David Farley's Irreverent Curiosity

I had fully intended to take Farley’s new book An Irreverent Curiosity with me to Greece but I made the mistake of starting it this weekend. Bad move, I plowed through it and had a ball! The book is all about a man’s obsession with one of the Catholic religion’s most unusual relics, the foreskin of Jesus. For a few years I’ve been bugging David about the book, it was well worth waiting for. Only he could make one of Italy’s strangest towns seem somehow sane, at least with a few bottles of red. A great read! Check out more good reading at the Restless Legs site, better yet head down to Lolita’s in NYC and meet some of today's best writers.

Facebook for Travel Editors and Writers

Once again Max Hartshorne has dragged me into this century kicking and screaming, similar to years ago when he suggested doing this blog. This time it is Facebook and I love it! To become friends with traveling people like Keith Bellows, Peter Greenburg, Christopher Elliott, Rudy Maxa and Rolf Potts is amazing. Sure I know they really don’t need another editor/writer as a friend but still they accepted my hand, at least symbolically.

More amazing is the ability to keep up with writers that really are friends, even though we have met face to face. I can finally see where Johnny Jet is before his newsletter. I can find out when David Farley is having a reading at Lolita’s in NYC or if Sean E Keener is on the East Coast. I would have put links on all the names but instead look me up on Facebook and I will fill you in. I always am looking for friends.

Frommer, Steves, Farley and GoNOMAD, New York Times Travel Show Seminars

It is the last day of the NY Times Travel Show the dreaded; Sunday pack up is a few hours away. Fighting traffic, looking for a place to load up the truck and the drive home is tough to face. It was a good show but my hat goes off those that do it for a living, I couldn’t. We did our seminar yesterday about travel writing and it went well with 180 audience participants who sat for an hour and a half. It was an audience that seemed very interested about travel writing and they asked some great questions. Arthur Frommer and Pauline Frommer gave a great presentation as did Rick Steves and David Farley. Home soon for a night then back to NYC for the French Tourism bash Monday night.