The South: Travelogue02

Book excerpt: There are a bazillion titles on bookstore shelves and more than a few are travel-themed, but let me assure you: the Travelogues are different. These aren't the “got up, had banana pancake for breakfast, before shuffling-off to see some temples” kinds of stories. That’s probably because I’m not your typical fuddy-duddy travel writer. “Real” travel writers are glamorous, but real traveling is all I know. Vacations are when everything is safe and convenient and when you come to expect words like ‘aioli’ on the menu and when every “adventure” can be charged to American Express. Real traveling, on the other hand, is when everything can happen and nothing happens as planned and, whatever happened, mañana it will seem like a damn fine stroke of luck. At its most banal, day-to-day, real traveling is anything but normal and never glamorous. Except, maybe, in retrospect. The reality is that —very often— I have no idea where I’m going, except that I am. Nor how I’m gonna get there, except that I will. All these stories unfold as they may. That’s what these books are about. That’s what makes them different. The Travelogues pick up where traditional travel literature leaves off. They don’t mess around, pretending to describe every experience as if it were the feature in Condé Nast Traveler. They do, however, reveal what it’s really like to travel Out There. They describe everything: the good, the twisted, the ugly, and —occasionally— the sublime. No punches are pulled. It’s all in there. These are all out-of-the-ordinary experiences that lie within reach of ordinary people like you and I. Anyone can go and do those things. You too..., but only if you want to. That’s what the Travelogues are. That’s what “The South” is. Go ahead: discover the new kind of travel writing.