The Lost Continent


Book Description

"I come from Des Moines. Somebody had to." And, as soon as Bill Bryson was old enough, he left. Des Moines couldn't hold him, but it did lure him back. After ten years in England he returned to the land of his youth, and drove almost 14,000 miles in search of a mythical small town called Amalgam, the kind of smiling village where the movies from his youth were set. Instead he drove through a series of horrific burgs, which he renamed Smellville, Fartville, Coleslaw, Coma, and Doldrum. At best his search led him to Anywhere, USA, a lookalike strip of gas stations, motels and hamburger outlets populated by obese and slow-witted hicks with a partiality for synthetic fibres. He discovered a continent that was doubly lost: lost to itself because he found it blighted by greed, pollution, mobile homes and television; lost to him because he had become a foreigner in his own country.




My Best Trip


Book Description

Front line combat soldier in General Patton's Third Army WWII Stanford University--worked 40 hours a week and carried full load Invented flexible endoscope (fiber optics) 1952 Family practice 42 years in small town (Hollister) West Central California Had 12 foreign students live in my home, go to school and become part of my life Learned to fly. Joined Flying Doctors and made over 100 trips to Mexico over 30 years Earthquake West Yellowstone, Montana 1985. Flew in set up an aide station and cared for the injured Associate professor at Stanford Medical School and University of California at Davis, medical school Martin Luther King. Marched for freedom at Selma 1965 Earthquake Mexico 1985. Set up and led rescue team to care for the injured Returned with Rotary Club and Flying Doctors to help rebuild and totally re-equip hospital in Lazaro Cardenas, Mexico China: went there just after Tienanmen Square Returned to China several time to try to get Rotary Clubs accepted. Helped to bring equipment to large Chinese hospitals Developed a new mechanical theory about gravity and cosmology




Lonely Planet's Best in Travel 2020


Book Description

This annual bestseller ranks the hottest, must-visit countries, regions, cities and best value destinations for 2020. Drawing on the knowledge and passion of Lonely Planet's staff, authors and online community, we present a year's worth of inspiration to take you out of the ordinary and into the unforgettable. As self-confessed travel geeks, we regularly ask ourselves: where are the best places in the world to visit right now? It's a very hotly contested topic at Lonely Planet and generates more discussion than any other. Best in Travel is our definitive answer. We also reveal how well-planned, sustainable travel can be a force for good: for the environment, for local people and for yourself - and include ways to help lower your carbon footprint and protect the areas you visit on your travels. Inside Best in Travel 2020, you'll discover: The top 10 countries, regions, cities and best value destinations The best new openings The best new places to stay The best new food experiences The best sustainable trips for families How to minimise your carbon footprint How to help local communities and businesses How to give back on your travels Hiking for meditation About Lonely Planet: Lonely Planet is a leading travel media company and the world's number one travel guidebook brand, providing both inspiring and trustworthy information for every kind of traveller since 1973. Over the past four decades, we've printed over 145 million guidebooks and grown a dedicated, passionate global community of travellers. You'll also find our content online, on mobile, video and in 14 languages, 12 international magazines, armchair and lifestyle books, ebooks, and more. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.




My Favorite Short Stories


Book Description

These are love and adventure stories for the most part about many different people totally unrelated. From an Angel who appears in a small town, to a man searching for his daughter, a tender moment In life of finding someone you never knew existed. Other adventures and a nun's past life. All interesting reading.




The House of Hemp and Butter


Book Description

Founded as an ecclesiastical center, trading hub, and intended capital of a feudal state, Riga was Old Livonia's greatest city and its indispensable port. Because the city was situated in what was initially remote and inhospitable territory, surrounded by pagans and coveted by regional powers like Poland, Sweden, and Muscovy, it was also a fortress encased by a wall. The House of Hemp and Butter begins in the twelfth century with the arrival to the eastern Baltic of German priests, traders, and knights, who conquered and converted the indigenous tribes and assumed mastery over their lands. It ends in 1710 with an account of the greatest war Livonia had ever seen, one that was accompanied by mass starvation, a terrible epidemic, and a flood of nearly biblical proportions that devastated the city and left its survivors in misery. Readers will learn about Riga's people—merchants and clerics, craftsmen and builders, porters and day laborers—about its structures and spaces, its internal conflicts and its unrelenting struggle to maintain its independence against outside threats. The House of Hemp and Butter is an indispensable guide to a quintessentially European city located in one of the continent's more remote corners.




Baseball Road Trips: The Midwest and Great Lakes


Book Description

The perfect travel guide for baseball fans who want to see more of the great ballparks in America’s heartland, this handy guide gives you the tips for best lodging, great restaurants, and local attractions for the Major League and minor league cities and towns that dot the Midwest. With details about every ballpark from Major League Baseball to the Frontier League, this travel companion tells you the best places to sit, the best ballpark food to eat, and the best places to go around town when you are not at the ballpark. From taking in a AAA game with the Iowa Cubs in Des Moines and visiting the Field of Dreams to knowing how to best experience Target Field in the Twin Cities, Baseball Road Trips: The Midwest and Great Lakes is all you need to plan a dream baseball road trip.




Travel Junkie


Book Description

This is not a travel guide, nor is it a typical travel book. This is a story about a man who overcame personal tragedies to achieve his lifetime ambition to explore the world. You won't find stories of a man who climbed mountains or sailed the seas. Instead you'll hear about one man's journey who visited over 100 well-known foreign countries and cities, swam with the sharks in Bora-Bora, Tahiti and in Grand Cayman, explored the underwater world of the Australian Great Barrier Reef, walked the Great Wall of China; and went on photo safaris in the African wild game parks. When he began his traveling adventures, the last thing on his mind was writing a book. As he progressed through his trips, he would entertain his relatives, friends and clients with the stories and photos of his more important memories. Invariably, they would say "you ought to write a book!" And so he did, and here it is. The book should assist the beginning traveler in deciding where to go, how to go, and how long to stay, and last but not least, how to stay safe in a sometimes dangerous world. Traveling can be, and often is, very rewarding. But it can also be frustrating, expensive, and dangerous. When traveling to a foreign country it is best to expect the unexpected, as your experience will be unlike anything you've experienced before. The Travel Junkie also reveals the true character of Jack Harms and his personal life. Including his hitchhiking days, his attraction to famous entertainers' live performances, his traumatic experiences - being on his own at the age of fourteen in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and the deaths of his mother, and only two brothers at very young ages.




Rick Steves Amsterdam & the Netherlands


Book Description

You can count on Rick Steves to tell you what you really need to know when traveling in Amsterdam. With this guide, immerse your self in the culture of Amsterdam as you stroll along canals and saunter through the red light district. Bike through historic streets to grand museums where you will in the work of the great Dutch Masters. For dinner, sample fine fresh seafood, or stop at a coffee shop for some extra local flavor. Rick's candid, humorous advice will guide you to good-value hotels and restaurants. He'll help you plan where to go and what to see, depending on the length of your trip. You'll get up-to-date recommendations about what is worth your time and money. More than just reviews and directions, a Rick Steves guidebook is a tour guide in your pocket. This first edition guide replaces Rick Steves' Amsterdam, Bruges & Brussels, ISBN 9781612385433.




Lone Star Travel Guide to Texas Hill Country


Book Description

A more narrowly focused but still abundantly informative treatment of the Texas Hill Country, this new edition features five tours of the Hill Country that capture the essence of its flavor and charm. Take a ride on the Fredericksburg & Northern Railroad, follow the historic Mormon trails from Travis Peak Community to Medina Lake, visit Enchanted Rock, and much more. This updated sixth edition contains even more Hill Country destinations than ever before!




Travel Tales of Michael Brein: My Best 100


Book Description

The best 100 personal travel tales of travel-adventurer, Dr Michael Brein, the world's first and only travel psychologist. Through harrowing close calls and hilarious misadventures in some of the world's most exotic cultures, Michael Brein examines the in-depth psychological netherworld behind travel. No one has written a travel book heretofore about the psychology of travel quite like this one. This is the expanded (full) edition of the lite version Travel Tales of Michael Brein: My Top 10. Michael Brein is the worlds first and only travel psychologist, who has created a unique series on the psychology of travel as told through the travel tales of more than 1,600 world travelers and adventurers he has interviewed over the last 30 years. My Best 100, the second book in the series, is a collection of Michaels 130 own best personal travel tales, including close calls and great escapes as well as his zaniest and funniest travel experiences. Michael explores his travels, revealing a rare in-depth psychological look at what happens to you when you travel to exotic, strange cultures. My Best 100 promises to be one of the most unusual travel books you will ever read! It might alternately have been named Confessions of a Travel Psychologist or maybe even Tales of the Last Travel Psychologist, since no one has heretofore written about the psychological netherworld of travel as Michael has. When you read Michaels collection of his own travel stories you may wonder if all this could possibly happen to one world traveler. It certainly did! After reading some of his hair-raising and hilarious tales you may further wonder if Michael should have been allowed to travel abroad at all, and if, instead, he should have been locked up in a padded cell with the key being thrown away! You decide! This is the expanded (full) edition of the lite version Travel Tales of Michael Brein: My Top 10.