Comments on Europe on Five Wrong Turns a Day: The things we no longer carry (portable record pla...

Earlier travelers packed for steamer crossings and...

2011-11-07T08:22:09.199-06:00

Earlier travelers packed for steamer crossings and docks crowded with porters and a different social environment. When I went to Spain in 1964 (Frommer in hand) I took a summer suit because in Franco's day people were supposed to dress properly. Years later, when I was arranging an interview with a government official in Guatemala I was pointedly advised that I should "dress respectably", i.e., not as I was, in my early Banana Republic bush jacket. So I bought a necktie and a white coat to go with my white trousers and I fitted right in.

Nowadays, all you really need bring with you are passport and credit cards: everything else you can buy when you get there, or do without.

I'd love to hear a sample of those four "...

2010-07-29T20:24:59.671-05:00

I'd love to hear a sample of those four "mood music" records.

You're so right, Andrew. Upon further consider...

2010-07-15T18:20:36.867-05:00

You're so right, Andrew. Upon further consideration, that's proper Hollywood archetype, not a Bond villain. And I do think Fielding or Frommer--or both--would be a great subject for a biopic.

I was thinking that Fielding's sounds like the...

2010-07-15T09:25:54.396-05:00

I was thinking that Fielding's sounds like the baggage (in every sense) of a Wes Anderson character.