The End of Elsewhere
Travels Among the Tourists
Description:... In the collective unconscious the shore of dreams - The Beach of Alex Garland's backpacker utopia - was uncommercialized, undiscovered by guidebook writers. And preferably, one suspects, uncontaminated by natives.' Hoping to discover what compes 700 million travellers to set out each year, Taras Grescoe embarks upon the well-worn tourist trail, armed with his trusty travel bibles - the Michelin and Lonely Planet guides. He starts from the tip of Spain's Land's End, crossing the entire Eurasian landmass in 9 months, to reach China's End of the Earth. Along the way he stumbles across English teenagers vomiting on the beaches of Corfu and beer-soaked Australians hollering from Contiki buses, smokes opium on hill-tribe treks in Thailand and visits the Window of the World theme park in Hong Kong. The End of Elsewhere combines a riotous on-the-road odyssey with a brilliant history of tourism, and is to be treasured by anyone who has been conned by 'authentic' travel.
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