Brian Thacker, bus tour-leader extraordinaire, tells it how it really is in this funny, rollicking, absurd, ride through Europe. Crew Manual Rule No. 5 : Crew must not engage in sexual activity on board the bus with passengers or fellow employees. Crew Manual Rule No.2 : learn all names on day one. Crew Manual Rule No.3 : don't get lost. But then, who follows the rules? Brian Thacker confesses all as he reveals the best (and worst) of 20 trips as a tour leader around Europe. He tells how h...

The author of Rule Number 5: No Sex on the Bus is on the road again, only this time he has Harry, his 73 year old, meat-and-three-veg loving dad in tow. On a two month odyssey they geographically retrace Harry's life, and in the process Brian Thacker finally gets to really know his father and maybe even get him to eat some of that foreign muck'.One of the drawbacks of writing funny, irreverent and - worse yet - honest travel books is that you can't stop yo...

Travels with the Lonely Planet guidebook that started it all.When Tony Wheeler wrote Lonely Planet's first-ever shoestring guidebook, South-East Asia offered 'cheap and interesting travel without the constantly oppressing misery of some of the less fortunate parts of Asia'. Certain 'hotspots' in the region attracted the tourist crowds, but there were many 'untouched places' too.So have Tony's recommendations stood the test of time? Just how much has South-East Asia changed ...

In the spirit of Stanley and Livingstone, Brian Thacker is striking out for destinations unknown. Under-equipped and totally unprepared, Brian leaves the guide books behind and gets off the beaten track, out of his comfort zone and into trouble in some of the oddest countries you've never heard of.Paul Theroux, Bill Bryson, Michael Palin all have ventured forth to provide vivid and compelling accounts of exotic peoples and strange lands. But none has ever been dari...

Shamelessly freeloading his way around the world, cadging free food and accommodation wherever and however he can, Brian Thacker is a 'couch surfer' par excellence. This is extreme travel at its most 'out there'.Our couch is not in an excellent shape, however all the conventional facilities are there. I also expect decent standards of hygiene from you (i.e. no peeing on the floors).Shashank, New Delhi, Indiawww.couchsurfing.comWhat sort of pe...

Bestselling author of Rule Number Five: No Sex on the Bus and Planes Trains + Elephants, searches out the most bizarre festivals in a frantic race around the world.It was only a degree above zero and the rain was coming down in sheets, yet here I was about to run around in nothing more than a nappy. I was pretty sure it was going to be the silliest thing I'd ever done 'Join Brian Thacker as he embarks on a round-the-world odyssey in search...

From the author of the bestselling The Girl in Steel-Capped Boots and One Little White Lie, comes a laugh-out-loud romantic comedy about dating in the modern world…“Once upon a time, there was a young girl called Sarah Dubert who needed to fall in love in six weeks . . .”Thanks to food poisoning, broken dates, airport malfunctions and even death, Sarah Dubert has never had a boyfriend on Valentine’s Day. However this year she’s de...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The classic chronicle of a “terribly misguided and terribly funny” (The Washington Post) hike of the Appalachian Trail, from the author of A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Body“The best way of escaping into nature.”—The New York TimesBack in America after twenty years in Britain, Bill Bryson decided to reacquaint himself with his native cou...

Winner of the Hugo, Nebula, and Arthur C. Clarke Awards: This record-breaking novel follows a warship trapped in a human body on a quest for revenge. A must read for fans of Ursula K. Le Guin and James S. A. Corey."There are few who write science fiction like Ann Leckie can. There are few who ever could." -- John ScalziOn a remote, icy planet, the soldier known as Breq is drawing closer to completing her quest.Once, she was the Justice of Toren -- a ...

**#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER • Lisbeth Salander and Mikael Blomkvist return to the Girl in the Dragon Tattoo series in this ripped-from-the-headlines, high-octane follow-up to Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. • Also known as the Millennium series“Rest easy, Lisbeth Salander fans—our punk hacker heroine is in good hands.… A twisty, bloody thrill ride.… An instant page-turner.” —USA Today**The next installment in the Millennium series: a ge...

Five figures gather round a shallow grave. They had all taken turns to dig. An adult sized hole would have taken longer. An innocent life had been taken but the pact had been made. Their secrets would be buried, bound in blood…Years later, a headmistress is found strangled, the first in a spate of gruesome murders which shock the Black Country. But when human remains are discovered at a former children’s home, disturbing secrets are also unearthed.Detect...

From bestselling author William McInnes, a book about the languid, unending holidays of summer; it's about going away and staying at home, about sunburn, seagulls, family and friends.Remember those long, languid holidays when the only decisions to be made were what to pack in the Esky and who should get the front seat on the drive to the beach?Let William McInnes reignite your nostalgia for holidays past, and give you a taste of the boundless opportunities ...