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    To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism
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    To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism
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    To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism
    Ebook335 pages5 hours

    To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism

    By Chuck Thompson

    3.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    The guru of extreme tourism sets out to face his worst fears in Africa, India, Mexico City, and—most terrifying of all—at Disney World

    In the widely-acclaimed Smile When You're Lying, Chuck Thompson laid bare the travel industry's dirtiest secrets. Now he's out to discover if some of the world's most ill-reputed destinations live up to their bad raps, while confronting a few of his own travel anxieties in the process. Whether he's traveling across the Congo with a former bodyguard from notorious dictator Joseph Mobutu's retinue or diving into the heart of India's monsoon season, To Hellholes and Back delivers Thompson's trademark combination of hilarious stories and wildly provocative opinions, as well as some surprising observations about America's evolving place in the world.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateApr 1, 2010
    ISBN9781429954747
    Unavailable
    To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism
    Author

    Chuck Thompson

    Chuck Thompson is the author of the widely reviewed political screed Better Off Without ‘Em: A Northern Manifesto for Southern Secession, as well as the comic memoirs Smile When You’re Lying and To Hellholes and Back. His writing has appeared in Outside, Politico, Esquire, Men’s Journal, The New Republic, and many other publications.

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    Reviews for To Hellholes and Back

    3.5/5

    16 ratings15 reviews

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    • 5/5
      wonderful!!!
    • 3/5
      I agree with other reviewers in that the first half of the book is very readable. Perhaps not great but generally funny, well written and insightful. However the second half of the book is just so much self-indulgent prattle. The author is one of those people who feel as though being articulate lets them spout off trite little sentences (homelessness is unacceptable in America!) about just about any complex social topic and have their particular world view be taken any more seriously than the guy at the local bar. Combine this relatively non-appealing trait with typical self-aggrandizing liberal taking points and a self-congratulatory tone and you get just so much regurgitated pseudo anti-Americanism. I can appreciate any point of view but booking a month long trip to Africa does not give you any particular authority to analyze American social ills. I wonder how his point of view would have changed would his scooter ride in India turned out differently.
    • 3/5
      Good in small doses, a little over the top when read cover to cover. One travel writer whose books are unabashedly (unreservedly) more about the writer than the destination.
    • 3/5
      I preferred Thompson's earlier book "Smile When You're Lying" to this book. I did find the section about traveling in the Congo interesting, but that is primarily because I used to live there, and the section on India convinced me once and for all that I probably need to cross it off of the places I would like to travel to. I feel Thompson is better at writing shorter pieces, as he did in SWYL. In his longer pieces, he spends way too much time spouting his personal views and focusing on what he perceives to be funny/interesting situations, at the expense of describing the sights and sounds of the country he's exploring. After reading this book, I feel like I know a whole lot more about Thompson than the places he's traveled to. He's no Paul Theroux.
    • 2/5
      very disapointed. The Congo is definatly a place to stay away from the rest were just sucky places to travel to but not near the horror I expected.
    • 3/5
      This book was really funny and I think I'd love to go out for a drink with Chuck Thompson. I had planned to give it four stars but for the ending. It just kind of petered out. He wrote like 120 pages on his first destination, Africa, and only 40 on the last, Disney World. I understand he spent weeks in African and only a few days in Disney World, but it still just seemed like he had gotten tired of writing. I didn't get any real sense of what it was like to go to Disney World -- he was like, "Yeah, so I rode Space Mountain, it was nice but I wish there had been more light. Going on..."Thus the book gets knocked down to three stars. But I enjoyed most of it and would pick up Thompson's travel writing again if I come across it.
    • 4/5
      Chuck Thompson visits the four places in the world he's the most afraid to visit: the Congo, India, Mexico City and Disney World. Snarky inclusion of Disney World on this list aside, I liked the idea. I do think that the media and government make people more fearful of things than they need to be for the sake of ratings or distraction, and I was interested to see how he thought the first three places on his list measured up to their hype.I thought the book was well-written, honest, sometimes laugh-out-loud funny and often fascinating. It was the kind of book that had me stopping every chapter or two to read some especially interesting bit to my boyfriend.I think I'd have liked it a little more if he'd left the Disney chapter for another book, but otherwise it was a very enjoyable read that made me want to check out more of his work.
    • 4/5
      To Hellholes and Back by Chuck Thompson is a fantastic take on traveling to three countries and one amusement park - specifically those places Thompson has been purposely avoiding during his travels. Filled with humor, facts and honesty, this book was an eye-opening experience of the Congo, India, Mexico City, and the happiest place on earth, Disney World. What Thompson comes to realize at the end of this travels and after much afterthought, is that people are pretty much the same no matter where they live, the United States is easily considered a third world country to many other countries, and he actually enjoyed Disney World. If you never plan to go to these places, then this is the next best thing to traveling to them. Thompson is honest in his descriptions (brutal, disgusting, beautiful, as they can be), but also ensures that the reader knows while he might have negative opinions about certain things, he did, in fact, have moments of overall enjoyment and realization that these parts of the world are worth seeing. I think the most interesting part of the book was Thompson's realization that Mexico City isn't all that bad; and he really did try to make it bad just to verify that his previous feelings about the place were justified. He had a tremendous amount of fun and found all the warnings he received to be unfounded. Ultimately, anything can happen anywhere; good or bad.
    • 2/5
      I got a copy of P.J. O'Rourke's 1980s book "Holidays in Hell" just a few days before I received Thompson's "To Hellholes ad Back," so this won't be a fair comparison. O'Rourke does everything better, and Thompson's book just can't compete.On its own merits I would give "To Hellholes" three or four stars out of five. The writer doesn't provide any real information about the places he visits aside from an vivid picture of the corruption endemic in Congo. As a result I got to know the author in more depth than any of the places he visits. Thompson also lazily relies on the irony of a Cool Guy visiting Disney -- but he ends up liking it, and he gives it far shorter shrift than the other sections in the book. In fact, all four parts of the book felt out of balance. I haven't counted pages, but the Africa section was the strongest and seemed longest, then India and Mexico City, and finally the Disney section was the least (in every respect).O'Rourke includes more, shorter pieces, but he also visits Epcot *and* Heritage USA. O'Rourke includes pieces of history as throw-away lines and as scene-setters, and he takes the time to get to know the people in the lands he visits. His prose is better and more fluid, his characters have more life, and "Holidays in Hell" is simply a stronger book.
    • 3/5
      Funny and witty at times, the book is somewhat enjoyable and good for a light read. Thompson's anecdotes may make you laugh or they may just grate on your nerves as his writing skills really are more suited for his former Maxim (magazine) job.
    • 2/5
      Chuck Thompson is no Chuck Klosterman, although he seems to think he is the travel-writing equivalent. For the sake of journalism, Thompson decided to take a year and travel to some of the most dangerous locations in the world - the Congo, India, Mexico City, and... Disney World. I accepted the first three sections, because frankly, I have no desire to visit these locations, but I had a hard time stomaching the Disney chapter. I tend to think of dangerous locales as places where a generous portion of the population walks around with guns, or where you will be 100% assured of coming down with intestinal distress during your visit. But Thompson's scorn over the idea of Disney was just too much to handle. Frankly, there's better travel writing out there - don't bother with this one.
    • 5/5
      Funny, snarky commentary on four "hell-holes" of travel. I loved that the author expressed his fear of the places he visited and did not attempt to paint a rosy picture of the level of squalor found, for instance in India. Also loved his very-opinionated commentary on the state of the U.S. and our international relations. Much more than travel writing, a lot of the things Thompson said really caused me to think about my own personal role as a traveler and as a U.S. citizen. This book is truely a surprising little gem!
    • 5/5
      Chuck Thompson has done the near impossible - actually made places like the Congo, the slums of Mexico City, and yes, even Disney World seem like they might be interesting locations to visit. I've read a lot of books in the "hellhole travelogue" genre, and always with a bit of prurient interest -- just how bad and horrible are these places, especially when I read from my comfortable den in the USA. There's certainly plenty of that in Thompson's book, but what stands out isn't the corruption, poverty and decayed infrastructure of the third world, but rather the grace he stumbles upon, the individuals who are living their lives, the unexpected kindness and, well, humanity. Thompson writes with a novelist's eye for detail and a reporter's knack for the good anecdote, all delivered with a dry and sometimes sarcastic wit. "To Hellholes and Back" is one of the best travel books I have read in years, and was a pleasure to read from start to finish.
    • 4/5
      Here's a new one: a travel writer afraid of the world. After complaining that America and American's are too soft, Chuck Thompson decides to visit the countries that scare him the most, Congo, India, Mexico City and Disney World. I found Thompson Paul Theroux-snarky, but self-effacing in his (sometimes) ignorance. He is a great storyteller and I found myself giggling out loud (on public transportation) at several of his descriptions, the funniest being the impending hippo brawl. I re-read that one and still laughed out loud.His descriptions of boorish European tourists takes the takes the wind out of their smug, uncouth American tourists, sails. It is nice to see that third world poverty is the great equalizer.In India and Africa, Thompson is opinionated and political. He blames Mexico's plight on bad PR, but he loses steam by the time he gets to Walt Disney World. I thought this was the weakest chapter. In his own words, Meh.Overall, though, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and went right out and started to read his other book, Smile When You Are Lying, which is just as funny, snarky and entertaining.
    • 4/5
      Chuck Thompson shares more than just a surname with the late great Doctor. Chuck throws himself into the midst of things and takes people along for the ride. He's not spaced-out like HST, but he is a bit a curmudgeon and seems to dislike a lot of things and gets himself into some touchy situations. In fact, I don't believe he or HST ended up in as much danger as they claim in their stories, but that's part of the art of being a good story teller. Chuck heads to Africa, India, Mexico City and horror of all horrors, Disney World, in this installment of his travels. Each has its dangers - Disney being the most hazardous with the possible brainwashing and Miley Cyrus zombiefication of all visitors. The bright spot of this work - Chuck seems to be grumpier than I am about the world in general. That makes me feel better about myself on some deep level. Plus, he's entertaining with his writing. He's a competent traveler and a good story teller. He's grumpier than Bill Bryson but not as funny. More competent than Troost, but not as funny, and not as competent as some of the major adventurers from the past, but I'm guessing much funnier. From time to time his language is a little rough around the edges, but it's not constant (although he does drop the big ones now and then).Long story short - I recommend if you like travel/humor writing and adventure and picking up some information on different places/cultures.