Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe | Bill Bryson

Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe | Bill Bryson | A bit of a downer

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Neither Here nor T...

	Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe Bill Bryson Harper Perennial, 1999 - 256 pages average customer review:based on 164 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies -- in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe's most diverting and historic locales. Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies--in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is Neither Here Nor There, an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to the chaotic tumult of Istanbul, with stops along the way in Europe's most diverting and historic locales.

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The Gospel of Bill...

Last fall, as a 21 year-old college student in his final year, I started pondering what to do with that ludicrous accumulation of wealth that all university students find upon graduation. Lies, actually: I scraped together the best I could and bought a ticket for London. A pair of "Let's Go" guides accompanied me for practical reasons, but Neither Here Nor There was my travel bible, my Psalms, as it were. I read it that Fall of '07 and it inspired me to take the trip in ways that no other source had. It revealed to me that even travel hardships can result in the most absurdly funny, cherished stories.

His ascerbic wit goes gangbusters on the little quirks of the Continental, from country to hilarious country. I partially molded my trip to make sure I checked out some of his destinations--they were that well-described.

Interestingly enough, I found him to be dead-on in some countries/cities, and WAY off the mark in others. One of his most memorable anecdotes comes out of backwoods Austria. I happened to find the same people to be the kindest, most hospitable of my whole 14-country trip. But the laughs I had over that chapter, and the inspiration to camp out under the Tyrolean night sky, paid dividends. So what if his descriptions aren't cookie-cutter and unfailing? No two travel experiences are the same, and God forbid they ever will be.

Read this book. You'll shoot (insert beverage here) through your nose laughing and develop an ache to see Europe. Prost, Bill.

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A bit of a downer

While I enjoyed this book, I couldn't help but feel a bit depressed after reading it. Having been to Europe a couple of times in the past 25 years (once on a "Grand Tour" in my 20's (in the 1980's) and the other a couple of weeks in Ireland and England-in my 40's), I wanted so much to enjoy this book and hopefully find some things I could relate to from my Grand Tour of Europe (both of my trips were wonderful BTW). What I came away with is what maybe happens too many times when travelling. Mr. Bryson's trip looked better on paper than the actual vacation ended up being.

Mr. Bryson was consistently "let down" by not only the cities and towns he visited (which seemed to be consistently dirty) but also by the Europeans themselves (who were inevitably unfriendly...in most cases). If I had never been to Europe, this book would not give me any inspiration whatsoever to visit there. In fact, I'd want to stay as far away as possible. Who would want to visit filthy cities and deal with dour individuals when you're paying good money to be there and helping to infuse their economies. In country after country this happened to him. I would like to think that we don't treat tourists that way in America...at least I hope not. Of course, it's always been my opinion (and my experience in Europe) that the Europeans have always felt superior (but it's never detracted from my good memories of my trips), but that's another story for another time.

Anyway, the book just left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Don't get me wrong, I laughed out loud (and quite hysterically) many times while reading it, but in the end I don't feel better for having read it (I did learn some interesting tidbits about some of the countries he visited though). It just surprised and disappointed me that he encountered SO many miserable people in so many different countries during such a short period of time. I suppose it's not his fault that it was what it was... maybe the 90's were just that way though....here's hoping things have changed.

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