Review of Travel Book, "To Hellholes and Back" by C Thompson

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Book Review: “To Hellholes and Back: Bribes, Lies, and the Art of Extreme Tourism,” by Chuck Thompson

Chuck Thompson is not your typical travel writer, but his book “Smile While You're Lying” made that abundantly clear. In this book, Thompson takes the issue of fear head on, traveling purposefully to places that few would consider vacation spots (albeit his last stop on this worldwide series of journeys). His travels to the Continent of Africa, the country of India, and the capital of Mexico (along with Walt Disney World, a section he titles "To Sneer or Not to Sneer?") each provokes some type of underlying anxiety and other worldliness.

The unknown and what we (the public) have been told doesn't always match up with the reality, Thompson so ably demonstrates. Sure there needs to be caution in certain situations, but one can say that about everyday life, too. The larger point that Thompson makes so entertainingly is that travel removes the barriers to understanding. Whether its our own snobbish superiority (at the happiest place on earth, Disney) or creeping anxiety about adapting to unfamiliar cultures (like India) or blatant fear of becoming a victim of crime (Mexico City), travel has a way of melting away the images seared in our minds and very often replacing them with something totally unexpected. That is its magic.