The Perfect Book for Your Carry-On

Julie Royce's picture

A few days ago, my friend, Stacey Gustafson, gave me a copy of Not Your Mother’s Book—On Travel.  Stacey knows I write a monthly column for Wandering Educators and she thought I might enjoy the book when I head out on my next travel adventure. I couldn’t wait that long. Instead of packing the book for a month-long trip to the New England states, I devoured it in one evening, enjoying the entertaining, true-life stories so much that I had to share it with my followers at WE.

 

NYMB…On Travel is an anthology, a collection of 58 short stories by writers from all over the world. It is filled with laugh-out-loud adventures written by real people in smart, sassy, sometimes snarky, no-holds-barred ways.

 

It is the fourth in a series of Not Your Mother’s Books. Creators Dahlynn and Ken McKowen spent ten years developing titles for Chicken Soup for the Soul prior to launching NYMB. But this series bears no resemblance to the Chicken Soup books: all NYMB titles are modern, fun and even daring! No sad, death and dying or sentimental stories—EVER!

 

It’s the perfect take-along for any trip. To start, you can squeeze in a couple of short stories while waiting through security at the airport. Each time you are relegated to a line—and every trip brings dozens of those—you can savor another amusing tale. Instead of fuming over wasted time, you’ll find the queue moves faster, and your mood improves with each step. The format is perfect for reading in short spurts or longer intervals, and molds itself to your travel pleasure.

 

The volume On Travel includes chapter titles like “Keep an Open Mind,” “Anchors Away!,” “Planes, Trains and Automobiles,” and “Wake-Up Call.” The humor will keep you turning pages and smiling until the last word.

 

Of course, I first flipped to Stacey Gustafson’s story, “War in Skies.” My giggling brought my husband into the den to see what was causing the ruckus. Stacey shared her hilarious strategies to survive flying. Hoping for a couple of skinny folks to share her row on the plane, she is kicked out of the seat she coveted, and finds herself plopped next to Big Guy, the doppelganger of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. She endures the behemoth invading her itsy-bitsy amount of space for the entire flight. The ending brought a belly laugh. I realized I’d seen that fellow before.

 

Stacey's story wasn’t the only one that brought grins and guffaws. “Always Look a Tiger in the Eye,” by SuzAnne Cole poses the question of what to do when the safety instructions for your hike include, “always look a tiger in the eye, and back away slowly.” I might have skipped this hike!

 

David Carkeet is confused, and Italians can smell it. In “How to Err in Italian,” Carkeet had me reliving some of the disasters I’ve experienced when relying on a translation dictionary. He is convinced that in spite of his English-to-Italian translator suggesting prego means “you’re welcome,” it really means “you’re doing something wrong again.” Perhaps the best advice to be gleaned from this story is: “if lost, follow someone.” It’s usually worked for me in the past.

 

In “My Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” Elynne Chaplik-Aleskow shares her hysterical midnight reconstruction of a Breakfast at Tiffany’s scene—except her ending is less romantic. With proper props: donuts, milk, Audrey Hepburn sunglasses, Elynne slips into the recessed doorway to the famous jewelry store, only to be disrupted by a cop who . . .  (I can’t tell you the ending. That would spoil the surprise.)

 

“Of Trust and Travel,” by Samantha Ducloux Waltz shares what happened when a skeptical second husband who is travel phobic teamed up with a woman with ramble-juice running through her veins. Hubby learned an important lesson about human nature during their first major trip.

 

John Lesjack shares treasured memories in “Aloha Spirit Revisited.” When he was a sailor, Lesjack deployed for the Marshall Islands, he stashed his Ford Mustang on the Hawaiian farm of a shipmate’s parents. He returned eight years later to retrieve his prized possession from the place islanders insist “is a local call from heaven.” As part of the bargain, he learned that the Aloha spirit can’t be bought, sold or traded.  

 

Not Your Mother’s Book—On Travel will take you around the world. Prepare for a walk on the funny side. 

 

P.S. If you want to read more of Stacey Gustafson’s unique brand of humor, check out her column, “Are You Kidding Me?” based on her suburban family and everyday life. staceygustafson.com.

 

 

 

 

Julie Albrecht Royce, Travel Adventures Editor, is the author of Traveling Michigan's Sunset Coast and Traveling Michigan's Thumb, both published by Thunder Bay Press. She writes a monthly column for Wandering Educators.

On her blog, Julie is currently writing two weekly series.

On Mondays, she posts in her series entitled, "Ugly Shoes and Boomer Do Europe."
This series captures the humor and adventure of her rail trip from Amsterdam to Budapest and then return river cruise back to Amsterdam.

On Thursdays, Julie writes about PILZ, the legal thriller novel she has written. You can find it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/PILZ-ebook/dp/B00C8PK8RU/

 

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