 |

I had hoped this would be better, but just ten years after buying it -- which is not that long in book years!] -- I'd clean forgotten about it.

wenestvedt | Oct 4, 2005 |

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▾Other authors

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Author name	Role	Type of author	Work?	Status
Rapoport, Roger	Editor	primary author	all editions	confirmed
Castanera, Marguerita	Editor	main author	all editions	confirmed
Allende, Isabel	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Bangs, Richard	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Collins, Larry	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Cummings, Joe	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Curcio, Barbara Ann	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Dobbin, Muriel	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Dorris, Michael	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Dunlap, Susan	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Fullwood, Janet	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
George, Donald	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Giles, Molly	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Gores, Joe	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Greber, Judith	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Greenwald, Jeff	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Gurley Brown, Helen	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Hansen, Eric	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Harris, Richard	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Hesse, Georgia	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Holmes, Robert	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Jones, Louis B.	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Kahn, Alice	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Kieran, Evelyn	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Kingsolver, Barbara	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Lapierre, Dominique	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Lipsett, Suzanne	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Lytle Croutier, Alev	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Mackey, Mary	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Mann, Naomi	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Marcus, Adrianne	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Morris, Jan	Introduction	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Morris, Mary	Introduction	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Muller, Marcia	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Neville, Katherine	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
O'Connor, Larry	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Peccorini, Carole L.	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Petrocelli, William	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Pronzini, Bill	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Ritz, Stacy	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Sesser, Stan	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Steves, Rick	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Streshinsky, Shirley	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Theroux, Paul	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Watanabe McFerrin, Linda	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Wheeler, Tony	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Willes, Burl	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Wine, Abigail	Contributor	secondary author	all editions	confirmed
Adams, Robert	Narrator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Contestabile, Maria Rosaria	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Tanja, Jaap	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed
Witsenburg, André	Translator	secondary author	some editions	confirmed

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Canonical title

I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of the Great Writers

Original title

I Should Have Stayed Home: The Worst Trips of the Great Writers

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1994

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Epigraph

Dedication

To Oxfam America, its supporters, volunteers, and partners across the world whose hearts are in the right places at the right time.

First words

[Introduction] Recently I was asked to give a key-note address in San Francisco.

I was conceived on a ship, in the middle of a storm somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, while my mother was seasick and my father had a toothache.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

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Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

910.4

Canonical LCC

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▾Book descriptions

An anthology of 50 travel writers, journalists and novelists who tell their worst travel nightmares. It includes stories from people such as Isabel Allende who froze in a battered camper in Paris, Richard Harris under suspicion of smuggling a reptile on the Mexican-US border, Paul Theroux running off a hangover in Zambia, and Jeff Greenwald dunking into an electric bath in Tokyo. Royalties from the book are being donated to Oxfam.

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