Don't Go There, by Robblogger

Most travel books try to sell you on why you should go to various exotic or exciting locations.  Not this book.  Robblogger instead tries to talk you out of going to various locations.  For example, all the Swiss have to offer is trains painted various colors and a whole lot of lakes.  And do not even consider Mexico, as you will get abducted, and have your entire hotel room stolen.  England can offer you a castle that is also close to Legoland, but trying to hit them both in one day is a pretty bad idea.  And one of the highlights of Ireland is a museum dedicated to diseased potatoes.  Why would you ever want to go to any of these places?

I am not one much for travel myself.  Short trips within a day's drive, for 3-4 days is about all we do, because frankly, no bed is as awesome as my own, and I never feel like I get completely clean in hotel showers.  So when this book was given to me for review, I loved the idea of it.  There is a part of me, like Robblogger, who thinks the idea of traveling to all these places seems so awesome.  And then I think about it a little more, and realize, eh, not so much.

I love that some of the sources cited include Wikipedia and the US Department of State.  It just proves that this book does not take itself too seriously, and more than once I found myself giggling uncontrollably.  A huge fan of snarky humor, this book pokes fun at the pompous travel guides that are so commonly found among travel books.  The book is a nice short read, I would say just about the right length to make this a first installment in a series of such themed books (Don't Go There Either as a sequal perhaps, or Don't Eat There, etc, the possibilities are endless).

I really love that the writer talks in the introduction about this being born out of an attempted to amuse his girlfriend.  This is one of those books that gives hope to burgeoning authors everywhere to go ahead and take the plunge.  Well done Robblogger, I look forward to hearing more from you in the future.

I received a review copy courtesy of an associate of the author.  To purchase the book, please visit the author's blog,  located here.