A Toast to Travel: a book review by Alan Gold
There’s a type of writing which used to be in newspapers called ‘travel porn’, which older readers may remember.
It was usually in the magazine or the end section of newspapers, but fortunately, it rarely appears any longer. More of an advert for a destination than an objective journalistic assessment of a location to help readers decide whether or not to holiday there, this sort of writing is now to be discovered in brochures where a travel agent is trying to sell you a trip to Bali, or a round-the-world cruise.
You must know the type of writing….”fourteen sun-filled days, thirteen excitement-thrilled nights….”
There’s no such thing as the sea or the sand any more….it’s all “gentle waves cooling and caressing your sun-drenched body…” and “talcum powder white sand tingling your toes….”
In the old days, before the better editors put a stop to it, travel writers were invited by airlines and package-tour operators to take a ‘facility’ trip to one of these exotic locales. It was all in the hope that the journalist could experience sun-blessing and toe-tingling for themselves and, being swept up in the magic of the zephyr winds, the long white stretches of talcum kissing the azure waves, they’d fall in love with the place and write glowing reports.
Then on their return to their windswept, rain-soaked homes, they’d ooze into their articles while still dreaming of sand and sea and their travel porn would be published in their newspapers.
More recently, and with the advent of citizen journalism on the internet, journalistic ethics have intervened between the retailer and the reporter and increasingly we see travel journalism which tells more than one side of a destination.
Fraser Beath McEwing’s latest book, A Toast To Travel, falls fairly and squarely into the camp of the travel-porn-hater…the writer who loves travelling but doesn’t wear rose-coloured sunglasses. Instead, he sees a location for what it is, the good, the not-so-good, the ridiculous, the absurd and the dichotomy between the luxury supplied to wealthy tourists and the reality of living standards for penurious residents.
Having spent much of his career as a magazine journalist and editor, which invariably involves travelling, Fraser McEwing’s knowledge of people and places is reflected in his latest book, A Toast to Travel.
In his book, we follow Fraser’s lifetime love of travelling using the most innovative flying carpet since Aladdin’s….the ubiquitous, humble hotel toaster.
These reports of his visits to places around the world aren’t the crumbs of his imagination, but fully-buttered slices of innovative writing, highlighting the harsh realities of a city or country, designed to show the business and leisure traveller not just the wonderful things on offer, but the downsides and irrationalities of the places in question.
And when you come to think of it, what better medium to determine the quality and value of a place….be it hotel or city….than the ability for a visitor to make a cup of coffee and a slice of toast before venturing out onto unfamiliar streets.
In each of his vignettes, we visit a different city and country, from India, Russia, Sicily and Malta, to Thailand, Malaysia, North Vietnam and Cambodia, with trips to Greece, Italy and America on the way.
But in each place, the quality, value, modernity, antiquity and vitality of the location can be viewed through the lens of the toaster, be it in the hotel room, or the restaurant for breakfast.
And here, Fraser and I share a common experience. We’ve both suffered the same breakfast traumas with Russian toasters. Here, in his words, is our shared experience of St. Petersburg toasters….
Known as the Extremesky Tallboyavitch, this toaster had a mean little in-feed, a funereal speed journey low on fire power that then fed into a totally inappropriate delivery portal shaped like a cathedral. It also wore a chef’s hat, probably awarded to it by the great-grandson of Ivan the Terrible for terrible services to toasting.
When I was in St. Petersburg researching a book, the waitress who saw that each morning, my toast was either raw warm bread, or steaming charcoal, took pity on me and delivered me perfect toast with my coffee.
Fraser’s book, A Toast to Travel, is a tour of some of the more interesting places in the world, guided by an incisive wit, a no-nonsense fact-finder, and a journalist and writer who tells his readers the truth as he see it, no matter how alienated he makes those who are trying to sell you travel porn.
A Toast to Travel
Fraser Beath McEwing
Publisher: Sid Harta Publishers
Available for Kindle
