Posts made during November, 2008
Buses, Booze and Bonking.
Saturday, November 29th, 2008
It was ten years ago this week that I began writing my first book ‘Rule No.5: No sex on the bus’. The original title I had for the book was actually ‘Buses, Booze and Bonking’ and I’m so happy that I changed it. I think I probably got half my book sales just from the title alone! A great title can certainly help sell a book (or at least make it stand out in the crowd). My friend Peter Moore also had a great title for his first book: ‘No shitting in the toilet’. I did a bit of a search on the net and found a bunch of other book titles that I quite like…
Even God Is Single, So Stop Giving Me A Hard Time.
English as a Second F*cking Language.
If You Can’t Live Without Me, Why Aren’t You Dead Yet?!
When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? (read more)
Sometimes I put shit on Lonely Planet.
Saturday, November 22nd, 2008
On Thursday night I launched George Dunford’s ‘The Big Trip’. It was a fun night and I drank quite a bit of free beer. It’s a great book, but it’s handy that it’s something you read BEFORE you go away. It weighs a ton. One of the very useful bits in the book is a list of ‘10 ways to use your guidebook’, which includes ‘To prevent snoring’ (slip the book into the pillowcase to give your head extra elevation); ‘To escape with your life’ (when confronted by a punk with a knife slam the book into his face); ‘To block a mouse hole’ (so your girlfriend won’t lay awake all night – and you get can get some sleep); ‘As insulation’ (if you didn’t bring enough warm clothes you can layer pages inside your clothes) and: ‘To get girls’ (by using a guidebook as a prop… (read more)
Paul Theroux copied me.
Tuesday, November 18th, 2008
I’ve just finished reading Ghost Train to the Eastern Star by the famously grumpy Paul Theroux. In this book he retraces the trip he did for his 1975 book The Great Railway Bazaar: By Train Through Asia. Sound familiar? Yes, it’s somewhat similar to the premise of my new book – although he is following the journey he took himself. And like my trip his journey takes place 34 years after the original. I’m a big fan of Theroux and, yes he can get a bit grumpy and comes across rather misanthropic at times, but I agree with the Daily Mail when they called him: ‘The world’s most perceptive travel writer’. It was very interesting reading this book comparing it to my journey…
On the hippie trail with a pith helmet.
Wednesday, November 12th, 2008
There was a story about my latest trip in the newspapers around the country on the weekend, which was great – it gave me an excuse to don my safari suit and pith helmet again! Here’s an edited extract…
It’s a novel way to chart the evolution of what for many young Australians has been a rite of passage for decades. Travel writer Brian Thacker is retracing the 1974 journey through South-East Asia of Lonely Planet founders Maureen and Tony Wheeler using their original guidebook — based on information they collected during their adventure a third of a century ago — as his only reference…
Naked Karaoke.
Sunday, November 9th, 2008
It’s amazing what folk out there in the big wide web world put into a search engine and then end up at my site. I’ve found quite a few rather interesting ones that come up on my blog stats page. How ‘naked karaoke’ leads to my site I’m not sure. I did a search on ‘naked karaoke (purely for research purposes I might add) and I went through 15 pages and still didn’t come across any link to my site. How many pages did this person go through about naked Karaoke? Other interesting search engine terms that took people to my site include ‘what do prostitutes get paid’, ’sleeping short couch’, ‘why is the pen blue’ and ‘life and what it’s made of’… (read more)
I’m going on a big trip.
Wednesday, November 5th, 2008
I’m launching the new Lonely Planet book ‘Big Trip’ by George Dunford and everyone is invited along (It’s George’s shout – well, at least until the bar tab runs out). I even made a contribution to the book (all of 137 words!). The launch is on Thursday the 20th of November at White Rabbit Bar – 176 Bellair Street, Kensington starting at 6.30.
Here’s the spiel for the book:
School’s out and the world’s calling. You want to get out there and burn an international trail – but where do you start? Right here, with the ultimate guide to gap years and overseas adventures… (read more)